spiritual

A sacred folk song originating in the enslaved African American communities of the South, characterised by call-and-response structure, blues inflections, pentatonic or modal melodic lines, and profound emotional depth. Price's piano arrangements treat spirituals as complete concert works in their own right, not as simple transcriptions.

When playing Price's spiritual arrangements, sing the melody in your head before playing — these are vocal melodies first, and the piano must imitate a human voice. Shape phrases with the breath of a singer: swell into the high points, taper at phrase ends, and allow the natural rhythmic flexibility of sung speech.