RISE UP SHEPHERD AND FOLLOW
African-American Spiritual
arranged by Mark Hayes
This African-American Spiritual was made popular in the 40’s when African-American soprano Dorothy Maynor with the Boston Symphonic Orchestra recorded it.
One of the things that makes spirituals so fascinating was the role they played in communication among the slaves. This was a group of people who didn’t have the freedom to talk openly with each other, so they had to come up with creative ways to share information without alerting their masters. The slave owners underestimated the spiritual and intellectual gifts of the slaves, which let the slaves’ imaginations run free even while they were in servitude. Songs that on the surface appeared to be solely about faith in Jesus were actually a type of Morse code, where the words carried double meanings. The slaves tricked their owners into thinking they were harmless and happy, while they were actually planning their escape.
One of the purposes of our song today, “Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow” was to remind the slaves to follow the star that would lead them to freedom. Listen to the verbs in the song: Rise up, follow, take heed (or listen), and leave. It’s a call to action for the slaves embedded in the biblical story of Christ’s birth. But the song has several other layers of meaning that helped the slaves celebrate the gift of Jesus Christ and, if we allow it, can knock us out of our chaotic routine in order to hear the Christmas story anew.
For the most part, slaves were not allowed to read, especially not the Bible. Plantation owners feared that if the slaves read about how Christ promised salvation from sin, the slaves would also want salvation from slavery. So, instead of passing on tradition by reading the Bible to each other, the slaves told the stories, much like the Israelites orally passed down stories for centuries and centuries as a way of preserving their religious history.
“Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow” was one of the ways the slaves would pass down the Christmas story. The singer would sing a line of the story, “There’s a star in the East on Christmas morn,” and the rest would respond, “Rise up, shepherd, and follow.” Then the next line of the story would be sung, and the crowd would respond. This could go on for awhile as the full story of Christmas was told. That’s how the story of Christ’s birth survived among a group of people without access to the Bible.
The people who followed the star to Jesus weren’t the shepherds, they were the wise men. It was the wise men who saw the star in the East and followed it to the Christ child. The shepherds were told about Jesus’ birth by the angels and went to Bethlehem to see him. But in “Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow” we get an amalgamation of those two stories.
This was not caused by biblical confusion. There’s a strategic repositioning taking place here that would have been empowering to the listeners and singers of this song. The wise men were thought to be wealthy kings or magicians from far-off lands, bring lavish, expensive gifts to welcome Christ. These were not people to whom the slaves could relate. If the wise men were on one end of the social spectrum, the shepherds would have been on the extreme other end. There were few occupations more demanding or degrading than a shepherd. Because of their nomadic lifestyle, they were considered religious and social outcasts who were looked upon with suspicion.
The slaves could relate to being outcasts, to being looked upon with suspicion. In the shepherds, they found a kindred spirit, another group of people without a home. So, in “Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow,” by replacing the kingly travelers with people of no status, the slaves were subtly creating a revolution in status for themselves. This song is sung to them: “Rise up, shepherd, and follow.” Through the juxtaposition, the slaves became the wise seekers looking for the gifts Christ had to offer, following the star to the place where salvation and freedom could be found.
There are two commands that are repeated over and over in this song. The first is to “Rise up.” When picturing the slaves at work we might see them crouching or stooping or bent over in the fields. This song is a call to rise up, to stand up, to take a stand against their oppression and to actively pursue freedom, not matter the cost.
The second command is to “follow.” It’s sung five times in the chorus alone. “Follow.” For the slaves, it meant following the North Star to freedom.
SOUND – piano, SATB choir, spiritual
HARMONY – Cmajor & Dbmajor & Dmajor (shifting up a half step creates excitement, building), jazz chords, homophonic setting to the melody.
MELODY – predominantly in the soprano parts, sometimes shared between the men and women’s voices. Repeated with variations.
RHYTHM – syncopation, swing tempo,
GROWTH/FORM – one verse and refrain, continuously repeated.
TERMS:
quarter note = ca. 88, then quarter note = ca. 108.
swing tempo
rit. (ritardando)
f (forte)
unis. (unison)
mf (mezzo-forte)
mp (mezzo-piano)
crescendo
decrescendo
key change
p (piano)
sfz (sfzorando)
syncopation