This episode highlights the significance of choir culture and the challenges faced in both rehearsals and performances. With guest Jared McClain, we discuss the value of leadership in nurturing positive choir environments, memorable experiences in singing, and the integration of technology to engage new generations.
Ever been in the middle of a choir rehearsal when the drummer starts tapping away, and suddenly it becomes impossible to focus? We've all been there, and in this episode of the Choir Room, we're tackling these not-so-uncommon rehearsal distractions head-on. Joined by the insightful Jared McClain, we dig into the art of setting clear boundaries and expectations with musicians to transform these disruptions into productive learning moments, all while sharing a few laughs over past rehearsal mishaps. Through personal stories and professional advice, we highlight how clear communication and maintaining a positive environment are crucial to a successful choir session.
Reflecting on our choir journeys, we recount laughs and lessons from church choirs and high school concerts to unforgettable moments in Scotland. The camaraderie and community that arise from choir singing are unmatched, as are the challenges we face along the way.
Jared opens up about how these early experiences, especially those in church choirs, have shaped our paths, leading us to places like Hampton University. These foundational musical moments not only built his skills but also fostered a deeper connection with music that continues to resonate today.
• Importance of establishing rehearsal etiquette and expectations
• Strategies on addressing distractions among musicians and vocalists
• Sharing memorable choir experiences that teach resilience and growth
• Exploring the role of technology in modern music education
• Valuing diverse musical styles within choir settings
• The enduring joy and community built through singing together
https://www.facebook.com/iamjayred
Perpetuating and Promoting the Christian and Positive Idea Through the Medium of Music and Other Arts.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Choir Room.
This is episode 40 of the ChoirRoom Podcast.
Welcome to the Choir Room.
I'm Greg Thomas, your host, andI'll soon be joined by my
co-hosts, dorian Johnson Welcometo the Choir Room and Mietta
(00:20):
Stancil-Farrar.
This podcast exists to promoteand encourage two long-time
traditions in our society thatseem to be dwindling away, and
that is choir and corporatesinging.
We hope to revive theexcitement and joy experienced
with singing in a choir, as wellas inform and educate the
listener on all things singingand all things choir, and note
(00:44):
that this podcast is aproduction of Metro Music and
Arts, whose purpose is toperpetuate and promote the
Christian and positive ideathrough the medium of music and
other arts.
We've got a special guest withus today, and he seems to be
operating in three areas ofchoir, that's church choir,
community choir and school choir.
We're glad to have in the choirroom with us today Jared McLean
(01:06):
.
Let's get right into it.
Mietta has our CRQ.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Thanks, greg, tonight's CRQ.
I really enjoyed this episodewith the church choir from
Connecticut.
In it you spoke about pet peevewith musicians during
rehearsals.
How do you address thetinkering when your leadership
expects you to have them inrehearsals with the choir?
Now, jared is with us tonight,so let me give him a backstory.
(01:35):
There was a question, or wespoke about in some podcast
prior, about rehearsals andmusicians in rehearsals, and you
know the differences betweenthe vocal rehearsals and
musicians in rehearsals and youknow the differences between the
vocal rehearsals and theinstrumental rehearsals.
And we're just talking and Imade mention that there's a.
I have a pet peeve inrehearsals when musicians are in
the room with the choir.
(01:56):
It's this thing that usuallydrummers not necessarily
keyboards or or organ players oreven bass players, but the
drummer, a friend of mine, youngman, used to in rehearsal,
while we're giving the vocalstheir parts, he would be tapping
on the drum like on the snare,just just no real tempo, no,
(02:21):
nothing, it just he would justdo it.
And I think he used to do itbecause he knew I hated it,
right, so I he was really doingit to get under my skin, and so
this is where this question iscoming from and they're asking
how do you stop that?
Um, because you want themusicians in the choir rehearsal
with the vocals, but you don'twant that.
(02:41):
You know that, which I don'teven know what you would call it
miscellaneous, that you knowtinkering drum.
You know that I don't even knowwhat you would call it
miscellaneous.
You know tinkering drumming andall that kind of stuff.
My answer to this question tellthem to stop, Just tell them to
stop.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
Simple.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Just give us a minute so that we can, you know, make
sure that the vocals are gettingwhat they need to have with
clarity, because sometimes thatcan be a distraction.
Speaker 5 (03:10):
Call them out and sit them down.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
See, see, wow, yeah, there you go.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
See, I was about to go the other route.
I was gonna say so diplomatic,you can do it separate.
You don't have to necessarilycall them out right there in the
rehearsal, but you definitelywanna address it't have to
necessarily call them out rightthere in the rehearsal, but you
definitely want to address it.
You have to address it becauseit just it's not.
it's it's not going to do wellfor the choir, it's not going to
do well for you, for yourrelationship with the musicians
(03:38):
right you just have to addressit and you pull them aside, or
you have a separate meeting withthem and just lay the ground
rules for how the rehearsal isgoing to run, and if they can't
listen to that, then not helpingin the choir rehearsal it's
(04:06):
just about them not being ableto come under authority.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Ultimately, if they're not listening to what
you're saying, you know, if thisis a church choir, school choir
, college choir, community choir, the responsibility is going to
rest on the choir director orthe worship leader, or whatever
the church is calling them today.
This sounds like a church choir.
So the professor, if you will,that responsibility is going to
(04:34):
rest on their shoulders, andmuch of this really has to take
place at the onboarding of themusicians, of the musicians,
because a lot of times, thelonger you work with people or
work with a group of people, themore comfortable you get with
each other, and when you'recomfortable with each other, it
becomes a little more difficultto correct each other.
(04:55):
And so I think the choirdirector, at the onboarding
stage, needs to establish theexpectations in rehearsal so
that the musicians understand.
Well, he or she doesn't findthat tapping helpful, but finds
it distracting, and it can be.
And so we can't be afraid tohave the hard conversations with
(05:17):
the people that are close to us, so that we can still grow
together.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Yeah, and that's interesting, greg, that you
mentioned that, because I wasgoing to say one of the other
things that is maybe notsomething that the person is
calling out here, but if it's inthe name of righteousness, if
(05:53):
it's in the name of order, if,if it's needed in order for
these things to be established,yeah, then we confront.
Now, we don't do it rudely, wedon't do it rudely.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
We don't do it in the flesh.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
We don't do it, trying to get our way, but we
have to confront some things, wehave to speak to some things
sometimes and, yeah, sometimesthat's not comfortable,
especially if you're inleadership, exactly.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
You don't want to have to do this stuff.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
But you know what?
It's part of the job.
It's got to be done, jared.
Speaker 5 (06:28):
I would also offer too, like Greg said, it's
establishing.
Do musicians really understandwhat rehearsal etiquette is
right first, and then also, too,being a teacher?
Being a teacher, this is agreat opportunity for growth for
everybody, right, um?
(06:50):
And so tapping on a drum is notthe only distraction that can
happen in a larger group.
There's a whole stream ofdistractions.
So when you you call out forlack of better words, one
distraction and how that canaffect the entire group, you're
in essence showing the entiregroup that, yes, that may be one
distraction, but there areother things that we can do and
(07:11):
we don't want to be, uh, used bythe spirit to distract people
from from what they should befocused on.
So I think it's a great way tohave a group growth session.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Session Do it a little bit.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
You know to confront it.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
You know, I think when we're talking about church
choir, we can't help butacknowledge the fact that Jesus
confronted all the time, all thetime, all the time it was
sometimes with gentle hands, andsometimes very firm.
You know it was a get thebehind me Satan kind of firm.
(07:50):
You know, in today's vernacularit would have been considered,
you know, firm and fierce.
And perhaps too often we makeconfrontation a negative thing,
when in fact it's often just anecessary thing thing, when in
fact it's often just a necessarything.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
So to answer the question too, uh, if that, if,
after confronting sometimessomething sometimes we can do,
we can structure our rehearsalsin a way that, in a way that is
more beneficial for everyone.
So maybe, if you do I don'tknow this specific uh person
that asked the question ifthey're in leadership and if, uh
, they're looking for an answeron how to confront those things,
because they may be dealingwith it, a suggestion would be
(08:28):
to structure a rehearsal whereyou may have just a keyboard
player, so you can focus onchoir and then add the band
later on.
A seven o'clock rehearsal,maybe seven to eight or seven to
seven thirty, it's just keysand choir, so that way you
really have no distraction.
You can focus on the choir andthen add the component of the
(08:49):
band later.
Uh, just, I don't know.
We're answering questions tohelp people, but no, that's a
good option.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
You know, separate the rehearsals, uh.
I think mienna said thisearlier, though, that, uh, you
want to have the conversationwith leadership, uh, whether
that's the choir director or theperson the choir director
answers to, I believe part ofthe question was a statement as
well.
When the pastor expects themusicians to be in the rehearsal
(09:15):
, and because the pastor is notin the rehearsal, they don't
realize what the choir directoris dealing with.
When the group is together withthe musicians, in the rehearsal
Exactly, and so if that is theexpectation, as a choir director
and I'm assuming this is achoir director sending it in.
You know we do a lot ofassumptions about who sends
(09:37):
these questions in.
This could be a disgruntledchoir member, we don't know but.
But if that is the expectationto a choir member, we don't know
.
But if that is the expectation,either way, it is incumbent
upon the person and maybe thisis the person sending the
question in to take it to yourimmediate leadership, and then
that person can take it to theirimmediate leadership Because,
(09:58):
again, if the pastor is not inthe rehearsal, he doesn't know
what's happening and which mademe think that these musicians
are being paid to be.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
I didn't think of that and so they're.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
They're necessary.
It's necessary for them, yesthey've got to be there.
They're on the clock well, can I, can I play advocate?
I won't say devil's advocate,but let's just.
Can I play that advocate?
Um, could it be?
And I had to really kind ofthink about it.
It bothers me, yes, it doesstress me out, but I know how to
deal with that.
When it comes to um musicians,you just I just address it on
(10:34):
site and they'll, you know,they'll taper off, I guess.
Um, but do you?
Do you think that preparationis also key?
Um, because a lot of.
I do find um.
I've been in rehearsals thatwere not necessarily mine, just
sitting in um, where directorsare not always prepared, and so
(11:01):
when they're not always prepared, it just leaves room for, for,
for play.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
It leaves a lot of space, just a lot of space and
air to, just you know, run themup.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Yeah, you know, and so sometimes when that happens
or those moments are happening,not just musicians either, it's
singers as well, absolutely.
You know, and so to to be fair,because we, I don't I don't want
to just solely blame it on youknow, just musicians.
I don't want to do that, wecertainly don't want to do that,
(11:41):
but it's just, it's aboutpreparation.
A lot of times, and when we'renot prepared, those of us in
leadership are not prepared.
You leave room for a lot ofthat.
So perhaps, look, if you lookat it from that vantage point,
when you go into theserehearsals, be, nail it, you
(12:01):
know, be on it.
Don't leave a whole lot of roomfor that, so the drummer won't
be tinkering, uh, just randomlytinkering he'll, he's now having
to actually play these songsinstead of just kind of you know
, whisking about doing whatever.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
If leadership is prepared better, you know we're
gonna have to address that, thatlater, because there's nothing
more frustrating than having achoir director and musicians in
rehearsal unprepared, while thechoir is there.
That's a perfect recipe forlosing the choir's attention.
And if you think the drummertapping is something, if you
lose the choir's attention, thenyou find yourself trying to
(12:40):
fill in the gas to try to makethat rehearsal a productive one.
You know we have a second CRQand I think we should just go
ahead and do that, since westill have Jarrett and we're
going to speak with him shortly.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Welcome to the choir room.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
This is a good one.
What have been some of yourmost memorable choir experiences
, both good and bad?
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Ladies first.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Oh that's unfair.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Well, I do have one who.
I laugh about this today,though, because I think it's the
funniest thing.
I was in rehearsal one nightwith our young adult choir from
my former church and I was about, I guess, guess about 21, 22.
I started directing the choirat 17.
Um, but, you know, grew up alittle bit and I got frustrated
in choir rehearsal which was nota hard thing to do, it wasn't.
(13:38):
It was very easy to frustrateme, right?
So I got frustrated and I madea statement.
Listen, this was my statement.
Listen, if you don't like it,you can leave.
Right, this is the church choir.
You don't like it?
Twenty one, I'd had my fill ofchoir.
I had the what's the meme?
(13:59):
I'm tired of this church, thatkind of thing.
That's where I was at thatpoint.
So, if you don't like it, youcan leave.
And one of the young ladies andshe was singing in the tenor
section, and we were all young,mind you, we really were, we
were all young in our early 20sand late teens One of the young
ladies who was the, at that time, the oldest one in the choir,
(14:30):
so I don't even know why she wasin the young adult choir,
because she certainly could havebeen on the adult choir for
real, for real, but she stillhung out with us and so she, I'm
standing in front of them and Isee her gathering up her things
like gathering up her keys, hercoat, her pocketbook and stood
up to walk out and I looked atshe has passed on the last last
few months.
Some months ago she passed onand I said to her I said Candy,
(14:54):
where you going?
Because that's what we calledher, candy.
No, sounds like a barmaid name,right, but I can't.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Greg knew Candy, I think you know I like I did, I
can almost see her face.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
We called her Candy and I said where are you going?
She said well, you said, if youdidn't like it, we could leave.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
At thy word.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
I'm right.
I clutched my pearls.
I said where are you going?
She said.
You said if we didn't like it,we could leave.
She said then I didn't like it,we could leave.
She said, and I don't like itoh wow, follow her today it
taught me.
It taught me a lesson like stopsaying stuff to these volunteers
.
Taught me a lesson very earlyin the game that sugar, these
(15:42):
are volunteers.
Nobody is getting paid to dothis, the only people that's
getting paid in the churchperiod.
You pay the musicians and thepastor gets a little change, the
the custodian gets a littlechange, but the choir members
don't get paid and you cannotcome out your face any kind of
way to these volunteers.
(16:03):
And it taught me a lesson.
That's all I got for now untilI think of something else.
What say you guys?
Speaker 5 (16:10):
Wow, that's a good one.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
Yeah, I mean, I actually, when I saw this
question, I instantly thought ofa very bad memorable choir
experience, and this is fromhigh school.
Bad memorable choir experienceand this is from high school.
This was my senior year's highschool christmas concert and we
(16:34):
were we were singing.
Do you hear what I hear?
Speaker 1 (16:38):
and the first part of it was acapella I feel like I
know where this is going and howappropriate the title.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
And let me tell you, when the piano came in, people,
people heard what you did here.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
You were flat.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Oh yeah, I bet you wish you had in-ears then yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
I don't have them I really, how do you do that?
Speaker 4 (17:14):
I can't do it.
Yeah, our choir director had alot of faith in us and it was
obviously misplaced because wewere singing and I could hear it
, it and I'm thinking like I'mlooking over at the, at the
pianist, and I just know he'she's not even gonna try, he's
(17:36):
not even gonna try to like match, or do he's just gonna play
what he's supposed?
he's gonna play what's on thepage exactly, and he came in and
it was, it was, it was done, itwas done that's tragic, that's
that's yeah, that was yeah thatwas one of the bad ones and I
(17:57):
would say one of the.
There were a couple of good onesand, uh, they go back to to
greg and and my time workingtogether with the youth praise
choir, times square church.
I would have to say that thatfirst service, when we had
basically a whole platform fullof all of these young people
(18:18):
yeah, um, and they stood up toto sing together um, that was
certainly a memorable experienceand something I've shared on
this podcast before, was fromour visit to Scotland when we
had been ministering to thefolks there and the host pastors
(18:43):
decided to have all of thefolks who were in the audience
sing.
Now, granted, not all thesefolks were Christians, but they
had grown up in this atmosphereor in this sort of culture of
singing, and they began to singthe Lord is my shepherd, I shall
(19:05):
not want.
And they sang it acapella inthis old wood-framed auditorium
and I will never forget thesound of that Never, ever, ever
ever.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Jared, let's hear from you.
I'm sure you've got some goodand or bad choir experiences.
Speaker 5 (19:25):
This is such a good question.
I have so many, both good andbad, I don't know which one to
pick.
Um, I'll start with the badfirst.
I'd like to end on good notes.
Uh, so of course I've had awhole bunch of we call it
crashing and burning in church.
When you get up and youpractice one thing and it just
(19:45):
goes left field and it humblesyou very, very quickly.
But I can remember a time I wentto Hampton University and we
were singing some choral piecein Italian I can't, the name of
it doesn't come to mind rightnow and Doc was our accompanist.
He was like an 80-year-old man.
He played the piano with fervorand with power and it was one
(20:10):
of those pieces that just everysection did not like sing
together.
They had their own part right,kind of like a few, and we had
been struggling in rehearsal forweeks.
But our director wanted toteach us a lesson.
What that lesson was, I stilldo not know.
(20:33):
We get up, we go on tour, we arein New York State and he pulls
out this song.
Usually sometimes there aresongs that we didn't know we
were going to do.
We just had a repertoire, so hewould just pull from the
repertoire and he pulled outthis song and we looked at each
other on stage like what is hedoing and why we got to go.
(20:53):
We started off strong.
We just go, go, go.
By the middle of that song,tennis dropped out, sopranos
dropped out, altos dropped outthere is nobody playing or
singing except Doc on that piano, just going, just going.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
We sit there like oh.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
Then the tennis came back in because they heard
something they remembered.
And the Sopranos came back inand we ended it strong.
But mercy, mercy, god, that wassomething.
Fake it until you make it, fakeit until you make it.
And there's some greatopportunities.
(21:31):
I got to sing again at Hampton.
Barack Obama came to speak atcommencement and, of course,
being in choir, that's the first, one of the first ensembles
they need to perform.
So I have pictures with me inthe corner with Barack Obama
standing at the podium withHampton University and
Presidential Seal.
So that was a great experienceand great opportunity.
(21:56):
And, yeah, touring and beingplaces, we were in Spain with
Reverend Stephan,jubilationilation and to be.
That was my first overseas tripI was sharing earlier.
I asked, prayed to god, like,oh, I want to go, uh, overseas,
I don't have the money.
I was in college at the time,in grad school, don't have the
money.
So, lord, please just send ajob where they're gonna go
overseas and they could take meand I can get paid and paid, uh,
(22:17):
paid trip to go somewhere.
And I prayed that and it hit me.
God smacked me on the head,said how you gonna pray that
prayer and you don't have apassport.
That doesn't make any sense,first things first.
Yeah, I always got my passportand by the end of the year I got
a call to go to Spain.
But that experience of singingoh Happy Day to a crowd of
(22:40):
Spaniards singing every lastsong just showed me the power of
gospel music and it transcendsa lot of things.
That was a great experience.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
We'll be right back with more from our guest,
jarrett McLean, right after this.
Welcome to the choir room.
Jarrett is a music teacher, achoir director, a songwriter and
recording artist.
We're glad to have him with ustoday here in the choir room.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
I would rather be invisible than to get in your
way.
All of you and none of me getthe glory today.
You have my mind, my will, myheart and my voice.
(23:34):
Use me as you please, Lord.
You give the glory in what I dofor you today.
I'd rather be invisible Than toget in your way.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Playing in the background is a little bit of
you.
Get the Glory by Jarrett McCain, our guest Jarrett, welcome.
Speaker 5 (24:18):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
We've been trying to get you here for a little while
now and finally made it happen.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
Oh, come on, Don't make me sound Hollywood.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Honestly, we like guests who are not Hollywood,
people who are just doing whatthey're called to do, so thanks
for not being Hollywood.
Now, you've been sitting inwith us during the CRQ's.
Let's talk about Jared.
Tell us where it started foryou.
Speaker 5 (24:44):
So I started seeing an early age.
I was actually very, very shyand of course I was in church
all of my life.
I was born and raised inElizabeth and I went and I grew
up at a AME church, mountTiemann.
Ame church is my home church,that my mom and I'm uncle still
(25:06):
retain and our members andofficers of so shout out to
Mount Tiemann.
But there was always, for myjourney in my life, there was
always a duality.
I wasn't just church, I wasn'tjust involved in church, I was
also involved in school, and soI was always in the youth choir
(25:27):
and everybody at those churchesdo the Sunday school plays.
Except I told you, I was shy asa kid, so I had a heavy, heavy,
heavy, no spirit.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
A heavy no spirit.
Speaker 5 (25:41):
Yes, I knew how to say no.
I knew how to stand my groundwhen I said no, gotcha.
And so they would try to get meto do my little recital not
recital my Easter play lines andChristmas lines.
And I was the one to hold themicrophone for everybody else to
see it Video footage of meholding it, holding my phone.
(26:03):
But I came out.
I came out of my shell in church, being a part of the youth
choir as well as singing in myschool choir, at school, in the
public schools, I was in theGifted and Talented program and
my Gifted and Talented programchoir.
(26:24):
We traveled and so that reallykind of opened my eyes to see
other people my age singing andexploring and you know the
camaraderie of corporate singingand group singing.
Everybody was excited around meand so that kind of pushed me
to come out of my shell a bit.
And so, just like the church isa great grounds for bringing
(26:50):
leaders and for trial and error,so I did a lot of my trial and
error at church, with propersupport in the proper space, and
so, um, I can remember early onI was also taking piano lessons
with, uh, one of my mentors andfamily friend, miss Rose
Cavishawk, and she was also myminister of music at church and
so I remember the first time.
(27:12):
This is the importance ofchurch.
Let me go go here.
Importance of church.
The pastor at the time, reverendDixon, had the vision and
sought the importance oftraining up and investing in the
youth.
And I have a good friend, jesseMayers.
He played the drums, I playedthe keys and sang.
(27:32):
Another friend, dj.
He played the keys as well andmy cousin wanted to pick up the
bass.
Another friend, dj, he playedthe keys as well and my cousin
wanted to pick up the bass.
And so the pastor investedchurch money to give us lessons.
So the minister of music, mrCaberstock, gave me and DJ piano
lessons.
The bass player for the churchgave my cousin Justin bass
(27:53):
lessons, and the drummer at thechurch gave Jesse drum lessons.
And it was around that time Iwas a teenager.
It was around that time that,uh, I did, uh I stepped out of
she uh had death in the familyand it was.
She had literally had to leave,and so it was a Sunday morning.
We found out, you know, prettyuh late and I'm rambling.
Sorry if I'm rambling, but uh,I say, hey, I will try my best
(28:17):
to tinkle on the keyboard.
I didn't know much, but I calledin the morning.
She gave me the keys that thesong started in and I started us
off at least and put us in theright keys and played things
during the order of service.
And again, just the foundationand the encouragement of my
church family really kind ofstarted my journey in music and
(28:38):
kind of honing those gifts andtalents at that place.
So I think church is stillimportant, has multiple roles, I
agree.
I agree Not just spiritualitybut actually cultivating and
honing the gifts that are insideof each individual.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Now, you later went to Hampton University, correct?
Speaker 5 (28:58):
Yes, indeed, the real HBCU.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
And it was at Howard University, HBCU, that you
studied what.
Speaker 5 (29:05):
I studied vocal performance for four years.
Yes, and I was a part of theuniversity choir and concert
choir.
Concert choir was the travelingchoir.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Let's step back just a little bit to something you
said earlier, and that is thefact that the church invested
financially in your musicaldevelopment.
Now, was that for the purposeof you and the others bringing
their talents back to the churchand utilizing them there?
Is that even important and ifso, why?
Speaker 5 (29:34):
Some of those are.
But again, I don't think thateven still, serving is important
, but I think the investment iswhat is important, and those
tools and what that taught us.
It takes us further and beyondserving in church.
So I would still say that, eventhough some of them may not be
(29:56):
serving in church, I still thinkthat the event that was placed
meant something, you know soUnderstood.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Let's go back to Hampton for a moment.
What was your motivation forchoosing vocal performance?
Because you mentioned that youwere very shy growing up.
Yeah, by this time I had gottenout of that.
Speaker 4 (30:13):
OK, I broke it out of that.
Speaker 5 (30:17):
You know life is God is so awesome and great when you
look back at your life and Isound like an old spirit.
But when you look back at yourlife, you know, you just start
seeing the dots connect and it'sjust very interesting.
So, again, I was involved inschool and we traveled, and so I
was in seventh or eighth gradeand we went to Virginia on a
(30:38):
competition and we were at bushgardens.
Usually all the competitionstook place, uh, at amusement
parks.
So my choir went, we competedand while we were there, we, we
did other things, like we didsome activities and we got to
see the space of the area wewere in and I remember being on
a boat now this is there's awhite man.
(30:59):
We got on see the space, thearea we were in, and I remember
being on a boat Now this isthere's a white man.
We got on this boat you knowbeing fancy and he was like our
tour guide and we were on thewater and we rode by Hampton
University and he was telling usto your left is Hampton
University and they are ahistorically Black college and
they were very known for theHampton Singers and it was one
(31:19):
of the first touring Blackchoirs that went around and
their similarity.
You guys are a choir and theywere a choir and that stuck with
me Seventh or eighth grade,right.
So I go fast forward.
I'm now applying for colleges.
I remember that I bring it up.
I knew that I didn't want to gotoo far away from home but I
wanted to get away where mymother could not just pop up on
(31:39):
me.
But I knew I wanted to go to anHBCU.
I did some of my research onHampton and then I found out
again that church members, theirchildren, went to Hampton.
So I felt called to go toHampton.
So me and my mom, we got on theGreyhound, my mom and I got on
(32:01):
the Greyhound and we went downto Hampton.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Well, now you have to tell this generation what the
Greyhound?
Speaker 5 (32:06):
is.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Now you sound like a real old soul.
Speaker 5 (32:11):
It is a bus company.
I think it's still around.
I think it's still around.
It took us seven hours, mygoodness.
I think it's still around.
I think it's still around.
You can get a nice cheap ticket.
It took us seven hours, mygoodness.
But yeah, we went to tour ofthe universe and I fell in love.
It was on the water.
What is there not to love abouta university on the water?
I got to meet some great peopleand I made the decision and I
(32:35):
would not.
If I were to do it again, Iwould make the same decision.
I met some incredible,incredible friends and lifelong
friends that I'm still incontact with.
But also, too, Hampton hostsone of the largest Baptist choir
and minister skills.
So I was involved in that aswell.
And again, life, like I saidearlier, life kind of make you
(32:58):
start to make the dots connectand just look back and you know
that it was God leading you Wakeup, wake up, Wake up everybody.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
No more sleeping in bed, no more backwards thinking,
time for thinking ahead.
The world has changed so verymuch From what it used to be.
There is so much hatred, warand poverty.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
So you graduate from Hampton with a degree in vocal
performance.
Was it your intention to becomea choir director, to teach, or
what was your plan?
Speaker 5 (33:53):
I actually went to Hampton with the goals and aims
to major in education.
But they did not tell me thatit was a dual major in music and
in education.
So I did not.
All I saw was dollar signs.
On being there longer than fouryears, I made a wise decision
(34:15):
In the back of my mind againbefore I went to college.
I was teaching already.
I was teaching my church choir,I did Women's Day, so I was
already honing my gifts andteaching.
I just wanted the formaltraining for it.
While I was at Hampton I alsostarted a gospel group on campus
called Unison, a gospel groupon campus called Unison.
(34:35):
And so we did.
We were kind of like the house,the campus gospel group for
some years.
And then I later graduated fromHampton and went to William
Patterson to get my master's inmusic education Great, Great, so
tell us what you're doing now.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
What are you doing musically?
Speaker 5 (34:56):
What am I doing musically now?
Okay, so I am a minister ofmusic at Clearview Baptist
Church in North New Jersey.
I am an educator, a vocal musicteacher, at Passaic Gifted and
Talented School in Passaic, newJersey.
I am a singing member ofAnthony Ponder and Ministry of
Desire, based out of Jersey City, and I am helping.
(35:20):
I was associate director ofVerge and Steph in Jubilation
and I get calls here and thereto assist and help the choir
since retired.
But they do get opportunitiesto minister here and there.
We just got finished doing June2 to June 2 performances which
Miss Vienna Stansel was a partof, and so I do things here and
(35:45):
there.
I like to do my own stuff hereand there when I get a chance
and opportunity.
But yeah, that's a lot.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
That is a lot.
So you're actively involvedwith three different groups.
Speaker 5 (35:57):
You've got your work group.
You've got Anthony.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Ponder and that choir .
And then Rev Steph andJubilation.
Incidentally, in the backgroundyou're listening to a little
bit of Anthony Ponder andMinistries Desire featuring
Natalie Wilson.
Now I know when you're workingwith that many groups that are
in demand, scheduling can becomea challenge from time to time.
Are you having that issue atall?
Speaker 5 (36:19):
uh, you'd be surprised.
Actually I don't find myselfconflicted.
Uh, often.
Um, usually I get some dates inadvance and so I'm able to
manage my schedule.
Um, sometimes I'm able to jointhe two schedules together.
Uh, right too, but yeah, no, itcan be a juggling act.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Sure, here's a bit of Rev Steph and Jubilation in
that classic Jesus.
What a Wonderful Child, soappropriate for this holiday
season.
Oh, what a wonderful child,jesus.
Jesus, so holy be his name.
He's not Jesus, so holy makehim.
Come Life to all, to all hebrings.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
Listen to the angels sing Glory, glory.
Glory to the newborn King.
He was heralded by the angels,Born in a lonely manger.
Mary was his mother, Joseph washis earthly father.
(37:30):
Three wise men came from afar.
They were guided by a shiningstar To see the babe King Jesus,
where he lay in a manger filledwith hay.
Jesus.
Speaker 4 (37:47):
Jesus, jesus, sweet Jesus.
Oh, what a wonderful child.
So, jared, thanks so much forjoining us tonight.
You talked about sort of theimportance of investing in the
future, and so you're workingwith young people now and I
guess, as you are an educator,what do you see as some of the
(38:11):
challenges that are related tothis generation, that are
related to this generation andwho are, as we hear very much,
who are very much sort of hookedto social media, hooked to
video games?
How do you sort of pull themaway from that to grow an
appreciation for music, evenoutside of church, but just to
(38:33):
grow an appreciation for musicand what it can do and how it
can involve them in doingsomething actively with other
people, when so much of ourculture today finds us becoming
more and more isolated?
Speaker 5 (38:50):
Oh, that's a good, great question.
So one of the challenges issocial media and technology as a
whole.
It is very, very difficult.
First of all, it's alreadydifficult to keep young people's
attention, but you addtechnology, the use of
technology, in that mix andmercy.
Again, I go home and I take anap every day because you have
(39:14):
to keep, and you know where weused to do theory?
On the board chalkboard.
No, no, that doesn't work thesedays.
Right and so, um, but on theflip side, you have to lean into
it.
There are a lot of tools andresources that use technology to
keep, uh, children's attentionand to still teach the same
(39:36):
fundamentals.
Um, you just have to kind of becreative in finding that right.
Another thing that I try to as ateacher, an educator and I'll
share what I was mentioningbefore, where I get to fuse
sometimes my schedules myphilosophy with being a teacher
is I try to give experiences asmuch as possible to my students,
(39:59):
because that's what kept myattention the experiences of
traveling.
The first time I went toWashington DC was not with my
family, was not with my mom ordad, it was with my school choir
, right, and it was, I remember,on my birthday we had.
I'm aging myself.
We have phone cards, so I hadto use a phone card to call, use
the payphone to call back homeon my birthday in Washington DC.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
He said payphone yeah .
Speaker 5 (40:23):
He said that no I looked at him but yes, we had
payphones when I was a kid andso so I try to infuse that as
much as possible experiencesoutside of the classroom because
that really keeps theirexcitement.
I is my experience.
So, for instance, this lastyear I was able to uh partner
(40:48):
with my friend, anthony ponder.
He had a gospel series at sobsin new york and he was able to
bring in molly music and a partof.
While he was here.
He was able to bring in Mileymusic and a part of while he was
here.
I was able to bring Miley to myschool and do he ran a workshop
with my seventh and eighthgraders and so we researched who
is Miley music.
He's a Grammy award winner.
Miley has also written musicfor Jenny Aiko.
(41:11):
I don't know if you guys arefamiliar with R&B singer Jenny
Aiko, so my kids relate to JennyAiko.
They didn't necessarily relateto Molly, but because they
connected the fact that he wrotefor Jenny Aiko, they were
amazed.
They were like so excited andwe watched Terrell's show on
YouTube.
So he interviews he's not aChristian based, but he
(41:33):
interviews a lot of gospel, r&b,broadway singers and he plays a
lot of games with them, but healso interviews them while
they're playing and they'resinging games.
So they get to sing on the show, and so Miley was on that.
So I pulled it up on a smartboard look at this episode of
Miley Music.
So they got information, theyunderstood who he was, the
(41:54):
background on him, and then Ibrought him in so I taught them
a song that actually I did inHampton called God Grant Us
Grace.
It's a four part song and theyhad been.
I'm teaching them also how toread the actual notation right.
So I'm teaching them a prettydifficult song, a four part
harmony.
These are middle schoolers andI'm teaching them how to read
and they were kind of strugglingthrough it and trying to find
(42:16):
their way.
They had finished learning itand Molly comes to do this
workshop and by golly theysounded like Hampton University
Concert Choir just because Mollywas standing there.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
When he left I said well, who, what choir was that?
Speaker 5 (42:37):
What choir was that they were like?
Well, Mr McClain, we had toshow up, we had a Grammy award
winning for him, we had to sing,we had to sing.
And so it's those moments, youknow, of trying to be creative
and find ways to keep theirattention that I find work well.
Last thing I want to share Ialso was able, so we just did.
(42:57):
I just mentioned that, ReverendStephen Jubilation.
We just did two Juneteenthperformances, one at NJ Pack and
one at the Race Theater inElizabeth, and I was able to
bring you know again this greatsupport with not only my, my
principal and Reverend Minity,but everybody that I asked to
make things happen.
They support me, right andtrying to make it happen.
(43:19):
And so I was able to bring mychoir to perform in the
Juneteenth from the MiddlePassage, uh, at NJPAC.
So how often does a middleschool choir get to perform in a
professional setting and space?
And so I tried to again usewhat God has given me and the
little or much that he's givenme to include as many people as
(43:40):
possible.
I could have totally done thatshow and just not thought of
asking the kids to come or tryto work the logistics I had to
get a bus.
I had to do paperwork, I had toget chaperones, I was running
rehearsal, a dress rehearsalwhile texting and making sure
the kids were on the bus andpresent all at the same time.
I got to NJPAC and make surepermission slips were assigned
(44:02):
and all that good stuff.
So, to answer your question,I'm feeling a lot of long-winded
.
But to answer your question, Itry to find ways to bring
experiences to my students thatthey may not normally have the
opportunity, to keep theirattention and to keep them
excited about singing and musicand learning.
Speaker 2 (44:19):
Thank you.
Yeah Well, listen, I happen tobe.
Thank you, jarrett, for being apart of this evening's session
taping.
I happen to be in the room withthose same young people that
you brought into NJPAC and theywere phenomenal, they really
were.
I just enjoy watching them, notnecessarily on stage because I
(44:42):
could hear them on stage, butjust watching them in the room
with all of us, and the way thatthey navigated in the room.
You could tell, you could seethe excitement um of of the just
the entire day and all that itentailed.
Um.
Now, I happen to know that you Iknow two of the groups well now
(45:02):
, I know the, the young peoplethat you also, uh, work with,
but I happen to know two of thegroups that you serve with now.
They're very, they're vastlydifferent musical stylings.
Right, by the way, I have tosay this Greg and Dorian, the
group that he's talking about,anthony Ponder and Ministries
Desired.
(45:22):
They have a new song out, newsingle out, that I happen to
love, and it came out on Friday,and I just want you to know,
young man, that is some goodwork there, you all doing some
good work there.
So let Anthony know he's mynumber one fan.
I'm going to say that.
Don't say it that way, but I doknow that these two groups in
(45:45):
particular, reverend Stephan,jubilation, as well as Anthony
Ponder and Ministry of Desire,have two different styles of
music.
And so when you, when you work,when you're working with your
the children, the gifted andtalented children, how do you or
do you bring those two musicalstyles together with them, or
(46:07):
you just um, just a one notekind of thing with them, do you
bring a little bit of what youdo with?
Do you bring a little bit ofwhat you do with ministry's
desire, or a little bit of whatyou do with Reverend Steff?
Because Reverend Steff is a isa more traditional background in
music and Anthony Ponda, he iscontemporary if you will All the
(46:29):
way.
All the way he's contemporary.
So how do you, how do you bringthose those two things together
when you deal with the youngerchildren, the gifted and
talented bunch?
Speaker 5 (46:41):
So I try to infuse.
I love music and, of course,majoring in music, you had to
get familiar with genres andmaterial that you were not
necessarily familiar with andlearn to appreciate it too.
Not just get really good, butyou'll learn to appreciate it
and you learn to find thesimilarities and how learning
(47:02):
classical can enhance your R&Band how learning traditional
gospel can enhance yourclassical classical.
You know what I mean.
So I do give autonomy to thechildren that I teach to choose
and select some of the musicthat they want to perform.
(47:22):
Some students really showcasethat they're interested in
others, more interested inothers, and so I have, like,
some soloists, and so I givespace for students to perform
solos or to do trios or smallgroups, um and again, with, with
guidance, right, because someissues are not always
(47:42):
appropriate, um and so.
But you'd be surprised to seewhat they listen to and what
they're familiar with and whatis taught in their household.
And just like I was a studentgoing to church, a lot of my
students go to church and singin church and sing it outside of
(48:03):
school, and so I try to infusejust as much as what I'm
involved in and showcasing thatto them and making it palatable
for them, as well as trying toget their input and insight.
But yeah, I like contemporaryjust as much as I like
traditional, so you'd besurprised.
Some young people are very,very traditional.
(48:24):
They want to sing, mary, didyou Know?
Really?
Wow, we have the sheet musictoo Nice.
So you'd be surprised what theyappreciate.
And it's interesting too,because social media has a way
(48:49):
of reviving Traditional or oldlyric Material that they end up
loving.
I don't know if y'all arefamiliar with Keisha Cole.
Speaker 3 (49:01):
Love never knew what I was.
Yeah, you know what.
Speaker 5 (49:05):
I'm saying why do y'all love it so much and why
are you requesting it?
Because, TikTok revived it.
Tiktok has revived it right,and so you again to my point.
You'd be surprised what theylike and what they that's good.
Speaker 1 (49:20):
Jared, when you consider the fact that this is a
, your school group is a youngergroup, and then you have the
other two groups which, intoday's definition of a
generation, these groups arealmost a generation apart as
well.
What would you say that each ofthese groups have in common
individually that keeps themwanting to come together, being
(49:41):
together, collaborating, wantingto sing during a time when it
seemed as if choir was beingdisseminated.
Yet these choirs have held on,these groups have held on.
These people want to singtogether.
What would you say is the gluethat's common between each group
?
Speaker 5 (49:58):
To answer your question, what from the members'
perspective?
I know that camaraderie is oneI know with Jubilation.
Specifically, jubilation wasstarted, kind of for those that
don't know the history ofJubilation, it was the House
(50:18):
Gospel Choir at NJPAC when NJPACgot started.
So they were up and running 98,99.
And again, the connectionbetween Jubilation, their family
, my mom and I are chartermembers of Jubilation and I
remember my mom Going on ancharter members of Jubilation
and I remember my mom going onan audition.
She had never auditioned for achoir before she heard about it.
(50:39):
She of course was familiar withReverend Minity.
Reverend Minity played at myhome church and my aunt was a
member of her group, stephanieand Friends.
So we were, you know, familyfriends outside of church.
So she I remember being in thecar Now I was sitting in the
back seat because my motherforced me to sit in the back
seat.
She got the letter and shescreamed.
(51:01):
I thought we were about to getin a car accident because I
couldn't see.
So she screamed because she hadgot accepted into the choir and
I can remember all the greatand wonderful experiences.
I remember my mom saying howmuch she enjoyed going to
rehearsal because it was aworship experience in rehearsal
(51:38):
been in existence for 25 years,has created a space for lack of
better words, and a connectionand a camaraderie again, uh, to
sing.
That is undeniable and thattranscends a lot of things.
The ministry opportunities thatthat have been shared between
everybody, um, has been bar none, right, uh, I think, with anth
Potter Ministry of Desire, wesee the vision that God has
given Anthony, and so it is easyto follow his vision and follow
(52:01):
and try to help him execute thevision that God has given him,
and we have seen the tangibleevidence of it.
So, but let me say this toothey are some singing fools, and
so, as singers I'm going to saythis to you and musicians uh,
(52:21):
we are a little competitive.
We, we know we want to, uh, wedon't want to be the weakest
link around, so, uh, we should.
Iron sharpens iron, and I willsay that they are some singing
fools.
Speaker 1 (52:36):
So when you say competitive, do you mean
competitive amongst themselves?
Speaker 5 (52:39):
I'm saying a healthy, competitive, like learning from
each other.
You know I like to get somelicks from John.
What did you do here?
Like, oh, you know I'm tryingto do what you just did there.
How did you hear that?
So it was appreciation.
Sure, Gotcha, and I'm sayingthat being silly because I'm a
silly person.
But yeah, no, I love and enjoybeing around them because they
(53:00):
are amazing in their own giftingand their own talent and it
sharpens me and then again mycapacity teaching children.
I love seeing when thingsconnect and so it is.
There's nothing more rewardingthan sharing your own life
experience and knowledge to theupcoming generation and they
(53:24):
appreciate it the same way thatyou appreciate it, or they're
able to find a little bit moreconfidence in themselves.
They're able to presentthemselves in a different way
because of the experience thatthey've had with you.
And so each one, eachorganization and group that I'm
(53:48):
a part of, serves its ownpurpose and serves its own
connection.
That all fuel me and all makeme who I am, and all each of
these entities just make me abetter person and serve
different purposes.
Speaker 1 (54:06):
Jarrett, thanks for joining us here in the choir
room and kudos to you for what Ibelieve we heard is a great
balance between your ability tosing with Anthony Ponder and
Ministries Desire, your workwith Rev Steph and Jubilation,
and then, of course, you'repouring into the next generation
of singers at the school inwhich you work Mietta Dorian any
(54:27):
last words.
Speaker 2 (54:28):
I'm just grateful to be in the same space tonight
with you, young man.
Thank you for carving out sometime.
She called you young man, I did.
Speaker 4 (54:37):
Well, she called me a young man one time too.
Speaker 2 (54:40):
I might as well, because Greg loves pointing out
the fact that I'm old right.
Speaker 5 (54:45):
Make sure that makes the edit too.
Speaker 2 (54:47):
please, We'll keep it in, but I am I'm grateful that
we were able to share this spacewith you tonight.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (54:55):
I really appreciate all of you.
Uh, yeah, this is a great,great, great opportunity and
great uh time.
Speaker 1 (55:02):
I had a whole bunch of fun, so I appreciate well,
jared, you've got some music outthere, so tell our listeners
where they can find it.
Speaker 5 (55:08):
I do, um, you do.
Yay, you can just search me oniTunes or YouTube.
Jared McLean, I did an EP inthe pandemic and it's Let
Freedom Ring, and I raised somemoney to give a little book
scholarship to two students.
One went to the other HU HowardUniversity, unfortunately, the
(55:31):
other Howard University andMorehouse University so that
project was able to blesssomebody else.
And then I did a single someyears prior to that, called you
Get the Glory.
But you can find me onInstagram Facebook.
My Instagram handle is atI-A-M-J-A-Y-R-E-D, so J-Red.
(55:53):
My friends like to call me thatJ-Red, but I just took it and
made my hand up.
And then Jared and Marthysquirt.
Speaker 1 (56:00):
Awesome, and the two groups and the school that
you're involved with.
Speaker 5 (56:03):
Right with Step in Jubilation, Anthony Ponder and
Ministry of Desire.
Please go on iTunes.
And there are two albums, Onecoming, another album coming
soon, but we do have a singleout called it's in the Room so
you can get that today.
And then the three groups Iteach at St Kitts and McAllister
Academy.
Speaker 1 (56:22):
And there you have it .
Join us again next week righthere in the choir room as we
continue with our Hymn of theWeek with Dorian Johnson.
We'll be taking your commentsand your questions in our CRQ,
which is the Choir Room Questionof the Week, and, of course, as
often as possible, we like todrop some nuggets of experience
to help you along in your choirexperience.
If you're enjoying the ChoirRoom, don't forget to give us a
(56:43):
thumbs up and a like, share withyour friends and tell them that
you were in the Choir Room.
And finally, if ever we put themessenger before the message,
we have failed to present anunblemished gospel.
I'm Greg Thomas.
Join us again right here nextweek in the Choir Room.
Welcome to the Choir Room.
This is episode 40 of the ChoirRoom Podcast.
Welcome to the Choir Room.
I'm Greg Thomas, your host, andI'll soon be joined by my
co-hosts, dorian Johnson Welcometo the Choir Room and Mietta
(00:20):
Stancil-Farrar.
This podcast exists to promoteand encourage two long-time
traditions in our society thatseem to be dwindling away, and
that is choir and corporatesinging.
We hope to revive theexcitement and joy experienced
with singing in a choir, as wellas inform and educate the
listener on all things singingand all things choir, and note
(00:44):
that this podcast is aproduction of Metro Music and
Arts, whose purpose is toperpetuate and promote the
Christian and positive ideathrough the medium of music and
other arts.
We've got a special guest withus today, and he seems to be
operating in three areas ofchoir, that's church choir,
community choir and school choir.
We're glad to have in the choirroom with us today Jared McLean
(01:06):
.
Let's get right into it.
Mietta has our CRQ.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Thanks, greg, tonight's CRQ.
I really enjoyed this episodewith the church choir from
Connecticut.
In it you spoke about pet peevewith musicians during
rehearsals.
How do you address thetinkering when your leadership
expects you to have them inrehearsals with the choir?
Now, jared is with us tonight,so let me give him a backstory.
(01:35):
There was a question, or wespoke about in some podcast
prior, about rehearsals andmusicians in rehearsals, and you
know the differences betweenthe vocal rehearsals and
musicians in rehearsals and youknow the differences between the
vocal rehearsals and theinstrumental rehearsals.
And we're just talking and Imade mention that there's a.
I have a pet peeve inrehearsals when musicians are in
the room with the choir.
(01:56):
It's this thing that usuallydrummers not necessarily
keyboards or or organ players oreven bass players, but the
drummer, a friend of mine, youngman, used to in rehearsal,
while we're giving the vocalstheir parts, he would be tapping
on the drum like on the snare,just just no real tempo, no,
(02:21):
nothing, it just he would justdo it.
And I think he used to do itbecause he knew I hated it,
right, so I he was really doingit to get under my skin, and so
this is where this question iscoming from and they're asking
how do you stop that?
Um, because you want themusicians in the choir rehearsal
with the vocals, but you don'twant that.
(02:41):
You know that, which I don'teven know what you would call it
miscellaneous, that you knowtinkering drum.
You know that I don't even knowwhat you would call it
miscellaneous.
You know tinkering drumming andall that kind of stuff.
My answer to this question tellthem to stop, Just tell them to
stop.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
Simple.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Just give us a minute so that we can, you know, make
sure that the vocals are gettingwhat they need to have with
clarity, because sometimes thatcan be a distraction.
Speaker 5 (03:10):
Call them out and sit them down.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
See, see, wow, yeah, there you go.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
See, I was about to go the other route.
I was gonna say so diplomatic,you can do it separate.
You don't have to necessarilycall them out right there in the
rehearsal, but you definitelywanna address it't have to
necessarily call them out rightthere in the rehearsal, but you
definitely want to address it.
You have to address it becauseit just it's not.
it's it's not going to do wellfor the choir, it's not going to
do well for you, for yourrelationship with the musicians
(03:38):
right you just have to addressit and you pull them aside, or
you have a separate meeting withthem and just lay the ground
rules for how the rehearsal isgoing to run, and if they can't
listen to that, then not helpingin the choir rehearsal it's
(04:06):
just about them not being ableto come under authority.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Ultimately, if they're not listening to what
you're saying, you know, if thisis a church choir, school choir
, college choir, community choir, the responsibility is going to
rest on the choir director orthe worship leader, or whatever
the church is calling them today.
This sounds like a church choir.
So the professor, if you will,that responsibility is going to
(04:34):
rest on their shoulders, andmuch of this really has to take
place at the onboarding of themusicians, of the musicians,
because a lot of times, thelonger you work with people or
work with a group of people, themore comfortable you get with
each other, and when you'recomfortable with each other, it
becomes a little more difficultto correct each other.
(04:55):
And so I think the choirdirector, at the onboarding
stage, needs to establish theexpectations in rehearsal so
that the musicians understand.
Well, he or she doesn't findthat tapping helpful, but finds
it distracting, and it can be.
And so we can't be afraid tohave the hard conversations with
(05:17):
the people that are close to us, so that we can still grow
together.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Yeah, and that's interesting, greg, that you
mentioned that, because I wasgoing to say one of the other
things that is maybe notsomething that the person is
calling out here, but if it's inthe name of righteousness, if
(05:53):
it's in the name of order, if,if it's needed in order for
these things to be established,yeah, then we confront.
Now, we don't do it rudely, wedon't do it rudely.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
We don't do it in the flesh.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
We don't do it, trying to get our way, but we
have to confront some things, wehave to speak to some things
sometimes and, yeah, sometimesthat's not comfortable,
especially if you're inleadership, exactly.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
You don't want to have to do this stuff.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
But you know what?
It's part of the job.
It's got to be done, jared.
Speaker 5 (06:28):
I would also offer too, like Greg said, it's
establishing.
Do musicians really understandwhat rehearsal etiquette is
right first, and then also, too,being a teacher?
Being a teacher, this is agreat opportunity for growth for
everybody, right, um?
(06:50):
And so tapping on a drum is notthe only distraction that can
happen in a larger group.
There's a whole stream ofdistractions.
So when you you call out forlack of better words, one
distraction and how that canaffect the entire group, you're
in essence showing the entiregroup that, yes, that may be one
distraction, but there areother things that we can do and
(07:11):
we don't want to be, uh, used bythe spirit to distract people
from from what they should befocused on.
So I think it's a great way tohave a group growth session.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Session Do it a little bit.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
You know to confront it.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
You know, I think when we're talking about church
choir, we can't help butacknowledge the fact that Jesus
confronted all the time, all thetime, all the time it was
sometimes with gentle hands, andsometimes very firm.
You know it was a get thebehind me Satan kind of firm.
(07:50):
You know, in today's vernacularit would have been considered,
you know, firm and fierce.
And perhaps too often we makeconfrontation a negative thing,
when in fact it's often just anecessary thing thing, when in
fact it's often just a necessarything.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
So to answer the question too, uh, if that, if,
after confronting sometimessomething sometimes we can do,
we can structure our rehearsalsin a way that, in a way that is
more beneficial for everyone.
So maybe, if you do I don'tknow this specific uh person
that asked the question ifthey're in leadership and if, uh
, they're looking for an answeron how to confront those things,
because they may be dealingwith it, a suggestion would be
(08:28):
to structure a rehearsal whereyou may have just a keyboard
player, so you can focus onchoir and then add the band
later on.
A seven o'clock rehearsal,maybe seven to eight or seven to
seven thirty, it's just keysand choir, so that way you
really have no distraction.
You can focus on the choir andthen add the component of the
(08:49):
band later.
Uh, just, I don't know.
We're answering questions tohelp people, but no, that's a
good option.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
You know, separate the rehearsals, uh.
I think mienna said thisearlier, though, that, uh, you
want to have the conversationwith leadership, uh, whether
that's the choir director or theperson the choir director
answers to, I believe part ofthe question was a statement as
well.
When the pastor expects themusicians to be in the rehearsal
(09:15):
, and because the pastor is notin the rehearsal, they don't
realize what the choir directoris dealing with.
When the group is together withthe musicians, in the rehearsal
Exactly, and so if that is theexpectation, as a choir director
and I'm assuming this is achoir director sending it in.
You know we do a lot ofassumptions about who sends
(09:37):
these questions in.
This could be a disgruntledchoir member, we don't know but.
But if that is the expectationto a choir member, we don't know
.
But if that is the expectation,either way, it is incumbent
upon the person and maybe thisis the person sending the
question in to take it to yourimmediate leadership, and then
that person can take it to theirimmediate leadership Because,
(09:58):
again, if the pastor is not inthe rehearsal, he doesn't know
what's happening and which mademe think that these musicians
are being paid to be.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
I didn't think of that and so they're.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
They're necessary.
It's necessary for them, yesthey've got to be there.
They're on the clock well, can I, can I play advocate?
I won't say devil's advocate,but let's just.
Can I play that advocate?
Um, could it be?
And I had to really kind ofthink about it.
It bothers me, yes, it doesstress me out, but I know how to
deal with that.
When it comes to um musicians,you just I just address it on
(10:34):
site and they'll, you know,they'll taper off, I guess.
Um, but do you?
Do you think that preparationis also key?
Um, because a lot of.
I do find um.
I've been in rehearsals thatwere not necessarily mine, just
sitting in um, where directorsare not always prepared, and so
(11:01):
when they're not always prepared, it just leaves room for, for,
for play.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
It leaves a lot of space, just a lot of space and
air to, just you know, run themup.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Yeah, you know, and so sometimes when that happens
or those moments are happening,not just musicians either, it's
singers as well, absolutely.
You know, and so to to be fair,because we, I don't I don't want
to just solely blame it on youknow, just musicians.
I don't want to do that, wecertainly don't want to do that,
(11:41):
but it's just, it's aboutpreparation.
A lot of times, and when we'renot prepared, those of us in
leadership are not prepared.
You leave room for a lot ofthat.
So perhaps, look, if you lookat it from that vantage point,
when you go into theserehearsals, be, nail it, you
(12:01):
know, be on it.
Don't leave a whole lot of roomfor that, so the drummer won't
be tinkering, uh, just randomlytinkering he'll, he's now having
to actually play these songsinstead of just kind of you know
, whisking about doing whatever.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
If leadership is prepared better, you know we're
gonna have to address that, thatlater, because there's nothing
more frustrating than having achoir director and musicians in
rehearsal unprepared, while thechoir is there.
That's a perfect recipe forlosing the choir's attention.
And if you think the drummertapping is something, if you
lose the choir's attention, thenyou find yourself trying to
(12:40):
fill in the gas to try to makethat rehearsal a productive one.
You know we have a second CRQand I think we should just go
ahead and do that, since westill have Jarrett and we're
going to speak with him shortly.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Welcome to the choir room.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
This is a good one.
What have been some of yourmost memorable choir experiences
, both good and bad?
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Ladies first.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Oh that's unfair.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Well, I do have one who.
I laugh about this today,though, because I think it's the
funniest thing.
I was in rehearsal one nightwith our young adult choir from
my former church and I was about, I guess, guess about 21, 22.
I started directing the choirat 17.
Um, but, you know, grew up alittle bit and I got frustrated
in choir rehearsal which was nota hard thing to do, it wasn't.
(13:38):
It was very easy to frustrateme, right?
So I got frustrated and I madea statement.
Listen, this was my statement.
Listen, if you don't like it,you can leave.
Right, this is the church choir.
You don't like it?
Twenty one, I'd had my fill ofchoir.
I had the what's the meme?
(13:59):
I'm tired of this church, thatkind of thing.
That's where I was at thatpoint.
So, if you don't like it, youcan leave.
And one of the young ladies andshe was singing in the tenor
section, and we were all young,mind you, we really were, we
were all young in our early 20sand late teens One of the young
ladies who was the, at that time, the oldest one in the choir,
(14:30):
so I don't even know why she wasin the young adult choir,
because she certainly could havebeen on the adult choir for
real, for real, but she stillhung out with us and so she, I'm
standing in front of them and Isee her gathering up her things
like gathering up her keys, hercoat, her pocketbook and stood
up to walk out and I looked atshe has passed on the last last
few months.
Some months ago she passed onand I said to her I said Candy,
(14:54):
where you going?
Because that's what we calledher, candy.
No, sounds like a barmaid name,right, but I can't.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Greg knew Candy, I think you know I like I did, I
can almost see her face.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
We called her Candy and I said where are you going?
She said well, you said, if youdidn't like it, we could leave.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
At thy word.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
I'm right.
I clutched my pearls.
I said where are you going?
She said.
You said if we didn't like it,we could leave.
She said then I didn't like it,we could leave.
She said, and I don't like itoh wow, follow her today it
taught me.
It taught me a lesson like stopsaying stuff to these volunteers
.
Taught me a lesson very earlyin the game that sugar, these
(15:42):
are volunteers.
Nobody is getting paid to dothis, the only people that's
getting paid in the churchperiod.
You pay the musicians and thepastor gets a little change, the
the custodian gets a littlechange, but the choir members
don't get paid and you cannotcome out your face any kind of
way to these volunteers.
(16:03):
And it taught me a lesson.
That's all I got for now untilI think of something else.
What say you guys?
Speaker 5 (16:10):
Wow, that's a good one.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
Yeah, I mean, I actually, when I saw this
question, I instantly thought ofa very bad memorable choir
experience, and this is fromhigh school.
Bad memorable choir experienceand this is from high school.
This was my senior year's highschool christmas concert and we
(16:34):
were we were singing.
Do you hear what I hear?
Speaker 1 (16:38):
and the first part of it was acapella I feel like I
know where this is going and howappropriate the title.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
And let me tell you, when the piano came in, people,
people heard what you did here.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
You were flat.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Oh yeah, I bet you wish you had in-ears then yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
I don't have them I really, how do you do that?
Speaker 4 (17:14):
I can't do it.
Yeah, our choir director had alot of faith in us and it was
obviously misplaced because wewere singing and I could hear it
, it and I'm thinking like I'mlooking over at the, at the
pianist, and I just know he'she's not even gonna try, he's
(17:36):
not even gonna try to like match, or do he's just gonna play
what he's supposed?
he's gonna play what's on thepage exactly, and he came in and
it was, it was, it was done, itwas done that's tragic, that's
that's yeah, that was yeah thatwas one of the bad ones and I
(17:57):
would say one of the.
There were a couple of good onesand, uh, they go back to to
greg and and my time workingtogether with the youth praise
choir, times square church.
I would have to say that thatfirst service, when we had
basically a whole platform fullof all of these young people
(18:18):
yeah, um, and they stood up toto sing together um, that was
certainly a memorable experienceand something I've shared on
this podcast before, was fromour visit to Scotland when we
had been ministering to thefolks there and the host pastors
(18:43):
decided to have all of thefolks who were in the audience
sing.
Now, granted, not all thesefolks were Christians, but they
had grown up in this atmosphereor in this sort of culture of
singing, and they began to singthe Lord is my shepherd, I shall
(19:05):
not want.
And they sang it acapella inthis old wood-framed auditorium
and I will never forget thesound of that Never, ever, ever
ever.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Jared, let's hear from you.
I'm sure you've got some goodand or bad choir experiences.
Speaker 5 (19:25):
This is such a good question.
I have so many, both good andbad, I don't know which one to
pick.
Um, I'll start with the badfirst.
I'd like to end on good notes.
Uh, so of course I've had awhole bunch of we call it
crashing and burning in church.
When you get up and youpractice one thing and it just
(19:45):
goes left field and it humblesyou very, very quickly.
But I can remember a time I wentto Hampton University and we
were singing some choral piecein Italian I can't, the name of
it doesn't come to mind rightnow and Doc was our accompanist.
He was like an 80-year-old man.
He played the piano with fervorand with power and it was one
(20:10):
of those pieces that just everysection did not like sing
together.
They had their own part right,kind of like a few, and we had
been struggling in rehearsal forweeks.
But our director wanted toteach us a lesson.
What that lesson was, I stilldo not know.
(20:33):
We get up, we go on tour, we arein New York State and he pulls
out this song.
Usually sometimes there aresongs that we didn't know we
were going to do.
We just had a repertoire, so hewould just pull from the
repertoire and he pulled outthis song and we looked at each
other on stage like what is hedoing and why we got to go.
(20:53):
We started off strong.
We just go, go, go.
By the middle of that song,tennis dropped out, sopranos
dropped out, altos dropped outthere is nobody playing or
singing except Doc on that piano, just going, just going.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
We sit there like oh.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
Then the tennis came back in because they heard
something they remembered.
And the Sopranos came back inand we ended it strong.
But mercy, mercy, god, that wassomething.
Fake it until you make it, fakeit until you make it.
And there's some greatopportunities.
(21:31):
I got to sing again at Hampton.
Barack Obama came to speak atcommencement and, of course,
being in choir, that's the first, one of the first ensembles
they need to perform.
So I have pictures with me inthe corner with Barack Obama
standing at the podium withHampton University and
Presidential Seal.
So that was a great experienceand great opportunity.
(21:56):
And, yeah, touring and beingplaces, we were in Spain with
Reverend Stephan,jubilationilation and to be.
That was my first overseas tripI was sharing earlier.
I asked, prayed to god, like,oh, I want to go, uh, overseas,
I don't have the money.
I was in college at the time,in grad school, don't have the
money.
So, lord, please just send ajob where they're gonna go
overseas and they could take meand I can get paid and paid, uh,
(22:17):
paid trip to go somewhere.
And I prayed that and it hit me.
God smacked me on the head,said how you gonna pray that
prayer and you don't have apassport.
That doesn't make any sense,first things first.
Yeah, I always got my passportand by the end of the year I got
a call to go to Spain.
But that experience of singingoh Happy Day to a crowd of
(22:40):
Spaniards singing every lastsong just showed me the power of
gospel music and it transcendsa lot of things.
That was a great experience.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
We'll be right back with more from our guest,
jarrett McLean, right after this.
Welcome to the choir room.
Jarrett is a music teacher, achoir director, a songwriter and
recording artist.
We're glad to have him with ustoday here in the choir room.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
I would rather be invisible than to get in your
way.
All of you and none of me getthe glory today.
You have my mind, my will, myheart and my voice.
(23:34):
Use me as you please, Lord.
You give the glory in what I dofor you today.
I'd rather be invisible Than toget in your way.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Playing in the background is a little bit of
you.
Get the Glory by Jarrett McCain, our guest Jarrett, welcome.
Speaker 5 (24:18):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
We've been trying to get you here for a little while
now and finally made it happen.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
Oh, come on, Don't make me sound Hollywood.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Honestly, we like guests who are not Hollywood,
people who are just doing whatthey're called to do, so thanks
for not being Hollywood.
Now, you've been sitting inwith us during the CRQ's.
Let's talk about Jared.
Tell us where it started foryou.
Speaker 5 (24:44):
So I started seeing an early age.
I was actually very, very shyand of course I was in church
all of my life.
I was born and raised inElizabeth and I went and I grew
up at a AME church, mountTiemann.
Ame church is my home church,that my mom and I'm uncle still
(25:06):
retain and our members andofficers of so shout out to
Mount Tiemann.
But there was always, for myjourney in my life, there was
always a duality.
I wasn't just church, I wasn'tjust involved in church, I was
also involved in school, and soI was always in the youth choir
(25:27):
and everybody at those churchesdo the Sunday school plays.
Except I told you, I was shy asa kid, so I had a heavy, heavy,
heavy, no spirit.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
A heavy no spirit.
Speaker 5 (25:41):
Yes, I knew how to say no.
I knew how to stand my groundwhen I said no, gotcha.
And so they would try to get meto do my little recital not
recital my Easter play lines andChristmas lines.
And I was the one to hold themicrophone for everybody else to
see it Video footage of meholding it, holding my phone.
(26:03):
But I came out.
I came out of my shell in church, being a part of the youth
choir as well as singing in myschool choir, at school, in the
public schools, I was in theGifted and Talented program and
my Gifted and Talented programchoir.
(26:24):
We traveled and so that reallykind of opened my eyes to see
other people my age singing andexploring and you know the
camaraderie of corporate singingand group singing.
Everybody was excited around meand so that kind of pushed me
to come out of my shell a bit.
And so, just like the church isa great grounds for bringing
(26:50):
leaders and for trial and error,so I did a lot of my trial and
error at church, with propersupport in the proper space, and
so, um, I can remember early onI was also taking piano lessons
with, uh, one of my mentors andfamily friend, miss Rose
Cavishawk, and she was also myminister of music at church and
so I remember the first time.
(27:12):
This is the importance ofchurch.
Let me go go here.
Importance of church.
The pastor at the time, reverendDixon, had the vision and
sought the importance oftraining up and investing in the
youth.
And I have a good friend, jesseMayers.
He played the drums, I playedthe keys and sang.
(27:32):
Another friend, dj.
He played the keys as well andmy cousin wanted to pick up the
bass.
Another friend, dj, he playedthe keys as well and my cousin
wanted to pick up the bass.
And so the pastor investedchurch money to give us lessons.
So the minister of music, mrCaberstock, gave me and DJ piano
lessons.
The bass player for the churchgave my cousin Justin bass
(27:53):
lessons, and the drummer at thechurch gave Jesse drum lessons.
And it was around that time Iwas a teenager.
It was around that time that,uh, I did, uh I stepped out of
she uh had death in the familyand it was.
She had literally had to leave,and so it was a Sunday morning.
We found out, you know, prettyuh late and I'm rambling.
Sorry if I'm rambling, but uh,I say, hey, I will try my best
(28:17):
to tinkle on the keyboard.
I didn't know much, but I calledin the morning.
She gave me the keys that thesong started in and I started us
off at least and put us in theright keys and played things
during the order of service.
And again, just the foundationand the encouragement of my
church family really kind ofstarted my journey in music and
(28:38):
kind of honing those gifts andtalents at that place.
So I think church is stillimportant, has multiple roles, I
agree.
I agree Not just spiritualitybut actually cultivating and
honing the gifts that are insideof each individual.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Now, you later went to Hampton University, correct?
Speaker 5 (28:58):
Yes, indeed, the real HBCU.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
And it was at Howard University, HBCU, that you
studied what.
Speaker 5 (29:05):
I studied vocal performance for four years.
Yes, and I was a part of theuniversity choir and concert
choir.
Concert choir was the travelingchoir.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Let's step back just a little bit to something you
said earlier, and that is thefact that the church invested
financially in your musicaldevelopment.
Now, was that for the purposeof you and the others bringing
their talents back to the churchand utilizing them there?
Is that even important and ifso, why?
Speaker 5 (29:34):
Some of those are.
But again, I don't think thateven still, serving is important
, but I think the investment iswhat is important, and those
tools and what that taught us.
It takes us further and beyondserving in church.
So I would still say that, eventhough some of them may not be
(29:56):
serving in church, I still thinkthat the event that was placed
meant something, you know soUnderstood.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Let's go back to Hampton for a moment.
What was your motivation forchoosing vocal performance?
Because you mentioned that youwere very shy growing up.
Yeah, by this time I had gottenout of that.
Speaker 4 (30:13):
OK, I broke it out of that.
Speaker 5 (30:17):
You know life is God is so awesome and great when you
look back at your life and Isound like an old spirit.
But when you look back at yourlife, you know, you just start
seeing the dots connect and it'sjust very interesting.
So, again, I was involved inschool and we traveled, and so I
was in seventh or eighth gradeand we went to Virginia on a
(30:38):
competition and we were at bushgardens.
Usually all the competitionstook place, uh, at amusement
parks.
So my choir went, we competedand while we were there, we, we
did other things, like we didsome activities and we got to
see the space of the area wewere in and I remember being on
a boat now this is there's awhite man.
(30:59):
We got on see the space, thearea we were in, and I remember
being on a boat Now this isthere's a white man.
We got on this boat you knowbeing fancy and he was like our
tour guide and we were on thewater and we rode by Hampton
University and he was telling usto your left is Hampton
University and they are ahistorically Black college and
they were very known for theHampton Singers and it was one
(31:19):
of the first touring Blackchoirs that went around and
their similarity.
You guys are a choir and theywere a choir and that stuck with
me Seventh or eighth grade,right.
So I go fast forward.
I'm now applying for colleges.
I remember that I bring it up.
I knew that I didn't want to gotoo far away from home but I
wanted to get away where mymother could not just pop up on
(31:39):
me.
But I knew I wanted to go to anHBCU.
I did some of my research onHampton and then I found out
again that church members, theirchildren, went to Hampton.
So I felt called to go toHampton.
So me and my mom, we got on theGreyhound, my mom and I got on
(32:01):
the Greyhound and we went downto Hampton.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Well, now you have to tell this generation what the
Greyhound?
Speaker 5 (32:06):
is.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Now you sound like a real old soul.
Speaker 5 (32:11):
It is a bus company.
I think it's still around.
I think it's still around.
It took us seven hours, mygoodness.
I think it's still around.
I think it's still around.
You can get a nice cheap ticket.
It took us seven hours, mygoodness.
But yeah, we went to tour ofthe universe and I fell in love.
It was on the water.
What is there not to love abouta university on the water?
I got to meet some great peopleand I made the decision and I
(32:35):
would not.
If I were to do it again, Iwould make the same decision.
I met some incredible,incredible friends and lifelong
friends that I'm still incontact with.
But also, too, Hampton hostsone of the largest Baptist choir
and minister skills.
So I was involved in that aswell.
And again, life, like I saidearlier, life kind of make you
(32:58):
start to make the dots connectand just look back and you know
that it was God leading you Wakeup, wake up, Wake up everybody.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
No more sleeping in bed, no more backwards thinking,
time for thinking ahead.
The world has changed so verymuch From what it used to be.
There is so much hatred, warand poverty.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
So you graduate from Hampton with a degree in vocal
performance.
Was it your intention to becomea choir director, to teach, or
what was your plan?
Speaker 5 (33:53):
I actually went to Hampton with the goals and aims
to major in education.
But they did not tell me thatit was a dual major in music and
in education.
So I did not.
All I saw was dollar signs.
On being there longer than fouryears, I made a wise decision
(34:15):
In the back of my mind againbefore I went to college.
I was teaching already.
I was teaching my church choir,I did Women's Day, so I was
already honing my gifts andteaching.
I just wanted the formaltraining for it.
While I was at Hampton I alsostarted a gospel group on campus
called Unison, a gospel groupon campus called Unison.
(34:35):
And so we did.
We were kind of like the house,the campus gospel group for
some years.
And then I later graduated fromHampton and went to William
Patterson to get my master's inmusic education Great, Great, so
tell us what you're doing now.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
What are you doing musically?
Speaker 5 (34:56):
What am I doing musically now?
Okay, so I am a minister ofmusic at Clearview Baptist
Church in North New Jersey.
I am an educator, a vocal musicteacher, at Passaic Gifted and
Talented School in Passaic, newJersey.
I am a singing member ofAnthony Ponder and Ministry of
Desire, based out of Jersey City, and I am helping.
(35:20):
I was associate director ofVerge and Steph in Jubilation
and I get calls here and thereto assist and help the choir
since retired.
But they do get opportunitiesto minister here and there.
We just got finished doing June2 to June 2 performances which
Miss Vienna Stansel was a partof, and so I do things here and
(35:45):
there.
I like to do my own stuff hereand there when I get a chance
and opportunity.
But yeah, that's a lot.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
That is a lot.
So you're actively involvedwith three different groups.
Speaker 5 (35:57):
You've got your work group.
You've got Anthony.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Ponder and that choir .
And then Rev Steph andJubilation.
Incidentally, in the backgroundyou're listening to a little
bit of Anthony Ponder andMinistries Desire featuring
Natalie Wilson.
Now I know when you're workingwith that many groups that are
in demand, scheduling can becomea challenge from time to time.
Are you having that issue atall?
Speaker 5 (36:19):
uh, you'd be surprised.
Actually I don't find myselfconflicted.
Uh, often.
Um, usually I get some dates inadvance and so I'm able to
manage my schedule.
Um, sometimes I'm able to jointhe two schedules together.
Uh, right too, but yeah, no, itcan be a juggling act.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Sure, here's a bit of Rev Steph and Jubilation in
that classic Jesus.
What a Wonderful Child, soappropriate for this holiday
season.
Oh, what a wonderful child,jesus.
Jesus, so holy be his name.
He's not Jesus, so holy makehim.
Come Life to all, to all hebrings.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
Listen to the angels sing Glory, glory.
Glory to the newborn King.
He was heralded by the angels,Born in a lonely manger.
Mary was his mother, Joseph washis earthly father.
(37:30):
Three wise men came from afar.
They were guided by a shiningstar To see the babe King Jesus,
where he lay in a manger filledwith hay.
Jesus.
Speaker 4 (37:47):
Jesus, jesus, sweet Jesus.
Oh, what a wonderful child.
So, jared, thanks so much forjoining us tonight.
You talked about sort of theimportance of investing in the
future, and so you're workingwith young people now and I
guess, as you are an educator,what do you see as some of the
(38:11):
challenges that are related tothis generation, that are
related to this generation andwho are, as we hear very much,
who are very much sort of hookedto social media, hooked to
video games?
How do you sort of pull themaway from that to grow an
appreciation for music, evenoutside of church, but just to
(38:33):
grow an appreciation for musicand what it can do and how it
can involve them in doingsomething actively with other
people, when so much of ourculture today finds us becoming
more and more isolated?
Speaker 5 (38:50):
Oh, that's a good, great question.
So one of the challenges issocial media and technology as a
whole.
It is very, very difficult.
First of all, it's alreadydifficult to keep young people's
attention, but you addtechnology, the use of
technology, in that mix andmercy.
Again, I go home and I take anap every day because you have
(39:14):
to keep, and you know where weused to do theory?
On the board chalkboard.
No, no, that doesn't work thesedays.
Right and so, um, but on theflip side, you have to lean into
it.
There are a lot of tools andresources that use technology to
keep, uh, children's attentionand to still teach the same
(39:36):
fundamentals.
Um, you just have to kind of becreative in finding that right.
Another thing that I try to as ateacher, an educator and I'll
share what I was mentioningbefore, where I get to fuse
sometimes my schedules myphilosophy with being a teacher
is I try to give experiences asmuch as possible to my students,
(39:59):
because that's what kept myattention the experiences of
traveling.
The first time I went toWashington DC was not with my
family, was not with my mom ordad, it was with my school choir
, right, and it was, I remember,on my birthday we had.
I'm aging myself.
We have phone cards, so I hadto use a phone card to call, use
the payphone to call back homeon my birthday in Washington DC.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
He said payphone yeah .
Speaker 5 (40:23):
He said that no I looked at him but yes, we had
payphones when I was a kid andso so I try to infuse that as
much as possible experiencesoutside of the classroom because
that really keeps theirexcitement.
I is my experience.
So, for instance, this lastyear I was able to uh partner
(40:48):
with my friend, anthony ponder.
He had a gospel series at sobsin new york and he was able to
bring in molly music and a partof.
While he was here.
He was able to bring in Mileymusic and a part of while he was
here.
I was able to bring Miley to myschool and do he ran a workshop
with my seventh and eighthgraders and so we researched who
is Miley music.
He's a Grammy award winner.
Miley has also written musicfor Jenny Aiko.
(41:11):
I don't know if you guys arefamiliar with R&B singer Jenny
Aiko, so my kids relate to JennyAiko.
They didn't necessarily relateto Molly, but because they
connected the fact that he wrotefor Jenny Aiko, they were
amazed.
They were like so excited andwe watched Terrell's show on
YouTube.
So he interviews he's not aChristian based, but he
(41:33):
interviews a lot of gospel, r&b,broadway singers and he plays a
lot of games with them, but healso interviews them while
they're playing and they'resinging games.
So they get to sing on the show, and so Miley was on that.
So I pulled it up on a smartboard look at this episode of
Miley Music.
So they got information, theyunderstood who he was, the
(41:54):
background on him, and then Ibrought him in so I taught them
a song that actually I did inHampton called God Grant Us
Grace.
It's a four part song and theyhad been.
I'm teaching them also how toread the actual notation right.
So I'm teaching them a prettydifficult song, a four part
harmony.
These are middle schoolers andI'm teaching them how to read
and they were kind of strugglingthrough it and trying to find
(42:16):
their way.
They had finished learning itand Molly comes to do this
workshop and by golly theysounded like Hampton University
Concert Choir just because Mollywas standing there.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
When he left I said well, who, what choir was that?
Speaker 5 (42:37):
What choir was that they were like?
Well, Mr McClain, we had toshow up, we had a Grammy award
winning for him, we had to sing,we had to sing.
And so it's those moments, youknow, of trying to be creative
and find ways to keep theirattention that I find work well.
Last thing I want to share Ialso was able, so we just did.
(42:57):
I just mentioned that, ReverendStephen Jubilation.
We just did two Juneteenthperformances, one at NJ Pack and
one at the Race Theater inElizabeth, and I was able to
bring you know again this greatsupport with not only my, my
principal and Reverend Minity,but everybody that I asked to
make things happen.
They support me, right andtrying to make it happen.
(43:19):
And so I was able to bring mychoir to perform in the
Juneteenth from the MiddlePassage, uh, at NJPAC.
So how often does a middleschool choir get to perform in a
professional setting and space?
And so I tried to again usewhat God has given me and the
little or much that he's givenme to include as many people as
(43:40):
possible.
I could have totally done thatshow and just not thought of
asking the kids to come or tryto work the logistics I had to
get a bus.
I had to do paperwork, I had toget chaperones, I was running
rehearsal, a dress rehearsalwhile texting and making sure
the kids were on the bus andpresent all at the same time.
I got to NJPAC and make surepermission slips were assigned
(44:02):
and all that good stuff.
So, to answer your question,I'm feeling a lot of long-winded
.
But to answer your question, Itry to find ways to bring
experiences to my students thatthey may not normally have the
opportunity, to keep theirattention and to keep them
excited about singing and musicand learning.
Speaker 2 (44:19):
Thank you.
Yeah Well, listen, I happen tobe.
Thank you, jarrett, for being apart of this evening's session
taping.
I happen to be in the room withthose same young people that
you brought into NJPAC and theywere phenomenal, they really
were.
I just enjoy watching them, notnecessarily on stage because I
(44:42):
could hear them on stage, butjust watching them in the room
with all of us, and the way thatthey navigated in the room.
You could tell, you could seethe excitement um of of the just
the entire day and all that itentailed.
Um.
Now, I happen to know that you Iknow two of the groups well now
(45:02):
, I know the, the young peoplethat you also, uh, work with,
but I happen to know two of thegroups that you serve with now.
They're very, they're vastlydifferent musical stylings.
Right, by the way, I have tosay this Greg and Dorian, the
group that he's talking about,anthony Ponder and Ministries
Desired.
(45:22):
They have a new song out, newsingle out, that I happen to
love, and it came out on Friday,and I just want you to know,
young man, that is some goodwork there, you all doing some
good work there.
So let Anthony know he's mynumber one fan.
I'm going to say that.
Don't say it that way, but I doknow that these two groups in
(45:45):
particular, reverend Stephan,jubilation, as well as Anthony
Ponder and Ministry of Desire,have two different styles of
music.
And so when you, when you work,when you're working with your
the children, the gifted andtalented children, how do you or
do you bring those two musicalstyles together with them, or
(46:07):
you just um, just a one notekind of thing with them, do you
bring a little bit of what youdo with?
Do you bring a little bit ofwhat you do with ministry's
desire, or a little bit of whatyou do with Reverend Steff?
Because Reverend Steff is a isa more traditional background in
music and Anthony Ponda, he iscontemporary if you will All the
(46:29):
way.
All the way he's contemporary.
So how do you, how do you bringthose those two things together
when you deal with the youngerchildren, the gifted and
talented bunch?
Speaker 5 (46:41):
So I try to infuse.
I love music and, of course,majoring in music, you had to
get familiar with genres andmaterial that you were not
necessarily familiar with andlearn to appreciate it too.
Not just get really good, butyou'll learn to appreciate it
and you learn to find thesimilarities and how learning
(47:02):
classical can enhance your R&Band how learning traditional
gospel can enhance yourclassical classical.
You know what I mean.
So I do give autonomy to thechildren that I teach to choose
and select some of the musicthat they want to perform.
(47:22):
Some students really showcasethat they're interested in
others, more interested inothers, and so I have, like,
some soloists, and so I givespace for students to perform
solos or to do trios or smallgroups, um and again, with, with
guidance, right, because someissues are not always
(47:42):
appropriate, um and so.
But you'd be surprised to seewhat they listen to and what
they're familiar with and whatis taught in their household.
And just like I was a studentgoing to church, a lot of my
students go to church and singin church and sing it outside of
(48:03):
school, and so I try to infusejust as much as what I'm
involved in and showcasing thatto them and making it palatable
for them, as well as trying toget their input and insight.
But yeah, I like contemporaryjust as much as I like
traditional, so you'd besurprised.
Some young people are very,very traditional.
(48:24):
They want to sing, mary, didyou Know?
Really?
Wow, we have the sheet musictoo Nice.
So you'd be surprised what theyappreciate.
And it's interesting too,because social media has a way
(48:49):
of reviving Traditional or oldlyric Material that they end up
loving.
I don't know if y'all arefamiliar with Keisha Cole.
Speaker 3 (49:01):
Love never knew what I was.
Yeah, you know what.
Speaker 5 (49:05):
I'm saying why do y'all love it so much and why
are you requesting it?
Because, TikTok revived it.
Tiktok has revived it right,and so you again to my point.
You'd be surprised what theylike and what they that's good.
Speaker 1 (49:20):
Jared, when you consider the fact that this is a
, your school group is a youngergroup, and then you have the
other two groups which, intoday's definition of a
generation, these groups arealmost a generation apart as
well.
What would you say that each ofthese groups have in common
individually that keeps themwanting to come together, being
(49:41):
together, collaborating, wantingto sing during a time when it
seemed as if choir was beingdisseminated.
Yet these choirs have held on,these groups have held on.
These people want to singtogether.
What would you say is the gluethat's common between each group
?
Speaker 5 (49:58):
To answer your question, what from the members'
perspective?
I know that camaraderie is oneI know with Jubilation.
Specifically, jubilation wasstarted, kind of for those that
don't know the history ofJubilation, it was the House
(50:18):
Gospel Choir at NJPAC when NJPACgot started.
So they were up and running 98,99.
And again, the connectionbetween Jubilation, their family
, my mom and I are chartermembers of Jubilation and I
remember my mom Going on ancharter members of Jubilation
and I remember my mom going onan audition.
She had never auditioned for achoir before she heard about it.
(50:39):
She of course was familiar withReverend Minity.
Reverend Minity played at myhome church and my aunt was a
member of her group, stephanieand Friends.
So we were, you know, familyfriends outside of church.
So she I remember being in thecar Now I was sitting in the
back seat because my motherforced me to sit in the back
seat.
She got the letter and shescreamed.
(51:01):
I thought we were about to getin a car accident because I
couldn't see.
So she screamed because she hadgot accepted into the choir and
I can remember all the greatand wonderful experiences.
I remember my mom saying howmuch she enjoyed going to
rehearsal because it was aworship experience in rehearsal
(51:38):
been in existence for 25 years,has created a space for lack of
better words, and a connectionand a camaraderie again, uh, to
sing.
That is undeniable and thattranscends a lot of things.
The ministry opportunities thatthat have been shared between
everybody, um, has been bar none, right, uh, I think, with anth
Potter Ministry of Desire, wesee the vision that God has
given Anthony, and so it is easyto follow his vision and follow
(52:01):
and try to help him execute thevision that God has given him,
and we have seen the tangibleevidence of it.
So, but let me say this toothey are some singing fools, and
so, as singers I'm going to saythis to you and musicians uh,
(52:21):
we are a little competitive.
We, we know we want to, uh, wedon't want to be the weakest
link around, so, uh, we should.
Iron sharpens iron, and I willsay that they are some singing
fools.
Speaker 1 (52:36):
So when you say competitive, do you mean
competitive amongst themselves?
Speaker 5 (52:39):
I'm saying a healthy, competitive, like learning from
each other.
You know I like to get somelicks from John.
What did you do here?
Like, oh, you know I'm tryingto do what you just did there.
How did you hear that?
So it was appreciation.
Sure, Gotcha, and I'm sayingthat being silly because I'm a
silly person.
But yeah, no, I love and enjoybeing around them because they
(53:00):
are amazing in their own giftingand their own talent and it
sharpens me and then again mycapacity teaching children.
I love seeing when thingsconnect and so it is.
There's nothing more rewardingthan sharing your own life
experience and knowledge to theupcoming generation and they
(53:24):
appreciate it the same way thatyou appreciate it, or they're
able to find a little bit moreconfidence in themselves.
They're able to presentthemselves in a different way
because of the experience thatthey've had with you.
And so each one, eachorganization and group that I'm
(53:48):
a part of, serves its ownpurpose and serves its own
connection.
That all fuel me and all makeme who I am, and all each of
these entities just make me abetter person and serve
different purposes.
Speaker 1 (54:06):
Jarrett, thanks for joining us here in the choir
room and kudos to you for what Ibelieve we heard is a great
balance between your ability tosing with Anthony Ponder and
Ministries Desire, your workwith Rev Steph and Jubilation,
and then, of course, you'repouring into the next generation
of singers at the school inwhich you work Mietta Dorian any
(54:27):
last words.
Speaker 2 (54:28):
I'm just grateful to be in the same space tonight
with you, young man.
Thank you for carving out sometime.
She called you young man, I did.
Speaker 4 (54:37):
Well, she called me a young man one time too.
Speaker 2 (54:40):
I might as well, because Greg loves pointing out
the fact that I'm old right.
Speaker 5 (54:45):
Make sure that makes the edit too.
Speaker 2 (54:47):
please, We'll keep it in, but I am I'm grateful that
we were able to share this spacewith you tonight.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (54:55):
I really appreciate all of you.
Uh, yeah, this is a great,great, great opportunity and
great uh time.
Speaker 1 (55:02):
I had a whole bunch of fun, so I appreciate well,
jared, you've got some music outthere, so tell our listeners
where they can find it.
Speaker 5 (55:08):
I do, um, you do.
Yay, you can just search me oniTunes or YouTube.
Jared McLean, I did an EP inthe pandemic and it's Let
Freedom Ring, and I raised somemoney to give a little book
scholarship to two students.
One went to the other HU HowardUniversity, unfortunately, the
(55:31):
other Howard University andMorehouse University so that
project was able to blesssomebody else.
And then I did a single someyears prior to that, called you
Get the Glory.
But you can find me onInstagram Facebook.
My Instagram handle is atI-A-M-J-A-Y-R-E-D, so J-Red.
(55:53):
My friends like to call me thatJ-Red, but I just took it and
made my hand up.
And then Jared and Marthysquirt.
Speaker 1 (56:00):
Awesome, and the two groups and the school that
you're involved with.
Speaker 5 (56:03):
Right with Step in Jubilation, Anthony Ponder and
Ministry of Desire.
Please go on iTunes.
And there are two albums, Onecoming, another album coming
soon, but we do have a singleout called it's in the Room so
you can get that today.
And then the three groups Iteach at St Kitts and McAllister
Academy.
Speaker 1 (56:22):
And there you have it .
Join us again next week righthere in the choir room as we
continue with our Hymn of theWeek with Dorian Johnson.
We'll be taking your commentsand your questions in our CRQ,
which is the Choir Room Questionof the Week, and, of course, as
often as possible, we like todrop some nuggets of experience
to help you along in your choirexperience.
If you're enjoying the ChoirRoom, don't forget to give us a
(56:43):
thumbs up and a like, share withyour friends and tell them that
you were in the Choir Room.
And finally, if ever we put themessenger before the message,
we have failed to present anunblemished gospel.
I'm Greg Thomas.
Join us again right here nextweek in the Choir Room.
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