'Music of the people'; Workshops, concert bring spiritual tradition to Worcester.

Byline: Richard Duckett

Spirituals are at the heart and soul of American music, according to composer, conductor, singer and pianist M. Roger Holland II.

"The messages and the melodies. It's true and authentic American music. It's music of the people,'' said Holland, who was a singer and conductor with the former Boys Choir of Harlem. "I call it the mother that gave birth to several children.'' Among the offspring -- soul, blues and rock 'n' roll.

Holland, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, will be in Worcester to conduct three workshops on the African-American spiritual May 1 and 2 at Trinity Lutheran Church. He'll be working with the Salisbury Singers, who will be performing a concert titled "The American Spiritual Tradition'' May 9 at Assumption College. The Burncoat High School Quadrivium will join the Salisbury Singers in the concert. Michelle Graveline, music director of the Salisbury Singers, will conduct.

Other singers and conductors can also attend the workshops as Holland and the Salisbury Singers work on a repertoire that will be based on the May 9 concert with music ranging from more than 150 years ago to the present, including two compositions by Holland, "Anchor in De Lord'' and "There is a Balm in Gilead.''

"I'm looking forward to working with them. They're a phenomenal group with what I've heard,'' Holland said of the Salisbury Singers.

Graveline said Holland "is a very dynamic person. I think we're going to enjoy having him working with the choir.''

Spiritual music in the African-American community of slaves was a mental release from bondage, a vehicle for communication on the Underground Railroad, and was a common ground during the civil rights movement. "It's very important to understand the root of the spirituals, the nature of the spirituals,'' Holland said. It was "singing in community about the condition of being enslaved and where they saw themselves going. Eventually it was freedom.''

That freedom could be in this world, or the next.

The Fisk Jubilee Singers, an African-American a cappella ensemble consisting of students at Fisk University in Nashville, helped popularize spirituals nationally and internationally beginning in the latter part of the 19th century. However, Holland said that generally the music didn't start getting written down until the about the 1920s.

The music in written form considerably expanded its performance by an array of choirs and chorales. "By and large a lot of groups, choruses, do not sing...