Marco K. Merrick
The following article in The Baltimore Sun is enhanced by the expertise of our friend Dr. Eric Conway, Director of the Morgan State University Choir:
The Baltimore Sun
Community Concert Choir revives neglected s...
Marco K. Merrick
The following article in The Baltimore Sun is enhanced by the expertise of our friend Dr. Eric Conway, Director of the Morgan State University Choir:
The Baltimore Sun
Community Concert Choir revives neglected spirituals, anthems
By
Tim Smith,
The Baltimore Sun
6:17
PM EDT, May 24, 2013
As
afternoon light tried to filter through the thick, stained-glass
windows of Sharp Street United Methodist Church last weekend, Marco
K. Merrick pounded out the bass line of a spiritual on a raw-sounding
piano, singing along in a raspy voice: "Great day, the righteous
marching. Great day, God's going to build up Zion's walls." From
the tightly packed pews in front of him, basses and baritones of the
Community Concert Choir of Baltimore picked up the vocal line
tentatively at first, but gained in confidence with each measure.
That
passage settled, Merrick started over, this time bringing the rest of
the chorus — more than 130 strong — into the march-tempo music.
He rarely called out instructions now, speaking with his hands
instead. With one slowly out-stretched gesture, he generated a
terrific crescendo from the ensemble. "That is delicious
sounding," Merrick shouted.
For
two break-less hours, the choir continued to rehearse for its annual
spring concert, which takes place Sunday afternoon. This one
commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation,
but, in effect, all of the group's performances honor
African-American history. The Community Concert Choir, which the
Baltimore-born Merrick founded in 2010, specializes in what he
considers to be neglected music, the traditional spirituals, hymns,
anthems and gospel songs of African-American churches.
"In
our culture, as with many cultures, the story is not being told,"
Merrick, 50, said. "It's not being shared with the new
generation. In many black churches today, it's all about current,
current. There are ministers saying they only want to do new stuff to
get young people to come to church. Some churches don't even have
hymnals anymore."
The
program for the choir's spring concert includes several selections
from those old hymn books, such as "Lift Up Your Heads,"
"When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," and "Holy Art
Thou," an anthem based on a well-known aria from an 18th-century
opera by Handel.
Music
by classical composers is also part of the choir's songbook,
including excerpts from Haydn's oratorio "The Creation."
Sunday's program features the "Inflammatus" from Rossini's
"Stabat Mater,"a piece that was in the repertoire of the
great soprano Leontyne Price (one of Merrick's musical heroes).
Gospel
music, which became a pronounced part of worship service in black
churches during the 20th century, has a place as well in
the Community Concert Choir's programs. But, in this case, it's
vintage. "We sing the classic gospel of Thomas Dorsey and those
who followed him," Merrick said, referring to black gospel
artists who emerged in the 1920s and '30s and continued to influence
the genre for several decades. "It's very old-school, and some
people today don't even know it."
Contemporary
gospel style places the emphasis on the contemporary. "Hip-hop
has changed gospel music in a great way," said Eric Conway,
director of the famed Morgan State University Choir. Early black
churches in this country adopted much of the music of white churches,
and sang many hymns in common for generations. But one genre emerged
solely from the African-American culture
—
spirituals, with their
deep roots in slavery.
In
addition to "Great Day," the Community Concert Choir
program will include such standards as "His Name So Sweet,"
"I'm on My Way to Freedom Land" and "Ride the
Chariot." "In the African-American churches today, anthems
and spirituals are often not performed the way they once were,"
Conway said. "There is a generation of o
