Recording
Move On Up a Little Higher
Mahalia Jackson
- Released
- 1947
- Label
- Apollo
- On one list
- Gospel
- Updated
- 2026-08-30
Analysis
8 sections, no single moment the energy jumps to.
- Tempo
- 99.4 BPM
- holds throughout
- Key
- Bb major
- estimated from the pitch content
- Dynamic range
- 4.5 dB
- compressed hard — very little between the quiet and the loud
- Length
- 5:23
- measured from the YouTube master
The record, end to end
Click the track to jump · ← → move between sections
- 0:00Aintro0
- 0:18Bbuildbar 8
- 0:38Bpeakbar 16
- 0:49Csteadybar 20
- 2:16Cliftbar 57
- 3:47Cbreakdownbar 94
- 3:59Csteadybar 99
- 5:05Doutrobar 127
0:00 · A · intro
opens the record below its own average energy · instrumental
- Lasts
- 0:18
- Energy
- 30
- Brightness
- 0
- Density
- 46
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy and brightness climbing without a break · sung · one of 2 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 0:20
- Energy
- 82
- Brightness
- 62
- Density
- 51
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · sung · one of 2 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 0:11
- Energy
- 100
- Brightness
- 60
- Density
- 48
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · sung · one of 4 stretches of the same music (C)
- Lasts
- 1:27
- Energy
- 67
- Brightness
- 67
- Density
- 73
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
a short rise that does not resolve — a fill or a transition, not a build · sung · one of 4 stretches of the same music (C)
- Lasts
- 1:31
- Energy
- 54
- Brightness
- 82
- Density
- 78
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · sung · one of 4 stretches of the same music (C)
- Lasts
- 0:12
- Energy
- 28
- Brightness
- 51
- Density
- 61
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · sung · one of 4 stretches of the same music (C)
- Lasts
- 1:06
- Energy
- 43
- Brightness
- 100
- Density
- 100
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
the closing fall · sung
- Lasts
- 0:18
- Energy
- 0
- Brightness
- 58
- Density
- 0
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
Brightness and density are scored against this record's own sections, not against music in general — they say how its parts differ from each other, and nothing about how it compares to anything else.
- drums
- the drum kit, separated from the mix
- bass
- the bass part, separated from the mix
- vocals
- the voice, separated from the mix
- other
- everything else — synths, guitars, keys, strings
Separated into parts by a source-separation model, so each lane is the instrument it names.
- intro
- opens the record below its own average energy
- build
- energy and brightness climbing without a break
- peak
- sits at the top of this record's range
- steady
- holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling
- lift
- a short rise that does not resolve — a fill or a transition, not a build
- breakdown
- energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning
- outro
- the closing fall
Measured from the YouTube master on . Section labels describe how the energy of the recording moves, not its musical form — a machine can see loudness climb and jump, it cannot hear a chorus arrive. Anything we were not confident enough to state is left out rather than shown with a caveat.
Ranked No. 1 in Gospel
It sold in the millions when gospel records were not supposed to sell at all. Jackson refused every offer to sing secular material, and never needed to.