Black
Con Students Show Pride in Performance
by Douglass Dowty
The
Oberlin Conservatorys Black Musicians Guild combined
Oberlins strong African-American student presence and renowned
music conservatory last Friday night to Honor [Black] Heritage
in Concert, as one of the final events in the campus-wide
celebration of Black History Month.
The concert, conceived, directed and performed by African American
musicians, was sponsored by the Oberlin Conservatory Black Musicians
Guild. Held in Warner Concert Hall, the event attracted a crowd
as diverse as the College community and numbered into the hundreds.
The program opened and ended with renditions of James Weldon Johnson
and J. Rosamond Johnsons Lift Every Voice and Sing,
long considered the National Negro Anthem. College first-year TreZure
Taylor sang a variation on the anthem, composed by Conservatory
sophomore Ivy Newman and performed with a dignified piano accompaniment.
After two hours of black spirituals, jazz and student compositions,
the program finished with the performers and audience together in
a rendition of the powerful piece accompanied by Warner Halls
massive organ.
Our goal was to present an educational, reflective and inspiring
event, just like the other Black History events have done,
senior double-degree vocalist Martha Newland said in respect to
the concert. Along with Ivy Newman, Newland is co-president of the
Oberlin Conservatory Black Musicians Guild. She pointed out
that the concert was the only official musical event during the
February celebration.
Other highlights of the program included rapturous performances
of black spirituals, many of which were born on slave plantations.
Were You There, Crucifixion and Watch and Pray,
performed by first-year Jonathan Green, Jason Epps and Newland,
respectively, were all spirituals from a time when many African
Americans looked to religion as a means of survival. The simple
and repeated text of these songs communicated a respect and appreciation
for the African American past that would be hard to express in words
alone.
However, the concert was not confined to just old spiritual melodies.
We feel this concert gives a glimpse into the vast diversity
within the black music tradition, Newland said. She stressed
the importance of celebrating and honoring all black composers as
they are so often marginalized both within mainstream programming
and institutional music education.
To this end, the concert featured more recent works by jazz masters
such as Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington. Even more contemporary
were three pieces composed by Oberlin students and two songs arranged
by Conservatory Jazz Studies professor Wendell Logan.
Newman also gave the concert a modern twist with her composition,
Tell Me, sung by Taylor and accompanied by sophomore
Courtney Bryan on piano, junior Marion Parker on double-bass and
first-year Kassa Overall on drums. Bryan, who served as accompanist
for much of the night, shined as she conducted her Winter Term project
piece, Wherever He Leads Me. Including most of the performers
from the entire concert, with some additions, this piece was a fusion
of aged spirituals, such as the well-known Old Time Religion.
The concert also featured some jazz, including solos by sophomore
Josiah Woodson on trumpet and Junior Calvin Barnes on saxophone,
and full ensemble numbers, such as the dramatic ending movement
entitled Wherever You Leave Me.
Also notable from the concert were the spiritual Going Home,
performed by Barnes on saxophone with Adam Faulk as accompanist,
and A Prayer for Love, a piece for string quartet by
J. Jefferson Cleveland and played by junior violinist Dwayne Brice,
sophomore violist Keith Lawrence, sophomore violist Reginald Paterson
and junior cellist Jamila Watkins. Hollow chords and soothing playing
predominated this work, which had an interesting melody with variations
from the famous hymn We Shall Overcome.
Newland and Newman founded OCBMG at the start of this school year.
While this is the Guilds first musical event, they have been
actively involved in many aspects of black Conservatory students.
Other programs organized by the Guild include a new student orientation
for African American Conservatory students, lectures and musical
opportunities featuring prominent African American musicians and
composers and gatherings to actively support the cause of black
composers.
OCBMG serves to create a base of support and guidance
academically, musically, socially and culturally for Oberlin
Conservatorys black students, Oberlins Africana
Community Coordinator, Kwame Willingham, said in the OCBMG Mission
Statement.
I think the Guild has among its goals the greater appreciation
of the broad spectrum of black musical creativity. I think its
seminally important that our own voices be heard and developed,
Conservatory composition professor, Jeffrey Mumford, said. Mumford
said that, as black musicians, We need to expand the scope
of how we see ourselves and break through the self-limiting ideology
wherever it occurs.
Current OCBMG projects include creating a fund to give African-American
musicians financial support for costly summer programs or travel
grants for graduate school auditions. More OCBMG concerts are being
planned for the future.
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