After nearly 30 years of club status on AU's campus, the gospel choir, whose goal is to bring students together through performance and fellowship, is more diverse than ever before.
Joy Henry, a senior in the School of Communication and chaplain of the choir, said the diversity of the group is one of its greatest strengths. The choir is "not the average gospel choir," she said.
"When I joined, there were a lot of black students," Henry said. "We had like three white students ... This past semester and this semester [the choir] has just exploded."
According to Henry, the choir has three members from Hawaii and a student from New Zealand. Last semester, Danish transfer students also joined the group.
"I guess it just shows that gospel music, although it is traditionally black, can transcend color lines," Henry said.
Henry joined the organization in 2004 when she first transferred to AU from a school that didn't have a gospel choir.
In addition to being racially diverse, the group is religiously diverse as
According to Henry, the group opens each rehearsal in prayer and tries to be sensitive to the fact that not all of its members are Christian.
"We have a couple Jewish kids," Henry said. "When we pray, no one has ever said anything like 'You know we don't pray to God.' If they have a problem, they could come and talk to me."
The 2006 choir, which rehearses every Wednesday from 8:10 to 10:40 p.m., sings music in traditional gospel style.
Under Sylstea Sledge, director of the choir, singers learn five to six new songs per week. A normal practice session for the choir begins with prayer, praise and worship and then the choir learns voice parts one at a time for each song.
In addition to learning music, Members say that they come away from the club with close relationships with the fellow singers.
"It's a lot like a family ... I can come on Wednesday and forget about my problems," said Maggie Sheets, a junior in the School of International Service. "It's not like they go away, but this is a nice place to come and relax. It reminds me that there's something out there greater than myself, and that's music and God."
"Gospel choir gives you an opportunity to connect spiritually while connecting with the people around you," said Molly Thomas, a freshman in SIS. "We aren't just like a family, we are a family."
The choir performs both on and off campus. To close the campus-wide celebration of Black History Month, the choir will perform in the Kay Spiritual Center on Feb. 26 at 1:30 p.m.
According to the AU Club Council, the gospel choir's official purpose is to "create, through gospel music and fellowship, a spiritual bond that is pre-eminent, regardless of religious affiliation."
In April, the singing group celebrates its 30th anniversary with a concert that will include alumni and former directors of the choir.
According to the International Gospel Music Hall of Fame and Museum Web site, www.igmhf.org, gospel music derives from traditional African music, said Michael Tanner of the International Gospel Hall of Fame. When African Americans were enslaved in the United States, slave owners disallowed the use of traditional instruments. Because of this blacks began to sing sacred a cappella music, combining their own traditions with their faith. This music, also historically called "spirituals," "anthems," or "jubilees," became known as gospel music after World War II.
