Thursday, February 22, 2007

Song of Praise (Howard University style)

Pop quiz:

What do you get when you mix one of the best gospel songs ever written with one of the sickest choirs on the planet?

This.

- ACL

16 "Insiders" spoke their mind. Join in...:

Anonymous said...

Hey Dre,

I'm on your side with this one. This performance was unreal. Our choir does this song also; but our altos can never get it right. Curse them!!! LOL!

Nice post.

Anonymous said...

I never heard this song, but it's a great one. Who's it by?

If it wasn't so high pitched, it would make a great praise and worship song.

Andre said...

@ Cyn: I'm mad that you said that your altos suck. In my former church choir, our altos always sucked too. Then again, some of our older tenors were pretty bad also.

I'm glad that God isn't concerned about how well our "joyful" noise sounds, b/c some of the folks in my old choir could make eardrums cry.

@ Saved sinner: The song is called "Song of Praise" (pretty simple), by a group called Youthful Praise. If you like in-your-face contemporary gospel, this would be great group to look for.

Anonymous said...

I love this song. They do such an incredible job on it. My little secret: I like the way they do it more than Youthful Praise!

Andre said...

@ Joanne: "My little secret: I like the way they do it more than Youthful Praise!"

(Secretly whispering back) You're not the only one...

Anonymous said...

This choir was hot. Their musicians were on point too. But the director lost me. Directors that bounce all over the place bother me.

Andre said...

Their musicians were OK. I don't think they've got too much on me and my boy from my former church, but they've got some skills.

Diane@Diane's Place said...

Good stuff, Andre.

*Pssst...I'm a fair soprano, but I'm a killer alto...3rd chair in Arkansas All-State Choir, 1982.*

;D

Anonymous said...

*Notices that Andre ALWAYS has to make a negative comment about his former church*

:)

Andre said...

@ Diane: I had you pegged wrong all this time. I always imagined you as an usher or a deaconness who would flash that winning smile of yours, welcome visitors, and bake them pies. Who would've ever thought that you were a vocal wiz?

Nice!

@ Jos: Hey. I can't help it if they suck.

But, I'll have you to know: I did say something positive about Mt. Calvary; namely, how great of a musician I was while I was there. What else do I have to do?! Dag!

The H.C. said...

Hey Dre,
I don't know jack chit about choirs but they really lost me on the whole first half, and frankly the last quarter. There was a brief couple of bars in the middle that wasn't too bad. I'll take your word that it's a great gospel song.

Andre said...

@ HC: Uh...

What exactly were you lost about? Was it that you couldn't make out the lyrics? Were you thrown off by the loud/soft transitions?

Now, you've got me lost...

I'll see you back at work next week.

Anonymous said...

*Note of caution, my dear boy: Don't call it one of the 'greats' of gospel without mentioning Richard Smallwood, Shirley Cesear, James Cleveland, etc.!! You could get disbarred from the gospel music community for that! :)

heiresschild said...

ok, i listened to it, read the comments, went back and listened to it again. i thought they sounded good. could be a little more unified in the voices (unless it was people in the audience talking), but they were ok. i like this song. made me think of richard smallwood. i used to be a worship leader.

i think when people sing with a pure heart, even if they sound like frogs croaking, it's beautiful and rich music to God's ears.

The H.C. said...

Hey Dre,
You know, lost as in not into it. Some songs or performers grab you right from the get go. A really good song takes me on a trip, runs me through changes and then resolves to leave me feeling as if I've shared the experience with the artist. I never felt like they created the wave I needed to ride the song.

Anonymous said...

HC: Don't feel bad, I also found the performance to be lackluster.

While technically very proficient, it doesn't really carry very much emotive quality.

The middle was the best part, not because of the dynamics (loud/soft), but because it seemed like the choir got the closest to getting into that part.

It boils down to this: If your performers don't seem to be into it, how can you expect me to be?