Dismantling Vocal Code-Switching in Academia
By Mariana Seda
Growing up in Richmond, Virginia, Alonza Lawrence lived music. As a long-time member of the Richmond Boys Choir and an active performer with his church and the local musical theatre scene, Lawrence nurtured a deep love of music of all styles and a desire to build a career in that space.
Yet, from an early age, Lawrence noticed that the music world separated musical styles based on place: gospel was for church, classical music for academia. As a graduate student at Indiana University, Lawrence made it his mission to challenge and transform that perception.
Lawrence dove deep into the history of gospel in the United States—one of the few musical forms that can truly be defined as originating in this country. He studied the legacy of composer Thomas A. Dorsey, who wrote blues, jazz, and gospel music in the early 20th century and is often referred to as the “father of gospel.” He even had the opportunity to interview members of the Three Mo’ Tenors, an African American vocal group that popularized gospel and opera performance through more mainstream performance outlets in the early 2000s.
“It’s a huge part of American history that goes unrecognized even within the academic walls of music,” explained Lawrence. “And it’s time for people like me to continue to carry the torch of people like Horace Boyer who studied and documented and made sure that people knew that gospel was not just a Sunday morning shower singing thing.”
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His resulting dissertation, “Dismantling the necessity for vocal code switching in the academy,” explored the connections between the linguistic idea of code-switching—having to change how one speaks or acts in order to assimilate in certain environments—and the misconceptions about what music is considered worthy of academic study and practice. Lawrence drew on Du Bois’s concept of ”living behind the veil” to explore why vocal code-switching is often seen as a necessity particularly for Black students in academic spaces, and to better understand the historical exclusion of music rooted in Black communities from scholarly settings.
Now, as a professor of Voice at the School of Music, Lawrence has a new mission: to develop a curriculum for a bachelor’s in vocal performance with an emphasis on gospel that can also be modified for instrument study. As part of this work, he researched other schools creating similar programs to get an understanding of what gospel study at the academy might look like.
“My overall goal is to build the bridge between the aesthetics of Afrocentric and Eurocentric singing, connecting the two and making pathways for more Afrocentric works, specifically gospel, to be introduced into the academy,” shared Lawrence.
Working at the U of I has allowed Lawrence much freedom, space, and resources to work towards building that bridge in the School of Music. He teaches an intro to gospel music styles course where students learn about the history and aesthetics of gospel and learn how to apply those aesthetics through various instruments. As a voice instructor, he trains students in how to sing gospel in healthy, sustainable ways. The Black Chorus, led by Dr. Ollie Watts Davis (also a mentor to Lawrence), is another unique entity that helps Lawrence practice and disseminate this work. He stresses the need to teach students a variety of musical techniques, noting that versatility is key to landing—and keeping—work in the music industry. “We do a disservice to our students if we just send them out into the world with one tool, because that’s not how the world works.”
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With a rich and varied training background, Lawrence also teaches contemporary commercial voice techniques which include every style of contemporary music outside of the traditional western European training. He’s also been sought out as a consultant for interdisciplinary projects. In 2023, he gave a lecture to graduate students in the School of Architecture who were tasked with designing reconstructions of the Pilgrim Baptist Church—an iconic Chicago architectural and cultural landmark for gospel music. The church had burned down in an accidental fire in 2006 that destroyed years of records and original music from Dorsey, who had served as the church’s decades-long music director. Once reconstruction is complete, the church is set to become the National Museum of Gospel Music. With a deep understanding of the historical significance of the space and an expertise in gospel music, Lawrence was able to provide important insights for the architecture students to use as they were developing their projects.
In recent years, many gospel enthusiasts have reached out to Lawrence to ask about how to avoid appropriation when performing gospel music with communities outside of primarily African American groups. His answer is simple and attributed to Dr. Trineice Robinson-Martin with the National Association of Teachers of Singing: there’s a difference between appropriation and appreciation.
“As long as you give homage to the creator for what you’re doing, then it’s in no way appropriation,” said Lawrence. It’s appreciation to keep true to the aesthetic and the history, and to reach out to people to gain a better understanding of the work.”
Plus, he noted, he himself appreciates and performs a vast array of music. “I myself as a vocal code switcher, I would be the biggest hypocrite in the entire world, as someone who didn’t grow up in Europe and didn’t grow up in this bel canto tradition and doesn’t have ancestry there who then went to school for the study of opera, to say that gospel is only meant for a certain demographic. Music is for everybody.”
Alonza bio
Alonza Lawrence earned both his Doctor of Music and his Master of Music from the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University, and he holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Norfolk State University. At Indiana University, he served as associate instructor for the African American Choral Ensemble and lent his talents as a vocal and rhythm coach, accompanist, and soloist for the Emmy-winning PBS documentary Amen: Music of the Black Church!. He went on to teach music and direct choruses in Virginia’s public schools, lead the Boys Choir of Hampton Roads as Artistic Director, and serve as Minister of Music for several churches across Virginia and Indiana. On stage, his performances have included appearances with the Virginia Symphony, the I. Sherman Greene Chorale, and the Virginia Opera.