January 9, 2022
Presented by Mollie Stone, University of Chicago and Lonnie Norwood, Chicago Children’s Choir.
Village Harmony runs three-week choral music study abroad programs in countries with indigenous polyphonic singing traditions, where singers study directly with master teachers and then tour throughout the country performing with local ensembles. When COVID-19 shut down international travel, Village Harmony worked to adapt its programs to facilitate learning online. The result is a new platform that allows singers all over the world to work directly with culture-bearers. We collaborate across continents, and are able to create and share teaching materials in a whole new way.
Village Harmony teacher Lonnie Norwood adapted this new international learning platform to create a course in Black Gospel music, allowing singers and music directors to go beneath the surface to learn about the history of the genre, explore source recordings, receive vocal coaching, learn physical movement, study performance practice, and gain an understanding of the role Gospel music has played in people's lives throughout history, and in the present day.
Norwood now offers online Gospel courses through his ChicaGO REACH platform. Both Norwood (through ChicaGO REACH) and Stone (through Village Harmony) have adapted these online platforms to offer workshops and courses to choirs and universities around the world, and are eager to explore the dual use of online platforms that allow direct connection with culture-bearers with live in-person rehearsals. Likewise, both are passionate about using these platforms to show musicians a more ethical way to engage in greater depth with musical traditions and their creators across the world, exploring issues from cultural appropriation and ethical compensation to the importance of giving increased agency to culture-bearers in creating their own resources, sharing their music, and preserving their traditions for future generations.
Lonnie Norwood, Jr. grew up with an unquenchable passion for music and community service. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Luther College, and went on to earn a Master of Music degree with an emphasis in Voice from The Florida State University. Lonnie joined the artistic staff at Chicago Children’s Choir (CCC) as a conductor in 2012 and opened its vivacious Englewood Neighborhood Choir. He has recently been appointed Director of Africana Studies at CCC.
Lonnie is an in-demand clinician of traditional African American sacred music, helping educators and ensembles understand its historical significance, incomparable African influence, vocal techniques, and the Black liberation aspects behind the vast collection of music. Norwood holds workshops frequently with high schools, colleges and universities, and community choirs. Lonnie collaborates frequently as a clinician and singer with international ensemble Village Harmony, including a life-changing 2017 tour to South Africa. Other educational outreach efforts include exchanges in Nassau, The Bahamas with members of the Bahamas National Youth Choir and Bahamian musicians, SongRoots (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) and the Vancouver Youth Choir. He has also authored articles along these lines of interests, including co-authoring a piece for the American Choral Directors Association’s Choral Journal (October 2018).
Every avenue of arts, outreach, and advocacy Lonnie embarks on is credited to his church upbringing. He established Audacious Praise (AP) in 2015, a multicultural arts outreach organization creating accessible, inter-generational programming that impacts social & spiritual awareness in marginalized communities. Audacious Praise is best known for one of South Shore’s finest inspirational open mic showcases, Fresh Faith Fridays, and has garnered much success in its highly regarded outreach initiative educating in the art and roots of gospel, ChicaGO REACH Gospel Workshop. Lonnie's 1st EP entitled ROOTED, a collection of songs tracing the spiritual, musical, and emotional journey of Trans-Atlantic African ancestry, was released in August, 2021.
More information can be found at lonnienorwood.com.
Mollie Stone serves as Choral Conductor and Lecturer at the University of Chicago, Co-Founder/Director of the Chicago World Music Chorus, and teaches internationally with the organization Village Harmony. Stone also served as a conductor and Director of World Music at Chicago Children's Choir from 2005-2020.
Stone holds a BA from Amherst College, a Masters in conducting from Westminster Choir College, a Doctorate in choral conducting from Northwestern University, and has studied at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Stone wrote her dissertation on how Black South Africans adapted the choral music of the anti-apartheid struggle to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
In 2001, Stone received a grant from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation to produce a teaching DVD (Vela Vela) that helps choral directors across the world learn about Black South African choral music, and how to teach it more authentically in the oral tradition. Stone has since created a number of teaching materials that help singers learn about the music of South Africa, The Republic of Georgia, and Bulgaria, in conjunction with Village Harmony and Chicago Children’s Choir.
Stone works in the US and abroad (and now on Zoom) to facilitate collaborations, projects, and programs that allow singers to study the music of other traditions by working directly with culture bearers, and to provide culture bearers with platforms and resources that support them in sharing their music on their own terms.