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Michigan Heritage Awards
Arts Nomination Form
Community Leadership Nomination Form
^ MHA Awardees List ^
Photo by David Perry
Photo by Deborah Smith Barney
2000 posthumous awardee, Detroit (Wayne County), singer, leader, and
teacher of lined out metered hymns
Albert Likely (1924-98) was a devoted deacon in Hartford Memorial Baptist
Church (Detroit) and a master performer and committed teacher of the metered
hymn. Created by black slaves in America, metered hymns are tunes led by
a deacon or preacher with a good voice who defines the tune by chanting
the lines of the hymn, which is called lining out. His lines are repeated
in harmony by the congregation. The notes were not written but remembered
and passed from one generation to the next. Many of these tunes have been
lost.
Deacon Likely knew former slaves in his family near Evergreen, Alabama,
who taught him metered hymn singing. His grandfather sang them as he farmed
his land, and Deacon Likely recalled that the hymns drew others to the side
of the road where impromptu church meetings evolved. His mother's tradition
was to begin Christmas Day with a metered hymn rather than a holiday carol.
By the age 16, Deacon Likely had become a metered hymn singer, too, and
sang as he performed his farm chores.
When he moved to Detroit, Deacon Likely discovered that in virtually every
church at least one person could perform metered hymns. When he joined Hartford
Church, his gift was discovered and older deacons often sent new or younger
deacons to his home to learn the art of lining out a hymn. Deacon Likely
was unique in his ability to remember hymn tunes and to teach them. Because
of Deacon Likely, many on the Board of Deacons at Hartford are adept at
lining out and combining the right lyric with the correct tune and meter.
For several years, Deacon Likely participated in the Michigan Traditional
Arts Apprenticeship Program as master teacher of several young deacons at
Elyton Baptist Church. He also taught new generations of deacons in Pilgrim
Baptist Church and instructed, inspired, and trained deacons of the Baptist
churches in the Progressive National Baptist Convention to sing and lead
metered hymns.
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