Podcast Episode: A Student Group Praises God in Song
In the latest episode of our Sounds of Faith podcast, student leaders from United in Praise, along with the group's staff adviser, talk about how their music witnesses to their faith, forms community, and passes on a valuable legacy.
For about sixty years, the United in Praise student group has performed gospel and praise music in services, concerts, and ceremonies on campus and in the Durham community. The group traces its roots to the mid-Sixties when Black students joined with a local church to form the Modern Black Mass Choir. In the decades since, the group has adopted its current name and become recognized as an official student group but they have kept to their mission of giving glory to God with their music.
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Transcript
James Todd: Welcome to Sounds of Faith, a podcast exploring traditions of faith, sacred music, and spoken word here at Duke University Chapel.
Choir: Great and glorious
Awesome, victorious.
How great, how great, how great
You are to me
James: That is United in Praise singing Great and Awesome by Alwyn Price at a baccalaureate service last spring here at Duke Chapel. For about 60 years, this student group has performed gospel and praise music and services, concerts and ceremonies on campus and in the Durham community. The group traces its roots to the mid-60s when Black students joined with a local church to form the modern Black mass choir. In a decade since, the group has adopted its current name and become a recognized official student group, but they've always kept their mission of giving glory to God with their music.
Choir: You are to me
Strong and mighty
Reign in glory
How great, how great, how great
You are to me
James: I'm James Todd, Communications Director here at Duke Chapel, and I'm with 2 student members in United in Praise. LaNaiah Frieson is the Duke Senior Psychology major and choir director for the group. Taliyah Thomas is also a senior, an African-American studies and international comparative studies major and president of United in Praise. And also with us is Nicholas Venable, the group's music director and a member of the Duke Chapel staff. Welcome to Sounds of Faith.
Nicholas: Thank you.
LaNaiah: Thank you for having us.
Taliyah: Thank you so much for having us.
James: So let's start with the music. You guys are all about the music. So we were just listening to Great and Awesome performed at the Baccalaureate Service. It's really a big visible moment, important moment for the Duke community. So I'm curious, and I want to start with you Taliyah, why that song for that moment? What was it like for you?
Taliyah: When we perform at chapel, we hope to represent our purpose as a gospel choir and with a Christian mission. And so it was really amazing to be able to sing a gospel song at the Baccalaureate.
James: Yeah, and LaNaiah, what does that song for you say about who United in Praise is?
LaNaiah: Yeah, so that song is something that we sang a couple of times, not only because it's super fun to sing, especially when we get to the breakdowns of each vocal part, but it's also very meaningful. Whenever we choose songs, we try to choose songs that have meaning and connect to our audience but also to us as a choir. We're trying to remind people that even at this baccalaureate service, you might be graduating, things might be changing, things might be getting scarier, you're going into the real world, but God is still great and awesome. So just a reminder to everybody.
James: Yeah, and it sounds like Nick, that you might have helped pick that song out for that occasion.
Nicholas: Yes, sir. I did and to reiterate on what Taliyah and LaNaiah said that they pretty much hit it on the nail. One, we had fun, two, to show the agenda that we are actually united in praise. And the message that it was bringing, like especially at the baccalaureate for the graduation, people graduating, changes that are coming, that God is...
James: Great and awesome.
Nicholas: Great and awesome.
James: Musically, what do you like about it? Because you're playing on that song.
Nicholas: Yeah, I play piano on that. And as far as that is, I get to be a little more melodic and aggressive. Because normally when I'm playing with a band, I have to kind of hold myself back and lead and stand at the forefront and tell everybody what to do. But then it was just me, so I get to open up and paint the picture for the choir. Every time I play, I try to reflect on what the message of the song is doing for me, so it can be interpreted through my playing.
James: Yes. You all were back in Duke Chapel this fall for your concert. And I'm wondering if you all had favorite songs from that concert and what they were.
LaNaiah: It definitely was I'll Take Jesus. That was so fun. My mom was watching on the live stream and she would play it back all the time. I would come home, she would just be playing the clip from our Instagram live.
Choir: You can have all the silver and gold
I'll take Jesus, I'll take Jesus
I'll take Jesus, I'll take Jesus
Nothing else will do
I'll take Jesus for mine
LaNaiah: I got to really get into it in terms of directing. As I tried to do with most songs, I turned into a different person directing that.
James: Who's the music director you? How is that different than, I don't know, the kind of going to class you?
LaNaiah: The LaNaiah that's like just on the day-to-day, really silly, really goofy, and I'm still silly and goofy in practice, but less. It's serious. We have a mission. We know that we can reach so many people. And so I take it very seriously. I try to make sure that not only the notes are right but our minds are right. And our heart posture is right when we're singing these songs. So yes, it's fun and it looks fun to the audience, but there's a lot of work that goes into it. And Taliyah, how about yourself?
Taliyah: I think that there is a level of seriousness, but I will say that it's always fun. Like, rehearsal is always, the one thing I appreciate about UP and the reason that I've stayed there since I began sophomore year is that it constantly feels like you're participating in family. And so even during rehearsal when we are making sure our heart posture is right and focusing on the messages of the song, I think we're doing it united. We're doing it as a group.
And so LaNaiah is directing and she's giving us the notes, but she's also making jokes, and we're all laughing and dancing as we sing and keeping the energy up even though we might be rehearsing at 7 p.m. on a Friday. And so I think that there's a really good balance that UP has that I appreciate.
James: You talk about heart posture. Is there a ritual before or rehearsals or concerts that you go through?
Taliyah: Typically, we always open rehearsal with a prayer. We have a chaplain as a part of our exec team. His name is Jeremiah, and he does really amazing with guiding, opening prayers. Sometimes he does it. Sometimes he asks if other people want to do it. And then we always close rehearsal with a prayer. We also have started taking prayer requests just to make sure that we're hitting every nail for the members because we're growing.
When I started, it was maybe 10 of us maximum. And so it was really easy to be like, "What do you want me to pray for?" But now we're 20 plus, and so we're trying to be more intentional about checking in with all of our members. And so we take prayer requests. We pray at the start of rehearsal. We also pray at the end. Sometimes we always hold hands and we sometimes each speak to what's going on and just give a quick message to the Lord.
James: Yes. Nicholas, as we're talking about rehearsal, I'm wondering how you guide the group musically. How much is it hands on and how much do you sort of step back and let the students lead? Yeah, what's rehearsal like for you?
Nicholas: One thing I enjoy, I've always enjoyed it. And even though I'm the musical director, LaNaiah is my leader. So no matter what, I know her character, I trust her. So whatever she says, goes and that's what I push forward. As when I teaches parts and whatever is needed, I'll provide the accompaniment. If we need parts here or there, if we need to read something, it'll be here and there. if I need to interject and I lead the choir while LaNaiah steps back, we'll switch back and forth. We just have good chemistry.
James: Yeah. So you're on the piano and can play out the chords. And then you said arrangement because I know sometimes you all perform with a band so you would make the arrangements.
Nicholas: Yeah, sometimes I make tracks, backing tracks or just full-blown music production tracks or arrangements. Like, this next concert that we have coming up, it's going to be pretty interesting.
LaNaiah: Yes.
Nicholas: It's going to be pretty, pretty, pretty interesting.
James: What are you, debuting something?
LaNaiah: Yes.
Nicholas: I'll say a little bit. We have an arrangement and we have some other songs. It's just the second semester of each year, we try to push it a little bit. So it's...
LaNaiah: Doing fun things.
Nicholas: Yeah, we're going to be fun.
LaNaiah: Yes.
James: Yes. And before we leave this concert you all did in the fall, Taliyah, did you have a favorite song from that concert, especially meaningful to you?
Taliyah: I think for me, it was Set Me Free.
Choir: The song has set us free.
Yes, you'll be free on [inaudible]
And now I'm, I'm walking in
I'm walking in on Liberty
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Taliyah: I really enjoyed doing that song. I'm not professionally trained when it comes to music. I sang a little bit in high school but I mostly did most all of my singing here in college with UP and also doing some musical theater stuff. So for me, I think, the song was really fun as an alto. I felt like we got to be theatrical with it and it was a little bit of acting as we said the lyrics. And I think being a senior, I am thinking a lot about what happens when I go beyond and when I graduate. And so I think Set Me Free was, it was a message that I needed at that time in my fall semester when things are a bit rocky. Things are still a bit rocky, but I definitely use our time in UP and the messages and the scripture that we based our music on to guide me throughout my semesters and my time here at Duke.
James: And that's what I want to talk about next is where UP fits in with your broader lives, your experiences as Duke students.
LaNaiah: We were just talking about how, like, I personally am ripping and running all the time. If you catch me on campus, I'm probably running to some meeting, some event, something. But UP is always been like a grounding place for me personally. I was assistant director sophomore year, co-director junior year for the last semester and then now fully choir director. But as director, you wear so many hats. And so I am ripping and running. And when I come to rehearsal, I have to realize like, not only am I teaching these students music, the beautiful thing about UP is that we get people from all kinds of musical backgrounds. People who have never sang before in their life, shower singers, some people who are in opera, things like that. So many different characters and so many people from different walks of life and sometimes they need support that goes beyond musical training, maybe emotional support, mental support. And so learning when to switch those hats and put away all of the stuff that I'm carrying with me running around campus and stuff like that has been like the greatest lesson that I've learned so far. So yeah, a lot of things.
James: What about you, Taliyah?
Taliyah: I'd say it goes back into what I was saying earlier. I think I came to Duke, it's far from home for me. And I'm first generation college student. So I was coming here with not a great basis on what...
James: And you're from New York, far from home.
Taliyah: Yeah, I'm from New York.
James: First generation college student.
Taliyah: First generation college student. And so coming to Duke, I think I was not lost, but lost. I didn't really know what was available to me, and I didn't know how to seek out community and where to get that community from. And I think I was looking for it in a lot of places and I wasn't receiving it. And so, I think when I joined United in Praise and I found this family and these people were willing to spend not only so many hours a week rehearsing and singing with me, but also time going to bonding events. We went roller skating, and we watched movies.
LaNaiah: Ice skating.
Taliyah: And we played Just Dance and ice skating. Sometimes we see each other in the food hall and suddenly it's like 12 of us sitting and having dinner together. And I suddenly felt like this great sense of belonging. And I think for me that was so, so, so special. My closest friends now are all mostly in UP. And it just brings me such great joy, especially again, as I'm navigating Duke, as a first generation college student or now as a senior going into the world, you experience so many rocky situations in college. You're growing so much each year. And so, to have that base, have that rock and family and community, I think it's been really special for me.
James: That's wonderful. I wanted to get into some of the history of United in Praise but first, Nicholas, you're on staff with Duke Chapel as the staff music director for United in Praise, but you also have a music career outside of Duke. So I'm wondering how United in Praise fits in with your music overall.
Nicholas: So I mean, it does. It does now. Before, I kind of channeled my inner LaNaiah and was ripping and running. Because I'm a music teacher, I'm a music instructor, I'm a producer. I propose, I have a production group of my own, Capital V Music Group, alongside of my brothers. And so I was literally ripping and running. Like every day, I worked every single day. And on top of that, I did what we call up North GB, well general business, but it's basically like top 40. And alongside like jazz gigs, gospel gigs as a musician, so.
James: And is this piano or the other instruments in there?
Nicholas: Yeah, I'm a multi-instrument, so it was piano, drums, organ, singing, hum, production, playback. Playback engineer is the person that runs the tracks and stuff for different artists on the side. They look like a DJ, but no, they didn't. They keep everything going. They keep everything going. You need your playback engineer on a professional stage. So with all that being said, UP definitely fits inside of my schedule now. I know it was a long answer for you.
James: Got it. So we're talking about United in Praise as a community and kind of a home on campus. It's got quite a long history going back to the 60s when it was founded as modern Black mass choir, I guess in connection with one or more local churches. I want to play a clip from a little mini documentary put together in 2017 and then get your reactions.
[video playing]
Reverend Joshua Lazard: United in Praise is one of the many jewels in the crown of Duke. It's one of the first Black student groups here at Duke University that formed in the early 1970s.
Brennan Steele: UP came out of the modern Black mass choir which was created in time where there was extreme discrimination and segregation. So as Black students started coming on campus, it was their space in which they could be free and find that peace as I find now. And so I feel like we carry that tradition now and to being a place not just for Black students, but for any students who are burdened, heavy-laden, anything like that.
James: So that's the Reverend Joshua Lazard, former Sierra Lincoln minister at Duke Chapel and Brennan Steele, who was in United in Praise back in 2017 when that was made. So hearing that little bit about the history of United in Praise in which you all have learned, I'm wondering how do you tell the story of United in Praise? I don't know. So LaNaiah, when people ask you about United in Praise, what's that group? What's the story you tell?
LaNaiah: So I always bring it back to the beginning. I always say it's the oldest and first Black affinity group at Duke University, which has so much weight and so much power in it. It was the first place where Black students felt like they could gather and praise God and worship God and also find community. And so it's so fun meeting alumni of Modern Black Mass Choir and then also alumni of United in Praise Choir. There's kind of a difference in the alumni that you meet.
James: What's the difference?
LaNaiah: Especially the ones that don't know that the name changed. I think it's always fun to be like, "Well, we actually changed the name way back when." But I love the name changed because I mean, we don't just have Black students in our group. Of course it's predominantly Black, but we have Asian students, we have Hispanic students, we have white students. And they all come to sing with us when we have our open rehearsals and then they choose to stay. We are still getting new students to this day. We literally just got somebody else new just the last rehearsal.
And it's so fun. It's just always been a place where people can come together and either express their love for Jesus or find their love for Jesus. And despite the name change, that has always stayed the same.
James: Yeah. And for you, Taliyah, what do you know about the history of United in Praise and where the group now fits in?
Taliyah: I think kind of like when I said I keep it in my heart as I continue, and [inaudible] as president of the group, that this was the first Black affinity group on campus for Black students. And I think that's something I'm reminded of as I meet alumni. There's an older gentleman who's a pastor of a church I attend, who was a drummer, as I was kind of telling you earlier. When I talked to him about the choir and the space that it provided for them, and I think it's really important to remember that history. And as we grow and grow, to keep reminding our members that this is a space that has been important to so many people on campus from the inception of Black Student Life.
James: Yeah, I'm sure there must be hundreds of alumni at this point that have been a part of United in Praise.
Taliyah: Yeah.
James: Yeah, that's great. And Nicholas, what about the group's repertoire? How do you describe the music of United in Praise?
Nicholas: It's gospel. It's inspiring. Of course it's Christian, but it's very vast, like with how the music is nowadays versus how the music is in the past, which kind of speaks on a little bit—I keep bringing it up—this next concert.
Taliyah: The next concert.
James: All right, tell us where is it? When is it? What should we look for?
Nicholas: February 28th.
LaNaiah: [inaudible].
Taliyah: Can we tease the theme of it?
LaNaiah: Yeah, sure.
James: Are we breaking news here?
LaNaiah: Low key.
James: Okay. What's the theme?
Taliyah: This is going to be our Gospel's Not Dead Decades Concert. So we're going to be focusing on gospel throughout the decades. And this is a concert that I know is really important to you, LaNaiah.
LaNaiah: Yeah. Basically, there's a lot of talk nowadays about people moving away from gospel music or being too hard of a music or nobody wants to listen to that anymore. And especially as a student in a gospel group on campus, it could be interesting to go up to students and be like, "Yeah, I'm in a gospel group." "We have that?" "Yes, and we sing great music." And so this concert is really like a call back to roots and call back to the greats that came before us. And to remind everybody, like, "Hey, we are here and we are rocking it."
We're going to have songs from the foundations of gospel music and transition all the way to what gospel music is now. And hopefully, people will feel and recognize that gospel's not dead, because God's not dead. He's still on the throne, so as long as he's here, hey, that word will be sung.
James: Amen.
Taliyah: During my time at Duke, I've gotten to take a lot of classes that focus on the Black music tradition due to being an African American studies major. And what you learn is that a lot of popular music today, I mean popular music in general, is rooted in gospel because Black music tradition is rooted in gospel. R&B and hip hop is rooted in gospel. Pop music is rooted in R&B, and so there's that trajectory. And so I think it's important to remind ourselves how important gospel as a genre is to all popular music today. I mean, one wouldn't exist without the other.
James: Yes. So talking about taking it back to the roots, I'll play one more song here and get your thoughts. And so this is a song that UP sang in a Duke Chapel worship service, so not a ceremony or a concert. It's back in spring of 2024. It's We Sing Praises by First Baptist Church Glenarden. Let's listen.
Choir: We give Him glory, for He’s the King
We give Him glory, for He’s the King of Kings
We give Him glory, for He’s the King
We give Him glory, for He’s the King of Kings
All hail King Jesus.
James: So that is United in Praise singing We Sing Praises by First Baptist Church Glenarden in a 2024 Duke Chapel Sunday morning worship service. So here's the music in the context of a worship service, and so I want to get your thoughts on how worship in music intersect for United in Praise.
Taliyah: I got to talk to Duke Arts a while ago, and they asked me a similar question. And I think worship is always the root of what we're doing at United in Praise, and we are gospel and God-focused. I think that gets a lot of people wondering about our membership and who's welcome. Everyone is welcome. And we don't shy away from the fact that we are God-focused. But we've had so many people who come and join and they say, "We've come to your concert, and we don't really know anything about God or Christianity, but we just felt this incredible movement of the spirit or the soul or of emotion. And so we wanted to come and join." And they get closer to faith through our group. They get closer to community through our group. And so we remain steadfast in being welcoming to all people. If that answers your question.
James: It does. Yes. The context could be a worship service, but also a concert that's not explicitly a church service or a ceremony like Baccalaureate or Martin Luther King that are not just strictly Christian services. What about you, LaNaiah, that connection between the music and worship?
LaNaiah: I think it's so funny that you chose that song because we sing that song all the time.
James: Yeah, it's a group favorite. Okay.
LaNaiah: That is something we sing as a warm-up. And it's just a fun song where, like, of course we're singing praises to our king, but we're also showing everybody that we can have fun with it. You know what I mean? I think that's what a lot of the draw is for students, primarily the feeling and the moving of the spirit that they feel when we sing these songs and their connection to it, even if they didn't think that they would have a connection to it previously. But also they see a bunch of students on stage and their friends on stage having a good time. And I think that balance is what makes UP so special.
James: Yes. So I want to wrap up with one final song. This is going to be Oh, Lord How Excellent by River of Life Choir that you all sang at the Martin Luther King ceremony recently here at Duke Chapel. Before we do that, Nicholas, I'm going to ask you, what is this song? Can you introduce to this song and, yeah, what's going on musically in Oh, Lord How Excellent.
Choir: Oh, Lord
How excellent, how excellent
How excellent, how excellent
Is Your name
Nicholas: Well, this is Oh, Lord How Excellent, originally by the Mississippi Mass Choir, but we did the arrangement by the River of Life Choir. Basically, what's going on, so Oh, Lord How Excellent, it's like we're giving praise.
James: It's addressed to God.
Nicholas: Yeah, we're giving praise and just expounding on the lyrics. Like, there's nobody like the Lord. He's excellent in all the earth. In all that we know of life and existence, there's nobody like him. It's a grand gesture, because when you hear it, especially when you go to the event, the "In all the earth," the heavy tenors, it's just like, it provides such a presence. It's just like, "Okay," you know? If you see in the video when that event happened, you could see everybody in the car, like, "All right, all right. I think I believe you." You know what I mean? So the style, it's very fitting with the message that we were trying to produce.
James: Absolutely. Well, this has been a great conversation. The song and story of United Praise continues. Taliyah Thomas is a senior and president of United in Praise. Thanks for talking with us on Sounds of Faith.
Taliyah: Thank you so much.
James: And LaNaiah Frieson is a senior and is choir director for United in Praise. Thank you, LaNaiah, for talking with us.
LaNaiah: Thanks for having us.
James: And Nicholas Venable is the group's music director and member of the Duke Chapel staff. Thank you, Nicholas, for your time and your insights.
Nicholas: Thank you, James. Appreciate you.
Choir: Jesus, excellent is Your name
In all the earth (In all the earth)
In all the earth (In all the earth)
In all the earth (In all the earth)
In all the earth (In all the earth)
James: This has been Sounds of Faith from Duke University Chapel. Learn more about the chapel's mission, ministry, events, and programs at chapel.duke.edu.
Choir: In all the earth (In all the earth)
In all the earth (In all the earth)
Jesus, excellent...
[END]