Soul

What it means

Soul is an African American popular music style that arose in the United States in the 1950s and especially the 1960s from the combination of gospel and rhythm and blues. It is marked by an expressive, often shouting or wailing vocal style that carries gospel singing techniques over into secular themes such as love and everyday life.

The name "soul" points to this deeply felt, emotional expression.

Musical use

Important centers of soul included labels such as Motown in Detroit, with a smoother, pop-oriented sound, and Stax in Memphis, with a rawer, horn-driven Southern soul style. Defining voices include Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, and Marvin Gaye.

Musically, soul rests on a strong, danceable groove, usually with a horn section, organ, and a rhythmically driving rhythm section, as well as on call-and-response patterns between lead vocal and backing vocals, likewise rooted in church music.

Soul should be distinguished from the rhythm and blues out of which it grew, which was more danceable and less shaped by gospel, and from funk, which developed out of soul in the late 1960s and pushed the rhythmic groove even further to the forefront.

Performance practice

If you sing soul, take your cue from the expressive gospel heritage: use melismas, dynamic leaps, and a personal, emotional tone rather than singing smoothly and at a distance. In accompaniment, aim for a full, driving groove that carries the singer.