Folk spirituals, unlike much white gospel, were often spirited: enslaved people added dancing (later known as "the shout") and other forms of bodily movements to the singing. They also changed the melodies and rhythms of psalms and hymns, such as speeding up the tempo, adding repeated refrains and choruses, and replaced texts with new ones that often combined English and African words and phrases. Originally being passed down orally, folk spirituals have been central in the lives of African Americans for more than three centuries, serving religious, cultural, social, political, and historical functions.