Which Dating Expert Sang at Carnegie Hall?

How does a Dating Expert sing at Carnegie Hall?

Here’s how it happened. 

One Sunday morning in August, Valerie Brown, the choral director at Unity Palo Alto said, "Who wants to go to Carnegie Hall?”

She offered two options: sing in the choir or come along as part of the audience. Mind you, “Go to Carnegie Hall” was about 10 on my bucket list at the time. Hmmm...Sing on the stage or sit in the audience? I chose the engaging thrilling option to sing my beloved spirituals.

Thus began six months of rehearsals with the magical, musical genius of Jacqui Hairston, an ASCAP award winning San Francisco Bay Area composer and arranger. Mid-America Productions had invited her to be a guest conductor at Carnegie Hall. In turn, she recruited her choral director friends from not only the SF-Bay Area but also from Arizona, Detroit and Seattle to join her in the Black History celebration of the Negro Spiritual at Carnegie Hall. Two days before the Carnegie Hall performance all groups rehearsed together in New York City.

Along the way to Carnegie Hall, I rehearsed with the other tenors in the home of the Coseys. It was a warm and nurturing environment where we practiced syncopation and singing loudly and softly per Ms Hairston’s arrangements. In addition,we practiced southern enunciation of words like “here” which sounded like “he-ah” and “tired” which sounded like “ti-yuhd, and “Lord” which sounded like “Lawd.” The other voices rehearsed in the homes of their section leaders,too.

Not only did this native Californian go back to the southern sounds of my ancestors, but I fell in love with the tenors, as well as the sopranos, altos, basses and baritones who traveled to the musical past with me. Together, we perfected the songs that the slaves sang to give themselves hope, endurance and stamina to overcome their adverse circumstances. These stirring spirituals became metaphors for each of us to encourage ourselves in our modern fast-paced lives whenever we needed a spiritual boost. Our drummer credits “Fix Me Jesus” with the impetus to help him overcome a health condition.

Our group gave new meaning to diversity. We counted amongst our numbers Asians, Spanish speakers, Whites and Blacks, all age groups, gays and straights. Under Jacqui Hairston’s brilliant direction we became “one voice, one people, one love,” a quote from her new choral arrangement “Echoes of Jester Hairston.”

On February 19, 2012, nearly three hundred voices blended in harmony to sing Ms. Hairston’s spectacular choral arrangements of “Don’t You Let Nobody Turn You Round,” “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah.” “Don’t Feel No Ways Tired,” “My Good Lord Done Been Here,” and five other songs to nine standing ovations. It was an over the top activity...a celebration of the healing message of the spiritual during Black History Month... of relationships within a like-minded community and of the peak experience of singing at Carnegie Hall.
 
I have checked that item off my bucket list.