♪ He taught me how ♪
♪ Oh, he taught me how ♪
I grew up in a family where everyone sang gospel music.
And so my very first entrance into music had to do with gospel singing.
And so well before I converted into the classical realm,
that's really where I started.
And when you go to church and you become a classical singer,
they're like, “Mmm,
I don't know if that really works for church anymore.”
And then you go into the classical arena
and you do a little bit of your gospel element and they're like,
“Mmm, I'm not sure if it works here either.”
But I found eventually, it took a long time
after a bit of a journey to find a lane that allows me to do both
and feel comfortable in both spaces.
♪ Got no hope for tomorrrow... ♪
The professor here
for the Treble Choir invited me to come.
What he wanted to do
was to give the performance for the Treble Choir a different twinge.
So he invited me to come to add the gospel flavor to it.
Gospel kind of kicks it up a notch.
There are many classical singers, directors
that don't want to mix them together, but they can definitely be intertwined.
And Dr. Battle has done a
wonderful job in intertwining the two.
Historically, it has always been considered that
gospel music was a voice type or voice style that was going to harm the voice.
And so most people wanted you to not necessarily do
gospel music because they were afraid it was going to somehow
impact your classical voice abilities.
We had to come up with a method and a way to be able to do them
both, because I'm not always certain it was about vocal damage.
It was just about not really understanding how the voice worked.
They are trained to know how to use
a gospel voice, you know, so that it won't be abused.
But gospel music kind of allows you to let your hair
down, move a little bit, rock and clap.
You know, and what that does for those students
who did not grow up in that genre, it gives them an opportunity to say,
“Okay, this is okay.” And that's why it's important to give them that exposure.
♪ I did not come to condemn the world, nor shame you for your wrong ♪
All music is informed by another form,
and especially now when we've moved away from the radio generation
to the streaming generation, so much music is being introduced
to our students on a day to day basis.
And it would be helpful for us
to kind of ride that wave with them rather than fighting against it.
I'm just thrilled to be able to bring this art form to Kilbourn Hall.
Not to say that it hasn't been there before because it has been,
but I think I want it to not feel like it's an extra,
but feel like it's intricately
a part of the Eastman experience and I'm so thankful that Professor Philip Silvey
and the Treble Chorus were willing to take this kind of leap of faith
to do something different and new and bring it to our audience in a special way.