University of Mississippi Gospel Choir
Send Up the Praise
by Philip Van Vleck

The University of Mississippi Gospel Choir is one of the most respected student organizations on the U. of M. campus in Oxford. The group has been a model of dedication and musical prowess for many years, so it should have come as no surprise when the Gospel Choir's first album, Send Up the Praise, was nominated for a 2001 Grammy Award in the Best Gospel Choir or Chorus Album category.

In fact, however, when the news of the Grammy nomination arrived in Oxford, it caused a good deal of commotion. Lloyd Holmes, one of the choir directors, was in his office on campus the day he got the news. "The lady from the public relations office called and said she'd just received a call from the Memphis chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and they informed her that the Gospel Choir's album had been nominated for a Grammy," Holmes recalled. "It just left me speechless. I called the other choir advisor, and she just screamed. My ears should still be hurting from that phone call."

Choir director Dee Thomas was equally thrilled by the news. "I just hung up the phone and kept saying, 'Thank you, thank you, thank you,'" she said. "And then I thought, 'Who am I gonna call first?' Once I got started, I was talking on the phone all day long. I called my mother first, and she hung up in my face and called my dad. By that night everybody in my hometown knew about it."

The Grammy nomination was a well-deserved accolade for the Gospel Choir that added luster to the student-run choir's reputation. The organization is the first university gospel choir ever signed by a major gospel label (Malaco), so it's evident that the group operates under very high standards. Despite the lofty expectations that attend the choir semester after semester, scoring a Grammy nomination with the debut album was something that no one associated with the choir had either anticipated or consciously aimed at as a goal.

The accomplishments of the University of Mississippi Gospel Choir are particularly noteworthy when considering the fact that the group is composed entirely of students. The turnover rate is high, of course, because students come and go at universities and colleges every semester.

Choir business manager Herbert Jones explained that one policy that helps the choir directors maintain some stability and cohesiveness within the choir is the rule that new members are admitted only in the fall semester. This allows the choir's sound to come together and remain consistent for a school year.

"We make it perfectly clear to auditioning students that the choir is at a certain level and we can't allow ourselves to slide backward. We make sure that students know that it's gonna be a lot of hard work, and just because they're new doesn't give them an excuse. We can't spend half a semester trying to get our sound back to where it was. They've got to start at our level of performance," Holmes added.