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Danielle Livingston \u201923 (BUS) says she found a home among the group that this semester totals about 35 members. After attending high school in Hartford and coming to a place where she\u2019s among predominately white classmates who lead outwardly secular lives, Voices of Freedom gave her a place to find comfort.<\/p>\n
It has been a \u201cblessing,\u201d she says, and is the one activity that has spanned her full college experience. There, on Wednesday evenings in Room 102 of the Music Building, she has found a community of people who could understand her background and find value in her beliefs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been into clubs that feel like work to go to every week,\u201d she says. \u201cThis has never felt like that. It has never felt like something that\u2019s taxing for me. We laugh, we practice, we sing, we joke with each other in that room. It just keeps me coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Born in the Civil Rights Movement<\/strong><\/p>\n Even as hundreds of students have enjoyed time in Voices of Freedom<\/a> over the last 50 years<\/a>, bringing praise and song across the country while sharing the stage with some of the biggest gospel artists of the day, there\u2019s been one stalwart in Lisa Clayton \u201900 MM, who\u2019s headed the group the last 28 years.<\/p>\n As mighty as her own singing voice may be, Clayton demurs in talking about her contributions, smiling at the thought of her longevity yet giving credit to founder Lorraine Rose Williams. It was in 1969 when Williams and other UConn students were on a bus ride that the idea for a University-sponsored gospel choir was formed.<\/p>\n Originally called the Black Voices of Freedom Gospel Choir, the group\u2019s original or early-era members included world-renowned preacher, the Rev. Claudette Copeland, and Grammy-nominated and Stellar Award-winning Kurt Carr, who, after leaving UConn, became the pianist for gospel giant James Cleveland<\/a>, and later for Cleveland\u2019s successor upon Cleveland\u2019s death.<\/p>\n Williams led the choir for 16 years before giving the reigns to Bishop Marichal Monts and later Clayton, a vocal performance graduate student in 1995 who took the role to help pay for her own schooling.<\/p>\n Though decades have passed since Williams\u2019 UConn departure, and even with her own death in 2010, Williams still is the heart of Voices of Freedom<\/a>, a contribution that will earn her recognition later this year when the von der Mehden Recital Hall stage is named in her honor.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a celebration for which Clayton is excited. Because, after all, gospel music is a celebration.<\/p>\n \u2018The songs take me to a place of adoration\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cAll music has special elements, but what makes gospel music different is that it\u2019s a message,\u201d Clayton says.<\/p>\n Voices of Freedom follows the rule that gospel singers must feel the music, swaying to the beat and raising their hands to the heavens. That\u2019s the performance practice of gospel, Clayton says, very different than classical choirs, whose members mostly stand straight with arms at their sides.<\/p>\n That means Livingston, Gordon, and the other members of Voices of Freedom can\u2019t rely on just vocals.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat would I like more of?\u201d Clayton asks the group during a recent rehearsal.<\/p>\n \u201cEnergy,\u201d one student shouts back.<\/p>\n \u201cAltos, use your hands,\u201d Clayton implores the vocal section as they sing the refrain \u2013 \u201cYes Lord, yes Lord, you turned it around\u201d – from the song \u201cIsland Medley: Turned It Around\/Hallelujah.\u201d<\/p>\n Livingston, who is president of Voices of Freedom this academic year, says the message of gospel music is most inspiring to her because it talks about something larger than life and speaks to everyone, unlike a love song inherently dedicated for a singular person.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we\u2019re singing gospel music, we\u2019re singing from here to God,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen you understand the words that you\u2019re singing, it becomes a lot bigger than just us here. For me, sometimes the songs take me to a place of adoration and help me to understand more of who God is. It pushes me to sing and to move, to lift my hands, to be happy as I sing, all of that comes from just that message, understanding that message.\u201d<\/p>\n And that\u2019s exactly what Clayton wants: \u201cI expect you to feel joy and I expect you to share that joy. How do you share that joy? You\u2019re going to use it. It\u2019s going to be throughout your body and you\u2019re going to use your hands, you\u2019re going to clap, you\u2019re going to stomp your feet, and you\u2019re going to share your joy. That\u2019s what makes gospel music so different.\u201d<\/p>\n True, gospel choirs attract mostly Black musicians. But it\u2019s untrue that only Black musicians can sing gospel.<\/p>\n Clayton says Voices of Freedom members, who at times have numbered up to 100 in a single semester, often aren\u2019t music majors and are from varied ethnic backgrounds. Many exchange students have joined, in part because gospel music festivals have spread across the world and those from outside the U.S. are interested in learning more.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen people enter my class, I\u2019m sure they come with their preconceptions, but I help them to understand it\u2019s a music for all people and it\u2019s an expression of joy. So, I\u2019ll push and I\u2019ll prod until everybody is sharing in that sense of joy,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Offering Musical Opportunities<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen a lot of different concerts with a lot of different music genres, and, to me at least, I feel like gospel is just so powerful because I\u2019ve seen it move people in ways other genres might not be able to move people,\u201d Gordon says. \u201cI\u2019ve seen it bring people closer to Jesus. I\u2019ve seen it bring tears to people\u2019s eyes. A lot of other music will do that as well, but I feel like this just touches my soul. It makes me warm inside.\u201d<\/p>\n Clayton says she worked this month with the UConn Symphonic Wind Ensemble to help members prepare for their February concert that featured Black composers in honor of Black History Month. She offered them inspiration on how to feel the music.<\/p>\n That same day, Livingston and her sister, Abigail Livingston \u201920 (CLAS), who continues to join Voices of Freedom despite having graduated, sang the Black National Anthem \u201cLift Every Voice and Sing\u201d before a women\u2019s basketball game at Gampel Pavilion.<\/p>\n Then, later that night, the full group practiced during Wednesday rehearsal in preparation for joining the Hartford Chorale, Bloomfield High School, and the Choir School of Hartford during a Bushnell performance of \u201cEvery Pilgrim Has a Mountain\u201d by African American composer David Hurd.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just so grateful to be able to provide so many different experiences for our students,\u201d Clayton says, noting the group produced a CD in 2012 with all songs written by students, and in 2020<\/a> and 2021<\/a> Clayton released two YouTube recordings of the group, the first of which reached No. 1 on the gospel internet charts and the latter was shared worldwide by the Associated Press. \u201cFor a lot of them, they wouldn\u2019t have these opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n During a recent Wednesday rehearsal, Clayton sits at the head of the grand piano in Room 102, directing the group facing her and seeming to have genuine fun as they work the sound of \u201cah\u201d up and down the scale.<\/p>\n \u201cMake sure you\u2019re sitting up straight,\u201d she yells as they move on to repeat the warmup mantra, \u201cI love to sing, UConn VOF.\u201d<\/p>\n They sing it again and again.<\/p>\n Eventually, she compliments them with genuine joy and enthusiasm, \u201cThe mouth was open, the jaw was dropped, an absolutely gorgeous sound.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Members](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/B19D3687-AACA-4751-9145-6C1BC123F77B-300x169.jpeg\")
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