UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON GOSPEL MUSIC WORKSHOP

The first Gospel Music Workshop was held at the University of Dayton in 1992. The idea for the workshop grew out of Dr. Donna Cox's desire to offer an opportunity for the singers in the Ebony Heritage Singers to work with professionals thereby improving their performance skills. While planning that first workshop, Dr. Cox realized just how beneficial it would be for the ear training students to experience this aural/oral form of music and built the workshop into her class curriculum. Dr. Cox assembled a panel of professionals, all conversant in gospel music and highly trained classical musicians. This established the high standards which have marked the annual workshops.

Participants of the annual workshops come from all walks of life and from cities throughout the midwest. Each year gospel music professionals, novices, and aficionados gather in an environment which respects and encourages the academic pursuit of gospel music. Designed to foster an understanding of the historical, cultural, religious, and musical components of the genre, the basic premise of the workshop is that people learn best by doing. Consequently, each session is hands-on and each workshop culminates in a concert featuring the clinicians and participants.

Gospel Music Workshops have been held on the following dates:

February 21-23, 1992

March 12 -14, 1993

March 25 - 27, 1994

March 24 - 26, 1995

March 29 - 31, 1996

Out of this tradition grew the first Youth Gospel Music Institute, a week-long, intensive, residence program for twenty-five high school students. During the week students had daily lessons in music theory, African American music history, vocal improvisation, African liturgical dance, and gospel music performance. During the week they studied the life and contributions of Thomas Andrew Dorsey, the Father of Gospel Music and prepared an original work which they created.

Clinicians

• Kathy Bullock, Berea College, Ky., teaches theory, humanities and African American Music and directs the Berea Black Music Ensemble. Earning degrees from Washington University and Brandeis University, Dr. Bullock's research interests cover a wide variety of styles including 20th century music, Russian folk music and African American music in particular. An active performer, arranger, and researcher in gospel music, Dr. Bullock has published and presented for several professional conferences including The University of Colorado at Boulder and the Ohio Music Educators Conference. She has been a contributor to the Gospel Music Workshop since its inception five years ago.
• Sharon Minor King, a visual and performing artist, cultural anthropologist and minister. Her specializations include the involvement of dance in sacred spaces. Dr. King conducts workshops, classes and retreats throughout the United States teaching her philosophy that "God wants to return arts to their position of praise and worship."
• Horace Clarence Boyer, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, is a widely acclaimed lecturer and performer of African American gospel music. Dr. BoyerÕs many articles on gospel music from a theoretical and compositional perspective have appeared in many journals and books. He was an editor of Lift Every Voice and Sing, an African American Hymnal and has articles published in WeÕll Understand It By And By (Smithsonian Institute). His new book, How Sweet The Sound, presents a history of gospel music and was just released in 1996.
• Brenda Ellis, Wright State University, teaches courses in music education and African American music and is the Director of the Wright State University Gospel Choir. Dr. Ellis has been a private and public school music teacher in Ohio and New York and taught at State College of New York at Potsdam prior to coming to Wright State.
• Mycal Kelly, Revival Center Ministries, is the Minister of Music, Worship, & Arts at one of Dayton's fastest growing churches. For the past fifteen years, Mycal has had extensive experience working in the black church. He has performed with many gospel musicians including Jessye Dixon, Beau Williams, and Brenda Whitfield.
• Marvin Curtis, Virginia Union University, Richmond, is a well-known arranger and composer of African American sacred music. His compositions have been performed by choirs around the country including for the inauguration of President Bill Clinton.
• Percy Spencer, Jr., has been involved in many aspects of gospel music including choir director, soloist, radio announcer, and writer and lecturer. Currently, Rev. Spencer is a student at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. where he is pursuing a Masters of Divinity degree. Rev. Spencer serves as an Associate Minister at St. Stephens.
• Walter Scrutchings, Akron Public Schools, has been involved with gospel music since he was twelve years old, first playing for gospel greats such as Willie Webb, James Cleveland, and later the Swanee Quartet and the Akron City Mass Choir. Walter has worked as a session and studio musician. As a publisher, he has music featured on national labels such as Savoy and Malaco and regularly by the Gospel Music Workshop of American, Inc.
• John Fluker has been a professional soloist and keyboard player since his graduation from the University of Michigan with a degree in music theory. He has appeared on stage in The Amen Corner as the principle character, David. In 1991 John won the male vocalist category on Star Search. He has performed and recorded with Hinton Battle, Linda Hopkins, Brenda Russell, Regina Belle and Gladys Knight.
• Trudelle Webster is a graduate of San Francisco State with a degree in Broadcast Communications and is completing a master's degree in Black Studies and Theology at Xabier, Louisiana. She has taught liturgical dance at Xavier and has developed a liturgical dance ministry at Christian Unity Church.
• Daniel Greene, Sinclair College, Dayton. is the Director of Choral And Vocal Activities. Daniel has been the Minister of Music at United Chrisitan Center for the last five years. Daniel's performance experiences have taken him across the country and to Austria. He has sung with both the Dayton and Toledo Opera companies. He also directs the Dayton Boys Choir.
• Diane L. White, Appalachian State University, Boone, N.C. is a diverse musician with a varied background. She is completing studies towards the doctorate in music composition at the University of California at Santa Barbara. She has directed college gospel choirs at Washington University, UC Santa Barbara and Appalachian State. Diane has performed concerts in Paris, Tours, Madrid, and Honolulu as well as throughout the states.
• Raymond Tymas-Jones, University of Northern Iowa, is the Director of the School of Music. Raymond has been a featured soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the St. Louis Orchestra, the Kammergild Orchestra, Dortmund Youth Orchestra (Germany) and the Erie (Pa.) Chamber Orchestra. He has rich and varied operatic experiences including the Greater Buffalo Opera and Cincinnati Opera.
• Eric Watts, University of Dayton, has intensely studied rap music for more than seven years. He has published and presented numerous essays on the rap industry and black culture at both regional and national conferences. Watts received his BA and MA from the University of Cincinnati and recently completed his Ph.D. dissertation on rap music at Northwestern University.
• Clinton Bean, Hamilton City Schools, is superviosr of Fine Arts with extensive experience in the public schools. An active educator, he is past President of District 13 Ohio Music Educators Association. Mr. Bean is supervisor in the academic division of the Gospel Music Workshop of America, Inc. and director of music at the College Workshop of the National Baptist Congress of Christian Education, National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.
• Euna Thompson, Dayton Public Schools, is the director of choral music at Patterson Career Center. Mrs. Thompson has prepared urban school choirs that have received outstanding ratings in many festivals. As a result of their outstanding performance in New York, her group was invited to perform for seven days in Italy includinga performance at the Vatican. The recipient of many awards, Euna received the 1993 Excellence in Teaching Award. She is the Minister of Music at Tabernacle Baptist Church.
• Charles Fold, composer, has recorded fourteen albums with his group, the Charles Fold Singers, as well as nine albums with the late James Cleveland. Mr. Fold has won a grammy award and has one gold album. Charles has been involved in many aspects of gospel music and is on the Board of Directors for the Gospel Music Workshop of America, Inc.

This is a compilation of sessions held during the annual Gospel Music Workshops at the University of Dayton 1992-1996.

• Congregational Singing: This session will focus on the importance of congregational singing to the African American worship experience in particular and the perpetuation of black culture in general. Through active participation, attendees will explore the "phrase banks" of melodic and textual material which exit primarily in aural / oral form.
• Gospel Music Showcase: Clincians and area performers will be featured in a concert of inspirational music. This session is intended to help set the framework for much of what will be experienced during the weekend.
• Gospel Keyboard Techniques: This session is designed for the person with substantial experience at the keyboard but who does not play gospel music. Students will be taught a basic vocabulary of chordal progressions, rhythmic patterns and melodic embellishments which will be added to a hymn to create the gospel sound. Many examples will be played by Dr. Kathy Bullock, session leader.
• Introduction to Vocal Improvisation: Students will be introduced to the various techniques utilized in singing gospel music through live and recorded demonstrations. Students will duplicate a series of runs or embellishments which form the vocabulary they will use for improvising a simple gospel song. This session is designed for those with little experience in improvisation. Taught by Dr. Donna Cox.
• Synthesizing Song and Dance: Dr. King will emphasize the use of simplistic movements to familiar gospel songs. The purpose is to encourage singers to synthesize the performance of singing and dancing as a single expression of movement. The objective of the session is to emphasize the similarity between both art forms and their dependence upon one another.
• Keyboards that Speak to the Church: This class is designed for church musicians who want to better understand the various ways music is incorporated in the African American worship experience. Specific examples to use during meditation, devotion, preaching, and other components of the service will be demonstrated. Various uses of hymns, chords, and melodic patterns will be explored at the keyboard. Taught by Mr. Walter Scrutchings.
• The Roberta Martin Singers: Gospel Music's First Mixed Ensemble: This session will explore, through the use of audio and group participation, the important contributions of the Roberta Martin Singers to the development of gospel music. Participants will investigate their history and and many accomplishments. Taught by Rev. Spencer.
• King James: The Music of Reverend James Cleveland: This session will focus on the the many contributions of James Cleveland (known as the Crown Prince of Gospel Music). Participants will hear and sing several examples of Cleveland's choral arrangements. Taught by Rev. Spencer.
• Interpreting the Written Score: This session is designed for those who want to perform gospel music but are not comfortable with the aural tradition. Although gospel music is primarily an oral art form, there are more examples of gospel music in written form. However, these are only skeletons and often provide little insight into what the song should really sound like. Walter Scrutchings will show participants how to take these skeletons and flesh them out so that a more accurate gospel presentation occurs. Taught by Mr. Walter Scrutchings.
• Arts in the Black Worship Experience: See how a progressive African American church employs the use of banners, praise teams, drama, mime, flags, and other forms of artistic expression in its weekly worship services. This session will provide hands-on exploration in bringing creativity into traditional and contemporary worship experiences. Taught by Minister Mycal Kelly.
• Vocal Techniques and Styles of Singing: This session is an introduction to vocal technique and will present exercises for breathing, intonation, tonal quality, and projection. Mr. Greene will show how an understanding of these techniques is crucial to good singing regardless of the style. He will also show how these techniques can be manipulated in gospel singing.
• Introduction to Music Reading: This session is designed for those without any formal music training. Participants will be taught basic music vocabulary and introduced to score reading.
• The Spiritual: The Hidden Language: This session is a lecture/demonstration on the use of hidden meaning behind many of the textw of the spirituals. The lecture will address the African's use of language with hidden menaings in music, religion, and society. The connection to the African American slave world will be explored. Several examples will be gleaned from spiritual texts.
• Conducting Gospel Music: A Comparison of Techniques: The role of the gospel director will be contrasted with that of the traditional conductor. Participants will be shown basic conducting signals used in gospel music and encouraged to practice the learned material in class. Dr. Cox teaches this exciting class.
• Developing a Liturgical Dance Ministry: This session will focus on ways to incorporate dance into the worship experience, offer Biblical support for dance as well as give practical advise on how to begin a dance ministry. Participants will be tuaght basic dance movements which they can use immediately.
• The Business of Gospel Music: Students will receive information on how to protect their music, how to market a song or final recording project, writer and publisher responsibility, air-time and the radio announcer, and the responsibilities of performing rights agencies (BMI, ASCAP, and SECAC).
• The Performance of (Im)Morality?: Rap Music and Community: This workshop will explore the provocation and important urban sights and sounds of hip hop culture. Participants will view, discuss, and critique rap video texts and narratives in an effort to understand and assess the interplay of influence between rap music and our changing society.
• Arranging for the Gospel Choir: This session will cover the unique characteristics of the gospel choir and offer techniques for arranging its music. This session is particularly designed for arranging students and will last for 1 hour 35 minutes. Participants should plan to attend the entire time.
• African Retentions in African American Music: Through lecture and demonstration this session will explore the characteristics of African music and the ways in which these characteristics help create and define African American music in many forms. Percussive instruments will be used in various exercises. Participants are encouraged to bring drums, rattles, cow bells, or other similar type instruments to the session. Taught by Dr. Bullock.
• A Brief Look at Contemporary Gospel Music: This session, led by Dr. Brenda Ellis, will explore the connection between gospel music and its secular counterparts through the use of discussion and audio recordings.
• A Brief History of Classic Gospel Music: This session, led by Dr. Boyer, will feature an overview of the history of classic gospel music through lecture and demonstration. This session is intended to further establish the oral history and aural tradition of African American culture. Audience members will be given an opportunity to ask questions.
• The Spiritual: The Choral Tradition: In this session, participants will examine the historical and traditional choral performance practices of the Negro spiritual. The session will examine and perform specific arrangements for SATB voices by prominent choral composers and arrangers such as Hall Johnson, Harry T. Burleigh, Jester Hairston, and Undine Smith Moore.
• The Spiritual: Solo Performance Practices: This session examines the historical and traditional performance practices of the Negro spiritual as a solo art form. The importance of text from an historical point of view, diction, and improvisational practices will be covered. Singers are encouraged to prepare a spiritual to perform.