Project Jumpstart’s March Entrepreneur of the Month is Dr. Raymond Wise! As Director of IU’s African American Choral Ensemble, Dr. Wise is a leader of the African American Arts Institute.
Recently, Project Jumpstart had the opportunity to explore our March theme, Unapologetically You. We caught up with Dr. Wise to chat about his career and vast experiences.
As a singer, dancer, pianist, composer, choral director, lecturer, and teacher, Raymond Wise, Ph. D., regularly works with orchestras, opera companies, and choral festivals throughout the nation and abroad. A native of Baltimore, MD., Wise began his musical career at the age of three, singing gospel music with his family singing group “The Wise Singers.”
The African American Arts Institute is the nation’s first and only credit-bearing university program dedicated to the performance and promotion of Black music and dance. Its mission is to preserve and promote African American culture through performance, creative activity, education, research, and outreach.
THE INTERVIEW
PJ: Could you give us a little history on IU’s African American Arts Institute? How is it structured and placed within the greater IU community?
RW: The African American Arts Institute (AAAI) is the creative wing of the AAADS (African American and African Diaspora Studies) Department. Back in 1971, Herman Hudson, who later founded the institute, wondered, ‘could students take courses in the performance and study of African-American and Soul music?’ He pursued this thought, and what began as a course teaching students how to sing and perform, eventually became the IU Soul Revue as we know it today.
There was a huge response to the IU Soul Revue from the beginning, with an excess of people wanting to take the course every semester. To involve more interested students, AAAI created a dance company, called the African American Dance Company. A few years later, AAAI still had extra singers that would audition for Soul Revue but could not be accommodated, and so, the African American Choral Ensemble (ACE) was born. All of these ensembles still exist today at over forty years old.
All three ensembles perform throughout the year, acting as a creative counter to the academics pursued in AAADS. We do one performance every year in the fall with all three ensembles, the Potpourri of the Arts, and then in the spring, each ensemble does its own separate concert. In addition to those, each ensemble is doing additional concerts at various locations throughout the year. Each ensemble is associated with an official course that students can take for IU credit. In the last few years, we’ve developed a minor in AAADS with an arts concentration in the performance of black music. So now, instead of taking the same course over and over again, if students stay in an ensemble and take a couple other courses in AAADS, they can end up with a minor in performance. Ultimately, our goals are to educate students, to proliferate and perpetuate this music, and positively impact the community. We want to make people aware of black life through the lens of these performing ensembles.
One of the great things about the Institute is that it’s open. It’s not just for music or dance majors; it’s for anyone who’s interested in joining. We take students with little to no experience, but we also have experienced students who remain in the ensemble for years. The goal is to get them all to a professional level by the end of the semester and to give a polished performance at each and every concert.
PJ: What do you enjoy most about being one of the AAAI directors?
RW: What I enjoy the most are the students. You get a different crew all the time, but we have students that stick around for a long time who I enjoy seeing grow. And we take anyone, regular folks who are bringing regular, ordinary gifts. I always say that we’re doing extraordinary things with ordinary people, and to see that is amazing. We have students who were shy or afraid to even open their mouths, and the next thing you know, they are confidently singing and performing solos just a couple months later. Seeing that kind of growth is so rewarding, because as a teacher, you sow and you sow and you sow, but the reward doesn’t always come immediately. When I see a student have an ‘aha’ moment, it’s incredible! The greatest rewards are working with the ensembles, seeing students perform, and working for those moments when they really ‘get it.’
This is now my 7th year here. When I first came, the choir was in decline and we were trying to regroup and revamp. There were 8 members when I first came and now there are almost 50 students in the ensemble on a regular basis. This helps us now to build musically. While you’re teaching technique from the beginning to new folks, you still have those that already have a solid foundation to build on top of. Over time, you get to a level where the musical excellence is far beyond what it had been with a less consistent membership.
Students are returning because their schedules allow it, because of the minor program, because they love the music, and because this is a family. On the first day of class, I look around and say, ‘These are your brothers and sisters.’ We do activities, we do retreats, and we do things that let them get to know each other, after which they’re often best buddies. They become a family. Every day I make a point to talk to all the students because I want them to know that this is a safe place. Ultimately, they come back because they know this is a home.
PJ: How has your background helped you in shaping the AAAI and envisioning the future of the organization?
RW: I am actually a fourth generation musician. I’m one of six children, and as soon as we could talk, we were singing in groups together. I started singing at three, playing the piano at four, composing at nine, playing for church at twelve, recording my first record at fifteen, and releasing my first album at seventeen. All this time, I was pursuing both gospel and classical styles. When I got to college, I realized gospel and classical music didn’t mix for a variety of reasons: vocal health, curriculum, pedagogical conflict, and much more. From my own challenges trying to simultaneously pursue gospel and classical music, I realized the need to bring gospel music into academic settings. Bringing this music to the academy has been a part of my mission for the last 40 years. Now, I’m directing ACE and focusing on the performance of African-American music and art. In a way, I have been prepared from childhood to do just what I’m doing now.
PJ: You mentioned that gospel and classical didn’t mix. Is that because of something fundamentally different between the two?
RW: It’s because of the aesthetics. Classical music is based upon the European aesthetic of beauty, and gospel music is based upon the African aesthetic of beauty. The kind of singing, the tone, the growls, the shouts, the coarse voices common in African music… That’s all taboo in classical music. If you’re viewing African music through a European lens, it doesn’t make sense.
The problem for me, however, was that I was raised on many styles. I’m a combination of both gospel and classical traditions, and it constantly pulls me in different directions. I was raised in the Baltimore area, and all the musicians there did everything, so it was normal for all different styles to exist together. But when I got to college, it wasn’t normal, and many traditional classical teachers dissuaded gospel singers, saying things like, ‘it’s not good for your health, the music’s not good, and you’re wasting your time.’ I got loads of suggestions saying, ‘don’t do this music.’ But despite that, it was my life, it was my passion, and so I couldn’t quit. I was determined to find a way to bring these styles together.
Many of my African American friends just went to the classical world and turned their backs on gospel. I couldn’t do this; gospel had been a part of my family for generations. My aunt was part of gospel’s rise to popularity and I grew up singing with stars of the gospel golden age. This was my life. So when I got to college and heard ‘forget all of that,’ I just couldn’t do it. That was my fight. There were many battles, but I emerged still saying ‘this music needs to be included.’
One of the challenges, especially for African Americans who come out of the church experience, is that many of them play by ear. They can be extraordinarily talented, but when they get to school, their culture and background aren’t honored. Nothing is learned by rote, so even by the first theory course, they might not be doing well. Maybe they end up switching majors and leaving their love for music behind because there’s no straightforward way to succeed in a traditional school setting. I ask, ‘How do we find ways to bring in students, honor what they bring to the table, and find a way to help them grow?’ In ACE, a lot of these students don’t have any formal training; they don’t come in sight-reading or with theory knowledge, and yet we’re doing choral pieces and anthems. They bring what they have, and we lift them up to a place where they can move on their own. Rather than saying, ‘Well you don’t know this already, so you can’t be in this ensemble,’ we welcome newcomers with open arms.
Things are different today than they were 40 years ago. There was a culture war back then, and because African-Americans were not the people in power, there was really no way to fight insubordination. By utilizing the skills I learned in the academy, I have figured out how to uplift gospel music.
PJ: How do you take lessons from the traditional canon and implement them with relevance? How can classical music students become more involved in today’s world?
RW: Here’s an example: annually, AAAI produces a concert called the Extensions of Traditions. At this concert, Jacobs students play art music by African American composers, and we’re always looking for performers. Through seeking experiences like this, you can learn and perform works outside of the traditional canon.
AAAI ensembles do play canonic works, like those by William Grant Still, Adolphus Hailstork, Dorothy Rudd Moore, Roland Carter, and Robert Nathaniel Dett. In the African American community (at least the classical community) these are standard names, but they aren’t typically programmed unless people are showcasing African American composers. Recently, I advised a research project, and we looked at the music programmed for honor choirs in all 50 states. Less than 1% was music by African Americans composers. But this music exists, and if students are interested, there are always opportunities for collaboration and new creations.
I see students imagining that they’ll leave college and get a job teaching in a nice suburban neighborhood, at a high school with a big budget and good facilities. More often, they’ll end up teaching at a school in the inner city, with no budget, no piano, and kids who have never heard of Bach, Mozart, or Beethoven. After I realized students weren’t prepared to enter the real world and teach in all settings, I began showing my choral methods classes a step-by-step process to teach gospel music by rote. You always have to find a way to make it work.
PJ: You’re also the founder and President of Raise Productions’ Center for the Gospel Arts. Can you tell us about starting this initiative?
RW: Raise started in 1985 in Columbus, Ohio. We teach classes, manage a publishing and record company, and produce recordings, publications, sheet music, and course books. I heard people complaining about the lack of available gospel music, especially lack of quality scores. So we set out to fill this gap.
My work at IU is totally separate from Raise, but Raise is an entrepreneurial piece to my career. If I write a piece, I can pursue a national publisher, or we can publish it ourselves at Raise. Initially, we got into publishing after experiences with national recording companies and labels that weren’t totally fair with royalties, rights, and at the end of the day, paying your checks. So we thought, ‘We can do this ourselves’.
I do program a lot of my own music, and I’ll write works specifically for ACE. This can be a huge benefit. For example, I had an African student in the choral ensemble who introduced the choir to a piece she knew, the choir sang it, and the students really liked it. I made an arrangement of the piece, we performed it on a concert, and a friend of mine heard the concert and asked if he could publish the work in a series. We were later asked to perform this piece at Carnegie Hall and now choirs all over the world are singing this work.
The idea is, whatever your gift, someone wants it. I tell my students, ‘Don’t wait for somebody to give you permission to use your gift.’ So often you have to be chosen for an opportunity or wait for someone to agree you’re good enough. If you’re waiting for that, you’ll be waiting forever. Put together your own concert, make flyers, rent a space, fill it up with your friends, film it yourself, and put it out there. You’ll have a product and be on your way, without needing anyone’s permission. 40 years ago, you had to be invited by a recording or publishing company to get your work out there. Here’s a copy machine and a phone. What’s the excuse?
PJ: You wear so many hats! How do you balance all the aspects of your work?
RW: I’m a real multi-tasker, and I have a gigantic to do list. (PJ: We saw it and can attest; it’s huge!) But you do have to determine what’s important, and then, you can determine what’s not important. As a performer, this will get easier and easier as you get older, and you’ll learn to politely leave opportunities open for someone else.
What is yours is yours. Keep doing what you do and be who you are. Walk through open doors, move forward, and trust that it will all happen.
PJ: What more advice do you have for Jacobs students as they prepare for the future?
RW: While you’re in school, take advantage of learning and growing as much as you can. I teach the 4 D’s to my students: Discover, Develop, Display, and Draw. First, discover your gift, then develop and refine it. Display your work, and people will be drawn to your gift. As you use your gift in excellent ways, it will draw people, and doors will open. I know it’s a competitive line of work. While you might not get your dream position today, it’s not the end of the world. I encourage you to keep working and finding ways to share.
There are so many opportunities, but it seems everyone is striving for the leading role. If you look around, maybe there’s a little opera company around the corner or a theater company down the street, and they’ll want you! So while you’ll be 1 of 500 waiting on a certain situation, there’s another opportunity where you can be number one. You have to search for the season and place that will let you succeed.
I’m 45 years into my career, and I think things have worked out. A long time ago, folks told me a career in music couldn’t happen, and now I get to run all over the world sharing my work. Now, I have to let my kids know that they can do it, too. Once they believe in themselves, you’ll see them and their work, and their success will speak for itself.
Project Jumpstart partners with the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at the IU Kelley School of Business.
Join Dr. Wise and ACE for their Spring Concert at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater on Saturday, April 27 at 7:30PM!
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