My research project, The Art of the Negro Spiritual (ANS), looks into historical and performance aspects of the Negro Spiritual as an art song form. I've developed a Web site where I share parts of my research and that I use to network with others interested in spirituals. The site includes an e-book that has excerpts from the forthcoming book and a survey on the challenges of bringing spiritual art songs to the voice studio. For more information, visit the site at www.artofthenegrospiritual.com.

I conducted a live interview on Iowa Public Radio's The Exchange--hosted by Ben Kieffer--on Monday, April 28, 2008. I included recordings of spirituals performed with pianists Timothy Newton and William Tinker during recent recitals given on the Grinnell College campus, discussed the unique nature of performing spirituals set for concert performance and how I became interested in this American musical form. Listen to interview.

An even older research project is called Afrocentric Voices in Classical Music. That Web site focuses on African American performers and composers and on the vocal music forms they influenced, especially opera, art songs and Negro spirituals composed for concert performance. There are biographies, bibliographies, a chronology, and other information about this music and these musicians. There is also a place for African American Future Voices to register and network.

My most recent addition to the Afrocentric Voices site was the Afrocentric Voices Webcasting Service, which is an Internet radio station that features vocal music by African American singers and composers. The recordings reflect my research, and I try to add new material as regularly as I can. The widget to the left displays the recording currently playing. Click on the Play icon to listen in. To learn about Afrocentric Voices, please go to the page. More information about the webcasting station is available at www.live365.com/stations/vulcanlyre?site=live365. NEW! I've just started a new station called Afrocentric Sounds, another Webcast that features classical music composed or performed by the African diaspora. This station will have a very eclectic playlist that covers international musicians and performers of African descent who would not appear on Afrocentric Voices. To listen to the station, please click on the play button for the widget to your right, or visit www.live365.com/stations/singin1?site=live365, or go to the station's Web site at www.afrocentricsounds.com for more information. I have presented lecture recitals on aspects of my research at sites such as the University of Kansas, Lawrence, where I re-introduced Margaret Bonds' Five Creek-Freedmen Spirituals. I have served as research consultant for organizations including The Kennedy Center Honors and The Washington Chorus.

My most recent presentations addressed the role of the Negro spiritual during the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1950's and 60's. From the introduction of this music by Martin Luther King, to its very effective use by groups such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), spirituals served to bring together protesters--black and white--and helped them hold steady in the face of angry mobs and threatening officials.

Another of my recent presentations focused on "Secret Codes in the Negro Spiritual" at the Grinnell Historical Museum, Grinnell, Iowa. I led a discussion on how songs such as "Go Down Moses" and "Steal Away" were used to communicate among slaves, especially those who travelled the Underground Railroad.

I participated in a panel discussion on ways to collaborate in the preservation of the Negro spiritual. The panel was sponsored by the National Association of Negro Musicians at their 87th annual conference, Norfolk, Virginia, from July 23-27, 2006. See the article about the panel and its participants is on page six of NANM's Reverberations newsletter and a flyer for the conference.

Musical Selections Performed by Randye Jones:
This Little Light of Mine by Hale Smith (with Francis Conlon, piano)
I Want Jesus to Walk with Me by Maria Thompson Corley (with Gregory Thompson, piano)
Vocalise, op. 34, no. 14, by Sergei Rachmaninoff (with Timothy Newton, piano)
Deep River by Harry T. Burleigh (with Timothy Newton, piano)
Calvary by Betty Jackson King (with William Tinker, piano)