Editing The Soul Stirrers (section)

===Style===
Rebert Harris, also from Trinity, Texas, brought several changes to The Soul Stirrers that affected [[gospel quartet]] singing generally. He used a [[falsetto]] style that had its antecedents in African music, but which was new to the popular jubilee singing style of the time. He pioneered the "swing lead", in which two singers would share the job of leading the song, allowing virtuoso singers to increase the emotional intensity of the song as the lead passed between them without disturbing the four part harmony.<ref name="Larkin50"/> That innovation led The Soul Stirrers, while still called a quartet, to acquire five members.

The Soul Stirrers made other important changes in those years: ad-libbing lyrics, singing in delayed time, and repeating words in the background as both a rhythmic and emotional support for the lead singers. The Soul Stirrers along with other quartet performers, dropped the "flatfooted" style of jubilee quartets before them and expanded their repertoire from [[spirituals]] and traditional hymns to the newer gospel compositions. The group also loosened the rigid arrangements that jubilee quartets had favored to permit individual singers within the group more space for individual development.