A free concert on Friday, May 30 is the culmination of a new School of Music class in gospel music. Phyllis Byrdwell, who earned her master鈥檚 from the school in 1995, taught the class and will be leading the performance.
鈥淚t isn鈥檛 the first time there鈥檚 been a gospel class at the University,鈥� Byrdwell said. 鈥淎 graduate student taught one for a couple of years, but the School of Music didn鈥檛 know it existed.鈥�
This year鈥檚 class was the result of student demand, Byrdwell said. A teacher at Lakeside School and the director of music at Mount Zion Baptist Church, she was asked to be the teacher.
About 50 students registered for the class, with another four or five sitting in. And although gospel music originated in the African American community, the students run the gamut of ethnicities.
Byrdwell said she wanted the class to have an understanding of the music they were singing, so they were given a number of readings, which were discussed in class. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important to me that people not sing in a vacuum,鈥� Byrdwell said. 鈥淚 want them to have an understanding of the music鈥檚 origin, why it came to be and how it evolved.鈥�
She said the hardest thing for students who hadn鈥檛 sung gospel before was to learn to sing, move and clap all at the same time, but she鈥檚 happy with how well they鈥檝e learned.
The concert will consist of 10 pieces 鈥� some of them traditional 鈥渃all and response鈥� gospel and some more contemporary. The program includes Siyahamba, a South African processional; The Power Belongs to God, Hosanna, and Total Praise. The concert is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Ethnic Cultural Center.