Social Harmony Measured in Common Time?

DuBois’ Of Our Spiritual Strivings opens with a two-stanza poem that is divided from the rest of the text by a two-measure bar of music. Listen Here

What is significant about this bar of music? Why does DuBois use it? Whey does DuBois associate the “Spiritual Strivings” of African American individuals with this tone, key, and rhythm?

To begin a work regarding race it is significant that DuBois includes written music. Beginning with a pickup note may suggest the idea that African American individuals were joining into a measure of society whose conduction has already been counted in (underway).

DuBois writes with the concept of social harmony as being a three-part harmony: work, culture, and liberty. Interestingly enough the bar of music only has one three-part chord at the beginning that repeats twice and then disappears and the bar of music is finished with two-part chords.

To look at the chords themselves a being a representation of social harmony (as physically written on the staff and as spiritually in sound) it is significant that it begins with all three factors of work, culture, liberty, but as it progresses it loses one. Which one? Why? —

It brings cause to question why sounds of society are written to be in specific places, is there a connection between this and the bar if music? Is social dynamic/harmony something that can be measured, confined to the lines of a measure or can the sounds be confined to a key? Does the rhythm of the world follow a specific number of beats per minute? hour? Day, month, year?

Is there significance in the idea of measurement? Can it be seen?

DuBois writes the line “How does it feel to be a problem?” Studying this piece harmonically, there is a chord of dissonance  (Fsus2 G) on the + of beat 4 in measure 2 (the blue one) Could this dissonance be a representation of the disruption in social structure with the integration of free African Americans?

Perhaps, if this thinking of representation was, in fact, a true intention, if a note was written outside of the key and was in need of special distinction, DuBois’ point may have been made even stronger.

In dissecting this short bar of music, it becomes clear that with ever answer or understanding you come across, there will be more questions and answers to uncover.