They Felt the Spirit and Said So

Trinity Transforms Quaint Dutch Village Into Community of Gospel Praise

Joyce Garrett directs Trinity Choir in last appearance of 2014 European Tour.

MONNICKENDAM, The Netherlands—Trinity Choir’s 2014 European Tour officially ended in this charming hamlet in the Dutch province of North Holland. And for just a few hours, St. Nicholas and St. Anthony’s Catholic Church sounded very much like Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia . . . with an accent, of course.

“We want more, we want more, we want more!” villagers and visitors chanted as director Joyce Garrett and accompanist Melvin Bryant Jr. followed the 54-member ensemble down the center aisle and, eventually, outside to the front of the church to greet the grateful flock.

The reaction has been the same throughout the tour after Alfred Street’s expressive soloists and power-packed sopranos, altos, tenors and basses delivered soulful rendition of hymns, spirituals and gospel favorites. The worshippers, observers and tourists came to their feet, clapped their hands displaying wide, appreciative smiles. Tears flooded some eyes; other folks shook their heads in quiet acknowledgement of the inspiration received.

It started September 22 at Eglise La Madeleine in Paris; continued September 25 at Sint Salvator Cathedral in Bruges, Belgium, and concluded September 28 in Monnickendam, a 20-minute drive from Amsterdam.  (The final concert was streamed live on the Internet by PIM, a local media enterprise, and will be available for purchase on DVD in mid-October.)

But few in the audiences will ever know or understand how much time, effort and thought went into planning, practicing and performing the 16-piece repertoire.

“I had to consider the flow, the key signature and how much my singers could effectively retain during a busy travel schedule,” says Ms. Garrett, the choir’s director and minister of music at Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia. “That means thinking about what the audience sees and hears.”

Ms. Garrett says she began compiling the repertoire months ago while choir members were learning songs to render at regular church services. Once those were learned, she added pieces with varied genre, color, texture and pitch. And with the dynamic pianism of Mr. Bryant, who provided steady tempo, color and a joyous gospel bounce, there was nothing left to shout but Hallelujah!

Director Garrett's interview with PIM-TV will reportedly be
included in the DVD. It was conducted during intermission. 

DVD AVAILABLE IN MID-OCTOBER: PIM-TV Director Willejan Buter says DVDs of Trinity's Monnickendam concert will be available for sale in mid-October. Price: $15 Euros/$18 USD plus shipping and handling. To order, write info@omroep-pim.nl and request the number of copies you desire. Willejan says you will be sent a PayPal link to complete the transaction.

Willejan Buter (top) with assistant Tom. Equipment used in creating live Internet
stream and DVD included 4 cameras, 8 mics, light banks, switcher, audio board.

Will Europe Turn Me Into a Cycling Psycho?

Trinity's Tour Makes It Plain: I Gotta Do Better!

BRUGES: Bikers follow the paths pedestrians must cross.

The place is rife with bikers. In Paris, they compete with buses and cabs for road dominance. In Bruges, Belgium, crossing a bike path can be more dangerous than crossing Times Square against the light. And in Amsterdam, so many people pedal, bikes stacked in parking lots resemble recycling centers. I could say cycling creates a gnarly environment. But that's not true.

Cycling creates a challenging environment because you have to look out for yet another class of commuters. Moreover, these "psycho cyclers" (my description) aren't crazy at all. Using bikes makes perfect sense in light of space-challenged streets, high fuel prices and overall health perks. I'm seeing every kind of biker possible--from youngsters flying down the street racing buses to seniors pedaling through their errands to parents ferrying children on seats affixed to the back wheel.

Many bikes have baskets and saddle bags to carry purses, books, packages, whatever. And since they're used for everyday transportation, no one seems concerned if they're spanking new or dingy antique. I guess the glitz is saved for hotshot race events.

I saw tangles of bikes everywhere we visited.    

Anyway, I'm blessed to witness this mania (which is really normal behavior for Europe) because I started riding my old Peugeot mountain bike. I decided to get it refurbished rather than buy a new one.  I love the heavy frame and the brand. I'm riding because I need every biking benefit cited by the experts, including better cardiovascular, more strength and flexibility, and stress reduction. Leave it to a loving God to point out my need in a unique way. I came to Europe for the music but I'll be leaving inspired not only by Trinity's musical witness but by cycling.

Fact is, I need to do better about my health and diet. I could blame it on the rich foods and breads, etc., we're consuming on the trip but the truth is the choir tour is only for a week. I've been needing to change my dietary ways for a long time. That means more exercise and more control over what I eat and drink.

Bottom line: I'm hoping that hopping around Paris, taking a side trip to London, and then moving on with the group to Bruges and Amsterdam will instill a new sense of urgency. When I get back to the U.S.,  I'll probably add some type of carry apparatus to my bike so I can use it more naturally in everyday life--shopping, pharmacy, the post office.  Maybe soon,  I'll be a cycling psycho too.

Senior biker rides by Trinity Choir members taking in the town square before a concert.

Talk to your doctor first, then if it's okay glean some inspiration from these articles about the benefits of biking . . . 

• 7 Reasons to Start Bike Riding--Women's Health Magazine
• 10 Reasons to Get on a Bike--Men's Fitness
• Time to Take Up Bike Riding--Prevention.com

Trinity Repertoire Reflects Deep Music Roots

Pianist Melvin Bryant Jr., who will accompany Trinity in concert.

     PARIS--Trinity Choir's one-hour performances in Paris, Bruges and Amsterdam will spotlight the complexities and colors of African American music.

     "It creates a cultural enigma," says accompanist Melvin Bryant Jr. "They love gospel music so much but they can't quite recreate it."

     That's one reason director Joyce Garrett's musical choices lean heavily toward gospel and spirituals. As Mr. Bryant quips: "Classical music . . . They've got that all day long."

     So Trinity will give the people what they want--the good news with sharps, flats, soaring solos and choral crescendos powerful enough to shake up the EU, including a soulful sax solo performed by Tempora Fisher on Amazing Grace.

 

Sax soloist and Trinity alto Tempora Fisher.

 "It was the first song I played in public as a kid. . . in my home church in Opelousas, Louisiana," says Dr. Fisher, a veterinarian who sings alto in Trinity and is also a violinist and pianist. "My late grandmother loved to hear me play that song. It's timeless, like a Shakespearean sonnet. And it's spiritual because it says, in the end . . . He's your Savior."

     Here's the planned list of songs:

HYMNS and ANTHEMS

-Sing Unto the Lord, a New Song by Gordon Young

-Amazing Grace, arranged by Evelyn Curenton

-The Majesty and Glory of Your Name by Tom Fettke

-Glorious Medley, arranged by Omar Dickenson

SPIRITUALS

-Every Time I Feel the Spirit, arranged by William Dawson

-I'll Never Turn Back No More by Nathaniel Dett

-Rockin' Jerusalem by Andre Thomas

-Spiritual Medley, arranged by Hines-Garrett-Hogan

-Done Made My Vow, arranged by Nolan Williams Jr.

-I'm Determined to Walk With Jesus, arranged by Raymond Wise

GOSPEL SONGS

-Jesus is a Rock by Glenn Burleigh

-Hallelujah is the Highest Praise by Anthony Pattin

-I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say by Shelton Becton

-Gospel Medley, Traditional and by Andre Crouch

-O Happy Day by Edwin Hawkins

-This is the Day Medley

The Heart of a Maestro

‘I love standing with my back to the audience . . .’

INTERVIEW WITH . . .

Joyce Garrett, Music Ministry Director

Alfred Street Baptist Church

Alexandria, Va.

Part 2 of 2

Director Joyce Garrett prefers shaping sounds over singing.

ALEXANDRIA, VA—Joyce Garrett was a musical force to be reckoned with before taking the reins of the Music Ministry of the Alfred Street Baptist Church. She was founder and artistic director of Excellence Without Excuses, a youth intervention and scholarship program for the award-winning Eastern High School Choir of Washington, D.C.; enjoyed a distinguished career as choir director and music educator, and is currently a conducting fixture on every major performing arts stage in the metropolitan area. The Kinston, N.C., native earned her undergraduate degree from Bennett College and her graduate degree from The Catholic University. She holds honorary doctorate degrees from Bennett and West Virginia Wesleyan College.

In Part 2 of my interview with Ms. Garrett, she talked about the importance of music in education and the roots of her passion—directing choirs. She and the Trinity Choir from Alfred Street Baptist Church are once again headed to Europe with a repertoire of hymns, anthems, spirituals and gospel songs. They will perform in Paris, Bruges, and Amsterdam from September 20-29. Takeoff is in a few hours.

DoWriteMan:        You play piano and pipe organist, and you love the church orchestra. But you are a choir director to the core of our soul. What made you fall in love with choirs rather than conducting bands or orchestras?

Ms. Garrett:           When I was taking piano lessons as a child, and I think I was about nine years old when I went to a choir concert at my high school. It was absolutely wonderful. I looked at that choir and I looked at that director, and I said to myself, “I really would love to do that . . . that’s what I want to do.” I wanted to get into band when I got in seventh grade, and my family said no because they thought if I learned other instruments I’d give up playing the piano.  So they didn’t let me join the band and I continued to take piano. Somehow, playing the piano, by age 12, I started playing for the choir, and I began to get some skills and knowledge of what it is like to work with choirs. So I always played for choirs—in high school, at church. And when I went to college, I was an accompanist for my college choir whenever they needed me. When I started teaching it was kind of understood that you followed that route from pianist to music educator, and when you got into the classroom . . . you were responsible for directing the choir. Whoever was doing instrumental music would do the band.

DoWriteMan:        You were an accomplished pianist even back then. Why not singing?

Ms. Garrett:           I never wanted performing. I love standing with my back to the audience and shaping what is happening up there.

DoWriteMan:        So once you got the baton in your hand, it became a part of you. Describe the magic, how you feel when you’re directing.

Ms. Garrett:           When my back is turned, I’m communicating with this musical organism—the choir—and it has to communicate with the congregation or audience. It is like passing the torch, passing something to those people. I like shaping the sound rather than singing it myself. I love to direct choirs. I love directing more than I like singing. But I have to know how to sing to show choir members what I want. But I don’t like it more than shaping that choral sound.

DoWriteMan:        So what makes someone a good choir director?

Ms. Garrett:           A good ear. One of the main things choir directors must have is a concept of what sound they want. I never really got it out of a book, but I remember hearing different choirs and knowing which sound I thought was a more beautiful. So I would just imitate. The way I teach my singers is mainly to imitate the more beautiful sound. It is not that another sound is incorrect. I don’t say, “That’s a wrong way to sing an A,” because in another culture, that might be the right way to sing that A.

DoWriteMan:        But you seem to be a very, very strict tactician. I’ve been under your baton when the orchestra accompanies your choir. You are very precise in terms of the way you want singers to enunciate and project personality in their faces and stances.

Ms. Garrett:           That’s right, because you cannot sing in front of people in 2014 with blank faces the way we did in 1970. Things have changed. It is such a visual world now. If you look at a commercial on television, there is never any one image that stays on the TV longer than maybe two seconds. A choir now must do more than sound good. It has to give you something visual as well.

DoWriteMan:        So as you think back on the years, have your choirs respected you or feared you?

Ms. Garrett:           I would hope a little of both. You know why? Choir members like to sound good with a warmer sound and shaping the tones better. I think I get their respect because they want to sound good and they know when they sound good. The respect comes from the people when they hear the result.

DoWriteMan:        You’re an educator. Let’s talk education. It drives me nuts when budget-strapped public schools start cutting music and arts to save money. How detrimental is that?

Ms. Garrett:           Very detrimental because the arts are something that can transform the lives of children. Science and math are very important. We know they are important but there is something about the arts that changes lives. It’s no good to have a brain and be able to do all the science and the mathematics . . . but have no heart. This is important, especially with our fractured society now. The children need that heart.

DoWriteMan:        Why? Give me an example?

Ms. Garrett:           Children from dysfunctional homes can, through the choir, find a sense of family.  They find a sense of love and respect in doing the arts. There is something about a shared experience with your peers that is validating, which helps your own self-esteem. The arts prepare children to accept challenges, because you cannot do music with a three-minute rehearsal. You have to work on it.

DoWriteMan:        That develops patience, right?

Ms. Garrett:           It helps teach perseverance. You cannot sing only gospel music; you cannot just learn a three-minute praise song. There is a 20-page Mozart work that is really going to test your endurance, test your patience, and your ability to hang on to a long project.

DoWriteMan:        Sounds like discipline is a primary byproduct of being in the choir.

Ms. Garrett:           It is. Being in the choir, for example, means walking on stage, turning around and not moving. That’s discipline. A lot of these children, and even some adults, need a disciplined mind. Being a part of any of the arts helps us reach beyond our grasp, because you cannot get to the top, you cannot play like a virtuoso in two years. You have to reach for it. It has to be in the in the future. You have got to set a goal.

DoWriteMan:        What are your expectations as you embark on another European tour?

Ms. Garrett:           We have adults from 30 to 92 that will be in this choir. I hope our European audiences see that Trinity is not a special auditioned ensemble; that these are regular people who are young, middle-aged, and older who can perform wonderful songs. I want them to feel our fellowship as church people and feel the love.

·       Check out Part 1 of DoWriteMan’s interview with Ms. Garrett below.

·       DoWriteMan will be blogging throughout Trinity’s European tour. Just click the button to FOLLOW and receive automatic updates.

·       Next up: Trinity’s Repertoire for the European Concert Tour.

Director Joyce Garrett To Tour Europe With "Blessed" Trinity Choir

France, Belgium and The Netherlands Will Get The Good News

INTERVIEW WITH . . .

 Joyce Garrett, Music Ministry Director

Alfred Street Baptist Church

Alexandria, Va.

Part 1 of 2

Choir Director Joyce Garrett demonstrates what she wants from vocalists.

ALEXANDRIA, VA—Joyce Garrett is a choir director extraordinaire, known for pulling the best from the vocal cords of singers or arranging chords on the keyboards to create choral magic. She is not shy about scolding members who are lax or break choir etiquette, and has earned the respect and love of every musician and crooner under her baton. Ms. Garrett, the Music Ministry Director for the historic Alfred Street Baptist Church in Old Town, also directs the Trinity Choir, which in 2012 toured Austria, Germany and Italy. On Saturday, she and Trinity are once again headed to Europe with a repertoire of hymns, anthems, spirituals and gospel songs designed to inspire and delight. They will perform in Paris, Bruges, and Amsterdam from September 20-29 as part of the 70^th anniversary of D-Day, when Allied forces stormed the fortified beaches of Normandy and began to liberate Europe. The tour operator is Music Celebrations International. Takeoff is Saturday but the maestro took few moments from planning and rehearsal to speak with DoWriteMan about touring and the universal language—music:

DoWriteMan:        What effect does touring have on a choir?

Ms. Garrett:           Touring is a great way for choir members to bond because they are sharing a special experience. To me, touring is cultural enrichment . . . at the same time you are bonding emotionally with each other.

DoWriteMan:        There is a long history of African-Americans performing jazz in Europe. Do you find the same welcoming spirit for gospel?

Ms. Garrett:           Very much so. The audiences in Europe . . . when they see an African-American choir, they love our music. They want to hear gospel, they want to hear spirituals, and they want to hear jazz. When I do my program, I’m kind of leaning more towards that than some of the classical anthems.

DoWriteMan:        It’s as if they’re saying, “We’ve already got that classical stuff. We want to hear something unique to you.”

Ms. Garrett:           That is exactly right. They already have that. We are going to have a lot of spirituals, a lot of sacred songs that may have a jazz feel and some gospel.

DoWriteMan:        I was struck by an Internet clip that featured a Korean choir singing Richard Smallwood’s Total Praise . . .

Ms. Garrett:           Yes, I saw that.

DoWriteMan:        I didn’t understand the words, but they sang it with such intensity and with the same spirit as Richard Smallwood sings it. It was amazing.

Ms. Garrett:           Music is such a universal language. I took a tour in 2004 with the Baha’i Gospel Choir. We took a 17-day tour in Europe, and I was an assistant director. The director was a friend and he invited me to come along. The feeling was the same. The way we felt and the way those people, the Baha’i, felt singing their religious songs was the same spirit that we feel when we are singing our religious songs. People closed their eyes and meditated. When we were singing to Jesus, it seemed like the same spirit was there among the people.

DoWriteMan:        Is there a lesson in that experience for all of us?

Ms. Garrett:           Music and travel teach you to be less judgmental. When audiences respond to us—and they don’t even speak our language—they are responding to the way the music is making them feel. There is something in the music that transcends words and language. They can feel what we feel. That’s how that Korean choir sang Total Praise with the same fervor that we sing it.

DoWriteMan:        So maybe our concepts of God, spirit and worship are closer than we think, at least when it comes to music.

Ms. Garrett:           Very true. I like traveling to Europe because there is a special appreciation they have for culture and for performers. Whenever I perform in Europe, there is always thunderous applause. They appreciate whatever you do. Sometimes when you leave, even a half hour later, the people are standing outside and still applauding.

DoWriteMan:        Wow.

Ms. Garrett:           I had the same experience when I went with my high school choir to Europe, when we would do concerts and stand around and talk after it is over: We’d go out to the bus and the people would be on the sidewalk, and when they saw us they would continue to applaud. They have such great appreciation for music and especially music from African-American origins. If you want to really get thunderous applause, sing something like Oh Happy Day. Everybody knows what to perform—the gospel classic.  I cannot remember the words people say. It is the way people come up to you when it is over, and they are standing there, and they are waiting to shake your hand, or give you a hug. You can see in their faces how much enjoyment they received from the experience.

 Please enjoy Part 2 of DoWriteMan’s Interview with Joyce Garrett on Saturday.