Behind The Curtain

Exploring the Future of Willis C. Patterson's Our Own Thing Chorale

• Rosanita Ratcliff • Season 1 • Episode 5

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Exploring the Future of Willis C. Patterson's Our Own Thing Chorale 

Join host Rosanita Ratcliff on this episode of Behind the Curtain as she delves into the inspiring stories and future plans of Willis C. Patterson's Our Own Thing Chorale with guests Sharon Vaughters and Janet V. Haynes. Discover the Chorale's visionary plans for the next decade, the impact of their new music director, Alice Tillman, and the legacy they aim to build. Listen in to learn about their mission, programs, and the work they are doing to ensure the continuation of their unique services and perspectives for future generations.


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Rosanita:

Welcome back to Behind the Curtain, the podcast that delves into the inspiring stories and future plans of the artists and organizations shaping our cultural landscape. I'm your host Rosanita Ratcliff. In today's episode, we continue our conversation with Sharon Vautner. And Janet V. Haynes of Willis C Patterson's Our Own Thing Chorale. Join us as we explore their visionary plans for the next decade. The impact of their new music director and the incredible legacy they're building for future. generations. Let's get started. Want to know a bit more about the future plans, because I saw on the website that there was kind of like a slideshow of a two year plan for the corral and the instructional program.

Sharon:

Well, there's so much to talk about. I think that as a 50 year plus old organization, it's an important time for any organization. And I know mostly from higher educational organizations to review and assess what their organization is, what the mission is, what the vision is, what the immediate objectives are. And so we took time, probably two years ago, as our 50th anniversary is coming up to really look over. Our mission, our programs, and also compare that to the environment, what's going on in society, what's going on in music to really feel 1st of all, very solid in the fact that we believe and strive to have this organization survive another 50 years, if not more that we provide unique. Services and perspectives to the community, you know, as students, as audience members, as performers of a particular style that we still are relevant, even, you know, in the 2020s. So that led us to be so what do we need to do to. Especially after COVID, reignite some of these things, as well as build the foundation for continuing these things as Dr. Patterson did. Dr. Patterson is 92 years old, I believe. And one of his greatest wishes is that we continue in this process. It meant so much for him as a person with limited means growing up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, who loved music, and it changed his life, really. And we believe that that will also happen into the future. Of course, that requires resources. As far as leadership within the organization, as well as funds and space and all sorts of things you need to maintain an organization and have it grow

Rosanita:

right. And you just got a new music director. Yes. Right.

Sharon:

Yes.

Rosanita:

In October, right?

Sharon:

Mm hmm. Yeah. Mid to late October. She was also one of Dr. Patterson's students in his studio and sang with the Our Own Thing Chorale. She, Alice Tillman, is a long time music educator, taught at all levels, you know, elementary, middle, high school, and college. And she was in the end up public school. So my, both of my kids had her at Forsythe Middle School, and we got to see her in those situations dealing with middle school kids who are certifiably insane, but we knew of her talent before then as well. And she is hugely dedicated to the Our Own Thing Chorale, even though she is the artistic director for the Brazeal Dennard Chorale, which has its roots in Detroit, she grew up in Detroit and her Ann Arbor roots are still here from her teenage years, singing with the chorale and interfacing with Dr. Patterson. I believe people who interface with Dr. Patterson have the opportunity to be supported in so many different ways that people who, like Alice, who was part of it when she was a teenager, still recognizes being beneficial. So Alice is a choral conductor. She's a solo performer, soprano. And with the Brazeal Dennard she has the opportunity to conduct the Detroit Symphony every year, Alice, and she performs all over the place and her coming to the corral is the way she described it. It was that Brazeal Dennard was one of her supports and mentors in music, just as. Willis Patterson was. So she feels like these two people who supported her musical career and her, her life. She now has the opportunity to serve them as director, both the, I don't think corral and the Brazeal Dennard crowd. And one of the things that a bit unique about the Brazeal Dennard and different than our own thing corral is that. I don't think hers is truly a community choir auditions are not required for our choir. So it gives Alice the opportunity. She has said to use some of her teaching skills because whoever's in front of her, she creates music with them. Versus, you know, someone who has chosen to take a course or have auditioned to get in to a place and that makes the singers feel very respected and special.

Rosanita:

I know that the chorale practices every Wednesday night. Yes. Right. How often does the chorale perform?

Sharon:

The crowd would do two to four concerts scheduled a year, maybe one in the fall, maybe one around the holidays, maybe one Easter, so three or four. And we also received requests. So that might add to the number of concerts. And we also might join in a collaboration, which is what music in the black church. Was that we were approached as a community expert in this type of music, although we're not a religious organization as a collaboration. So that was very exciting to be able to do that in person after COVID. Our first concert back was kind of an introductory concert back in December where we did some Christmas music, Christmas spirit, which was wonderful. So 2 to 4 times a year. I was going to ask if you want to sing with us. You're welcome.

Rosanita:

No one needs to hear my singing voice.

Sharon:

I don't want to get you off topic.

Rosanita:

I wanted to ask, Janet, because you've been there since the beginning, right?

Janet:

Yes. Yes, I have.

Rosanita:

And so what made you stay? Not everyone can say that they've been a part of an organization for this many years.

Janet:

That's a, that's a good question. I come from a musical family and like Sharon said, early on, I too, my family and I watched Amahl and the Night Visitors coming out of Chicago.,we had more opportunities to see African Americans do all sorts of things, and especially in the arts. And so it was not that unusual for us to have seen Dr. Patterson, and I didn't know it was Dr. Patterson at the time. But having been aware of the number of African Americans on screen and on the television, It was surprising, but not so coming out of a musical family in my church and in my high school, and I studied piano from age five. And so I was very aware of the music of African American composers and specifically the spirituals. I started hearing the spirituals when I was probably seven or eight years old. And started singing them when I was in my church choir and then into my high school choir. So that's been in my blood. Chorale music has been in my blood. And when I applied to the university of Michigan to the school of music, I was going in as a piano performance with the choral music education background. And also that was what I wanted to study. Being a black female and I had not, even though I had been taking piano lessons for a long time, I did not still have the kind of lessons that were acceptable, I guess, the background that was acceptable. So I was denied entering as a piano performance, even though I could have very well have been an excellent pianist. I was directed to go into voice. And that really changed me a great deal, but it also opened up other doors and other avenues, and the one avenue was meeting Dr. Patterson, and I learned. From him when I was his voice student that he was the person that performed in a mall in the night visitors and I stood there in shock because if you could imagine this little black girl sitting in front of the television looking at this black man singing this role it would never have crossed my mind that man would be someone that I would be standing in his voice studio. And not only that, I can say, has become a very, very dear friend. So why I'm in the chorale? Because choral music is in my blood, and I love choral music. The experiences that I've had in being in the chorale, I sang music from many of the chorales. The arrangers and composers, I grew up singing their music, their spirituals, the arrangements of their spirituals, and throughout the history of the corral, the corral has done just enormous stuff. Dr. Patterson did a symposium that brought together all of these African American composers and arrangers. And I was absolutely in awe of them because they were people whose music I sang when I was 13 years old. And so I'm standing there meeting them, talking with them, hearing them talk about them, giving us their stories. And so it's been very important for me. I've just had enormous experience. In being in the Chorale, we've gone to South Africa. We have sung in Canada. We have sung all over the state and it's been a wonderful, wonderful experience. We've sung on Mackinac Island. That was, that was amazing in St. Anne's church on Mackinac Island. So the experiences that we've had and that I've been a part of has also been A joy and extremely fulfilling and my commitment to choral music, my commitment to the music of our ancestors, my commitment to the music of our young composers that are coming up, and not the least my commitment to Dr. Patterson and what he has done. He is a walking encyclopedia. Every single concert, he can tell you. Who the composer is, and he's had a personal relationship with that composer, so he can talk about, we were sitting in his office and this is what William said to me and dot dot dot. And he could also say. Why that piece of music was important, why that piece of music was composed or arranged, what was the composer or the arranger looking to do with it, how that piece of music related to our ancestors, our enslaved ancestors, and why that music came out of it. That period and what it did. Why did the fifth jubilee singer start and what was their contribution? It's not just singing the music, but it is also our learning who we are, where we came from. And the fact that the spirituals is the basis of American music, all of American music in one form of another can go right back to the spirituals.

Sharon:

Mm hmm.

Janet:

From Scott Joplin, from jazz, from blues, from the gospels and the gospel music and spirituals are totally different genres to rhythm and blues to rock and roll, all of that. It just, it just goes right up the line. That's the basis of American music so that's a long explanation, but that's why I'm there. That's why I continue to be there.

Sharon:

One of the things I want to jump in about is the fact that indigenous people of America. Also have American music. So to add to that, and what I've seen recently is more and more exposure, kind of like the African American music, more and more exposure to the music of the indigenous Americans, and probably have similar stories. And so some of the music probably has some of the same roots coming out of abuse and trauma and things like that too. But I just wanna recognize our Native American sisters and brothers as well. In this, my experience was a black church that must have been sort of conservative because we did hymns and spirituals from the hymnal. So there weren't as many choral arrangements, but the melodies and tunes. When I started singing the corral took me back to the way my mother. sang to me and sings to me and the way my grandfather told stories. And so it wasn't that, you know, I wasn't a big choral person back then. I love music, but you know, because I hadn't heard those things other than my family, it kind of like brought some of those back to, Oh, wow. Other people know those melodies too. There's a whole thing out there, small town, 5, 000 people, very multiracial, but you know, kind of traditional.

Rosanita:

And I know that the plan was only for two years, but let's say 10 years from now, where would you want to see the instructional program and the corral?

Sharon:

Well, we've had these discussions when I was president and coming in kind of as a new person. So that story is that when you start volunteering for things, you get volunteered for more things. And all of a sudden, then you're the president. And so I'm looking back, looking at the organization, because my background. And training is in higher education organizations. As I mentioned before, we have so much of a solid base and we don't see that our mission overall mission will be obsolete anytime soon. Our vision might be more realized, but in 10 years from now. Knowing now that anything can happen like coven. I think that what we would have is increased numbers of avenues of students, getting to the instructional program, and the same number of avenues for teachers of the instructional program that some of them come from. You know, University of Michigan or Eastern Michigan University, other musicians in the community who want to volunteer and give their service in that way. And the same will be true of the chorale. And in particular with the chorale, because we want to pass along this music that I see the crowd being diverse in age and maybe even having a youth chorale. We want to be able to take this music and continue the legacy of Dr. Patterson, who was studying from people before him or taught people before him and take it into the, to the next generations. And right now we're very lucky to have Alice join us because she is a student of Dr. Patterson. and has her own experiences, so it feels like a natural kind of dovetail of the desire to promote and integrate this music into the canon and to have. You know, more people experience it as singers, as students, as audiences, and to continue our library collection as well. So that's something that that we would also offer. One of the things I thought would be a sign of success in the future would be that when a music student had to go do their research on something and wanted to look up composers that there would be maybe the same number of African American composers that pop up when you look at the art songs. And that. For us, the crowd specifically that maybe they would end up linking to our website as an example of a community organization, you know, so that if we get some clicks from students who are doing research, that would be an indicator of the future and that we inspire other leaders to take on and what we're doing

Rosanita:

and you janet

Janet:

1 of the things that Sharon did mention earlier is that we have an enormous library. We have a library of original arrangements, we have some of original compositions, and we just have a huge library of African American spirituals. Some are not sung as often, many are very familiar and our, our hope and our plan is to be able to make that accessible to other choral groups as well as other schools of music so that the music doesn't die away, that people are more familiar with it and it's readily available for performance. And for study.

Sharon:

And if finances were not an obstacle, what we've also dreamed of when we've gone through our brainstorming about what the future would be and what, what niche we would feel would be to have a brick and mortar Willis Patterson, our own thing, music center. I think it's that Rich of an organization that it has so much potential that to have that kind of recognizable thing in the Ann Arbor community, not necessarily going national, but to know that in Ann Arbor, we have this special music program. I think it would be very exciting in terms of community development and getting the music out there.

Rosanita:

It really would. The home for the library.

Janet:

Yes, exactly. Exactly. Correct.

Rosanita:

So, I was just picturing it in my head with. The choral rooms and practice rooms and

Sharon:

exactly, exactly recording studio equipment, you know, I mean, everything that especially young artists would want to also see, you know, the tech side of it as well.

Rosanita:

Wanted to thank you both for agreeing to meet today and answering the questions, giving more information I have so many more questions but it's been over an hour. for having me. So hopefully this means that I'll be able to invite you back.

Janet:

Absolutely. You're welcome. And it was very, very nice to be here. Thank you for inviting us.

Sharon:

Yes, thank you. It was a pleasure.

Janet:

And Rosanita, also say hi to your brother.

Rosanita:

I will. Well, that's the end of our conversation with Sharon Vautner and Janet V.. Haynes from the Willis C Patterson, Our Own Thing Chorale. Thank you both for joining me in this discussion. And thank you all for joining us on this episode of Behind the Curtain. I hope you enjoyed our deep dive into the future of Willis C. Patterson's Our Own Thing Chorale. If you loved what you heard be sure to subscribe, leave a review and share this podcast with your friends. Stay tuned for more inspiring stories from the world of arts and culture. Until next time. I'm your host, Rosanita Ratcliff, reminding you to keep supporting the arts and discovering the stories behind the curtain.

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