VCU’s Black Awakening Choir

Cory Johnson

Contributing writer

Commonwealth Times’ Twitter

Thursday evenings at 8:30 in the VCU Student Common’s underground sitting room, just down the stairs and before you reach Break Point, there is a group of students who spend what is usually the beginning of a long weekend singing and dancing for a different cause. VCU’s Black Awakening Choir practices during this time, ministering the spirit of God to students and whoever else comes to listen through a sound unique to any other ensemble at the university.

The Black Awakening Choir is one of the oldest student organizations on campus. Comprised of a small band, an executive board, a choreography team and 50-some members, the choir is starting off its 42nd year at VCU with a series of auditions, ending Sept. 15 to introduce the choir to the community and add new members to help minister through song.

While the name may imply a quality to the group, recent VCU Creative Advertising graduate, senior group member and the choir’s brand advisor Kendra Gaines said, “Black Awakening Choir has nothing to due with skin color.” She adds that the name has “more to do with our sound than our ethnicities.”

And under the direction of Eboni Gross, a senior Psychology major with a minor in religious studies, since 2009, the choir has blended standard church music with soul, jazz and R&B to create a unique sound for the choir.

“My number one goal is to be different, not like other gospel choirs,” she said.

As far as joining the choir, no singing experience is necessary.

“All I need is a raw, natural singing voice,” Gross said.

Along with a group of section leaders, one for each voice part, Gross teaches novice singers how to breathe well, blend their voice with the choir, learn pitches and handle the choreography. In Gaines’ words, while the singers are the talent, the section leaders, “make sure we put some gravy on it.”

But this group doesn’t exclude the less-vocal worshippers. Most come to rehearsals to sing and be part of the choir, but there are students who simply come to watch. There’s a warm sense of invitation during rehearsals that draws students to at least poke their head in during one of the group’s choreographed numbers.

And for the leadership of the choir, this is the best part. When asked about the choir’s mission, Gross said, “It varies year to year, but it’s ultimately to minister … to touch at least one life.”

The group is open to all VCU students; more information can be found at www.blackawakening.com or on the choir’s Facebook page.

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