People come together for a night of gospel

The Troy University Gospel Choir filled the Johnson Center of the Arts Thursday for a night of Worship to celebrate Black spiritual music. 

The concert consisted of strictly spiritual music composed by Black musicians, with the pieces “Every Time I Feel the Spirit” by Moses Hogan, “Alpha and Omega” by Israel Houghton, “The Question Is” by Marvin Winansand “Deliver Me” by Donald Lawrence, featuring solos by various group members.  

Autumn Griffin photo

Troy's Gospel Choir sings for everyone's enjoyment.

“What makes it so prevalent today is because the music of African American composers, especially the spiritual, is almost, not sung as much as it should be,” said Program Director Dr. Henry Terry. “It's not recognized as much as it should be.  

“It is really beautiful music. It deserves a place on all poor shelves. It should be in all core libraries; all choirs should sing it, just as we do the European music.” 

One of the soloists said she was grateful to be able to share her love for God through her performance. 

“I love the Lord,” said Soprano Soloist Faith Lett, who is a freshman electrical engineering major from Enterprise, Alabama. “He saved me from many things throughout my life, and for the things and the miracles around me, I just got to give Him the praise, and I had the opportunity to do that tonight.” 

One of the audience members was appreciative of the vocalists sharing their belief and faith, as they believe it’s what the world needs right now. 

“It’s uplifting,” said Alvin Sankey, an audience member. “We need it. 

“We live in a world right now that is bad, and this is what we need – we need the Spirit. They brough the Spirit tonight. I think you all need unity, all ways, all shapes, all fashion, so it's bringing together in a type of setting with unity and love.” 

Many times throughout the concert, the choir would reach the end of the song and rather than letting it resolve, Terry would instruct the choir to sing through a specific part another time and encourage the audience to stand up, clap, sing along or give praise.  

This is called a reprise. 

“We had developed a connection with the audience,” Terry said. “I could tell that some of them wanted to just burst away, I guess because of the building at the Johnson Center, they wanted to be a little bit more refined, not just be as free as you would if you were in a church setting.  

“I could feel that, and so, I just did it... I reprised the songs to give them the opportunity to be a part of what was going on.” 

Throughout the concert, Terry would take a moment between songs to explain the significance of a particular song or dive into its Black history.