Introduction

Abstract

The introduction lays out the key questions, terms, methods, structure, and interdisciplinary concerns of the book. The definitive black musical theatre actress is often thought of in terms of The Wiz (1975) and Dreamgirls (1980), obscuring black women who starred in US musical theatre in prior decades. Similarly, the twenty-first century casting director’s shorthand for a reductive demand of black vocality—"Take me to church!”—disavows ideas of expansion, change, and vocal co-presence for black singers. By contrast, the black feminist study of singing lessons in this book unfolds a theory of song performance as sonic citation, or twice-heard behavior. Sonic citation is not about honoring the memory of black singers. Rather, it is nondiscursive, an invitation to sing in the joyful knowledge of voices one is ever singing along with.