Bill Ahlschwede (billahls@utm.edu) from 192.239.147.163 at 10/04/99 11:02AM
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    The choral program Thursday evening was a study in contrasts. Of course, that was expected. On of the two groups, the University Singers, is an official chorus of the University of Tennessee at Martin, part of the academic program of the Department of Music. The other choir, the Highest Praise Gospel Choir, is a student group. It is part of the program of the Black Student Association, a recognized student organization. The University Singers were first on the program. They took the stage, formally attired in black dresses and black tuxedos, black shoes, and black folders which held their music. The piano player, and her assistant, were also in formal black. Of the thirty-eight student singers, twenty-nine were white, six were black, and three were Oriental. Their director, resplendant in this black tux, spoke of his enthusiasm for the joint concert, and described his understanding of the program we were about to hear. The University Singers performed for about thirty minutes. The piano player, for most of the selections, played the starting notes to provide the pitch. She accompanied the Singers on the last set, a group, of three pieces by Copeland. Then came the changing of the guard. The Highest Praise Gospel Choir, which had been sitting in the front row of the Theatre, moved to the side of the auditorium, to allow the University Singers to sit in the front row. Once the University Singers, still in formal black, were seated, the Highest Praise gospel Choir took the stage. All of the members of the Highest Prais Gospel Choir were black. Their uniforms were off-white T-shirts, printed alike with black lettering; blue jeans; and sneakers. The drummer shed his red jacket and claimed his spot on the side of the stage. The leader of the group was a tall, muscular black man, dressed like the choir, with the addition of a beeper and a cell-phone attatched to his belt. The director exhorted the audience to respond, to clap, to shout, to holler, "Hello?" The audience responded. The director became the piano player, an all-over-the-keyboard-bang-it-out piano played--and a slender woman from the choir became the conductor. The music of the Highest Praise Gospel Choir was loud, excited, and executed with movement--body swaying, hand clapping, and foot stomping. For the last number, the director became the soloist and the woman conductor was replaced by a man conductor from the choir. The enthusiasm of the choir was infectious. The audience stood and swayed and clapped and hollared. The contrast between the two choirs mirrors the contrasts between two cultures, two cultures which exist together in West Tennessee and in many parts of the south. The choral styles also represent two musical traditions. Last summer, our church choir was invited to sing for the annual conference of our denomination in West Tennessee. We are a white church. For the event, we combined our choir with the choir of our sister church, a church of the same denomination in our town, a church with a black congregation. We had several rehersals. We showed up with our music to practice. We provided copies to our neighbors. It seemed that they couldn't sing the right notes. It was like they didn't know where we were on the page. Their voices were sweet, their intervals exact, but they didn't read music. At the second rehersal, our director, who also is the director of University Singers, explained to us that in the white church, the musical tradition is one of reading music and singing. In the black church, the musical tradition is one of learning music by hearing it. Eventhough our neighbors had the same hymnal in the pews, they relied on their ear and memory for the tune, while we read the music. By the time we sang for our annual conference, all of us knew the music. Our neighbors had learned it from hearing us sing. Their voices added a texture to the songs that we were not accustomed to, an excitement which endeared our music to the assembled audience. These two traditions, these two Southern Cultures, were on display Thursday evening in the Harriot Fulton Theatre at The University of Tennessee at Martin. Unlike my summer church chior experience, the two musical traditions were displayed one after the other in concert. The contrast made it difficult for me to rise from my seat to sway and clap and holler, and once standing, made it difficult to stop.