001One, two, three. >> So, the American Spiritual Ensemble is a group that I started 30 years ago and the mission of the group is to keep the American Negro spirituals alive. These were the songs that were created by an enslaved people. Now, we have over 3,000 documented spirituals that have been written down. This is art music and this is American folk music. It's for all people, all races. >> Being able to have experiences with other people who also love to sing, it's one of the most unifying uh satisfying things that you can do. >> You get to work with people that like doing the same thing you do, but like also different and their learning styles are different, their singing styles are different. It's just like cool to see it all come together and like
002make something beautiful. Having the experience to work with other kids to, you know, listen to their individual voices because every voice is different. >> It's joyful for me to do workshop performances like we've done here at Transennsylvania University with the Faget County uh school kids. It's very exciting because I want to first share the stories of this music. I think it's a great way to learn a different genre of music cuz it's like more exposure to the music world and it's also a great way to like see other talented music people from around the world. >> Experiences with like working with the American Spiritual Ensemble help us uh expand outside of the norm of what we would normally do and just really grow as singers. It takes what you already know about chorus and about
003like singing in general and it expands it into more of what it's like worldwide. You get to see that experience come out of the classroom. >> I think it's important for students to have opportunities like this. I know that there are a lot of gifted students who get up every day looking forward to going to school where they can be able to practice. you know, working with the American Spiritual Ensemble will really open our eyes to different education that we can receive through choir and just shows how choir is more than just, you know, singing and art form, but it's also in lessons for education as well. >> You also just get to learn and be dedicated to what you love to do. You have different kinds of music that just makes you work in
004different ways, like use your mind in different ways. It's really nice just not being able to do music but learn along the way. >> I love the fact that they want to sing these spirituals. They want to learn the stories about the spirituals. I was in this auditorium that was filled with all of these very talented school kids with their voices coming towards me and they were singing with such joy. I was inside wishing that every person in Fed County could be right where I was so that they could hear the beauty that these kids were sharing with me through their voices. It was just a tremendous experience. >> That's great.