William Farley Smith

William Farley Smith (1941–1997) was an African American United Methodist musician, educator, composer, organist, and influential arranger of spirituals. Born in Durham, North Carolina, on April 23, 1941, he grew up in a Methodist family in which music and ministry were closely connected. He studied at the Manhattan School of Music, earning the Bachelor of Music in 1963 and Master of Music in 1964, and later completed the Ed.M. in 1982 and Ed.D. in 1984 at Columbia University.

Smith spent more than two decades in music education, teaching in New York City public schools, at the Performing Arts High School in Newark, and at Montclair State College. In 1990 he joined Drew University and Drew University School of Theology, holding appointments in music and worship. He also served as a church musician, including ministry as music director and organist at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Harlem.

His career crossed musical and religious boundaries. In 1961, while still a young musician, Smith served as organist at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in New York and composed music for a Jewish liturgical service in collaboration with the congregation’s cantor. Within Christian hymnody, however, his most enduring contribution was his work with African American congregational song.

Smith served as a consultant in African American music and worship during preparation of The United Methodist Hymnal and arranged more than forty spirituals for that collection. Because he frequently worked with inherited traditional material, his role is often properly described as adapter and arranger rather than original composer. His work helped place African American spirituals within a major denominational hymnal while preserving them as living congregational repertory.