For Mrs. Bertha Landis, one of the best things about a "Singing Stream: A Black Family Chronicle" is the film's title. It came from her comments. "I taught them how to sing--my boys," she said. "My father was a music teacher, and he had a brother that taught music, and my mother had two brothers who taught music. So that's why it's called singing stream--it comes from a long way." The hour long documentary showcases the musical and cultural traditions of one southern black family. Through interviews and scenes from daily routines, family reunions, gospel concerts and church services, the film chronicles the history of the Creedmoor, North Carolina Landis family, as it happened during the lifetime of the family's matriarch and oldest surviving member. "A Singing Stream" documents how Mrs. Landis used her family's musical gifts, along with a deep religious faith and strong cultural traditions, to unite, discipline and motivate her children, equipping them to rise above barriers faced by blacks in the south during the last half-century. Musical performances in the film span nearly a century of black religious song styles, from unaccompanied shape-note singing to contemporary gospel. "A Singing Stream" features rehearsals and concerts by the golden echoes, a male gospel quartet that includes three Landis men, and the Echoes Of Heaven, a female quartet also made up of family members.