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Back in February, a number of Sanctuary Choir members and I attended the National Lutheran Choir Choral Tune-Up. The National Lutheran Choir invites a guest clinician to lead a day of singing and learning new music, or experiencing music in a different way. This year our presenters were Dr. André J. Thomas and Dr. Brandon A. Boyd. Dr. Thomas is particularly well-known by his arrangement of the spiritual “Keep Your Lamps,” which many choirs have sung, including high school, college, professional, church, and community choirs. (I sang “Keep Your Lamps” in high school.) He is a Professor Emeritus of Music at Florida State University. Dr. Boyd is the Director of Choral Activities at University of Missouri. Both of them are composers and do presentations for conferences, conventions. They are fabulous pianists! If you haven’t guessed it by now, Dr. Thomas and Dr. Boyd are African-American.

The day before the Choral Tune-Up, they did a sit-down chat and presentation for the choral directors. The question came up whether white choirs should be singing spirituals. Dr. Boyd and Dr. Thomas tried not to roll their eyes or show too much exasperation. Their answer was a resounding yes AND… the choir should understand the history and context of the music they are singing. How you sing a Spiritual will be different if you know the history surrounding it. Spirituals often have a biblical reference. Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho, Keep Your Lamps, and Ezekiel Saw de Wheel are all examples. The biblical reference is the surface content. There is a hidden message included in spirituals. One possible message could be talking about the underground railroad, such as the spiritual “Get on Board, Little Children” which the Sanctuary Choir and Children’s Choir sang in May.

Spirituals are American music. Gospel is American music. Civil rights anthems are American music. And as Dr. Thomas and Dr. Boyd said, who will sing this music if you don’t? To paraphrase the rest, who will support the next generation of black composers if you don’t? Will this history and music be lost if you don’t sing this music?

The PopUp Choir is singing “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round” this Sunday. This is a civil rights anthem and was sung during many demonstrations, including during the Memphis sanitation strike. (Personal historical research was also one of the “yes AND” requests of singing spirituals and anthems, so go look up that bit of history.) I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the celebration of Juneteenth on June 19th. Go look that up if you don’t know the history behind the holiday. Then, take some action. YOU are invited to sing “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round” this Sunday morning! We will rehearse at 8:30 AM in the Chapel. You don’t need to know how to read music to sing this song. All are welcome.