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.