Historical Narrative
Composed in 1956, “Over My Head” represents an early yet significant period in Betty Jackson King’s development as a composer and arranger of African American spirituals. By this time, King had firmly established herself as one of Chicago’s most promising young musicians. She was active as a teacher, performer, and emerging scholar, having earned degrees from the Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University, where she studied piano, voice, and composition under distinguished mentors including Thelma Waide Brown and Hans Tischler. Her early publications from the 1950s reveal a growing command of choral writing, characterized by clear textures, disciplined counterpoint, and harmonic imagination—traits that would define her mature works in the decades to follow.
Musical Description
“Over My Head” is arranged for male voices (TTBB) with incidental solo and piano accompaniment (for rehearsal use only). Written in the key of E major, the piece opens Slow, creating a contemplative atmosphere that captures both the mystery and faith expressed in the spiritual’s text. The first tenor and baritone introduce the melodic idea—“Over my head, I see trouble in the air”—supported by a piano line that gently reinforces the vocal phrasing with flowing triplet rhythms. These triplets, sustained throughout the work, lend the music a sense of suspension and inevitability, as though the singer’s reflection on the divine is continuous and unbroken.