New Gospel Choir geared to 'tug on the heartstrings of listeners'

It's a Monday night on campus, and room 305 in Juanita K. Hammons Hall buzzes with energy. Inside, director Robert T. Gibson prepares for the first measure of music. He raises his hands, and the voices follow.

Gibson is a former graduate student at Missouri State University. He was previously part of the Missouri State Chorale, Men's Chorus, Grand Chorus and Choral Union. This semester, he leads the MSU Gospel Choir.

MSU's Choral Studies program welcomes the Gospel Choir as it brings new flavors with it. This course differs from other choirs because its primary style of music is gospel, featuring composers such as Richard Smallwood, Timothy Wright, Donald Lawrence and Hezekiah Walker.

Although the main genre of music is gospel, there are different styles of gospel, including traditional gospel, contemporary worship, hymns and spirituals. Each style of music has a unique effect on the singer; the text of each song, the instruments played and the voices of the singers help to produce a rich variety of gospel pieces while still worshiping freely and openly.

The main goal for the choir is to one day tour around to various states in an attempt to recruit students for Missouri State choir programs.

Cameron LaBarr, director of Choral Studies at MSU, said he is thrilled about the addition of the Gospel Choir to the program.

"This ensemble is a major diversity initiative for the Department of Music and College of Arts and Letters," LaBarr said. "Robert T. Gibson is the visionary behind all of it and will have a profound impact on the Missouri State community in the coming years."

Gospel Choir rehearsals have a dual purpose: for singers to prepare music for upcoming performances and to allow the music being sung to consume the singers' minds and hearts.

"The Gospel Choir experiments with a different style of music specifically geared to tug on the heartstrings of listeners and inspire them to continue moving forward even through the toughest times," said sophomore vocal music major Madalyn Wheeler.

Tarran McClure, freshman vocal performance major, said that an exciting part of the choir is its diversity - in both ethnicity and tone.

"I would describe the Gospel Choir as being very welcoming because we have people from different backgrounds and ethnicities all singing together," McClure said. "It's really fascinating to hear how all of our voices really blend together even though we may all have a different sound or tone to our voices."

The atmosphere of the class was immediately apparent, freshman vocal music major Karmen DePriest said. They weren't just there to sing - from the first note of the "praise His holy name" warm-up, everyone was in awe of what their peers' voices could do when there was meaning behind the music.

"People there are allowed to feel, praise, sing loud and cry," DePriest said. "There was a lot of crying the first practice, but it was expected, so no one really acknowledged it."

Gospel Choir does not require students to have past choral experience in reading or performing music. All that is required is an audition. This course allows students who love singing to follow their passion and is a doorway to meeting new people with the same enthusiasm for music.

Gospel Choir meets Monday nights from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts, room 305.