The Washington Times
  • Subscribe
  • Times News Services
  • RSS
  • Mobile Headlines
  • e-edition
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • REGISTER
  • LOG IN
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • WELCOME
  • Your Profile
  • Log Out
  • Front Page Image
  • Classifieds
  • Autos
  • Real Estate
  • Jobs
  • Special Sections
  • Customer Service
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Sports
    • NFL
    • NBA/WNBA
    • MLB
    • NHL
    • Tennis
    • Golf
    • Motorsports
    • Soccer
    • NCAA
    • Olympics
    • Outdoors
    • Other
  • Culture
    • Home & Living
    • Family & Kids
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Washington Visitors
    • Books
    • Military History
    • Life
    • Auto
    • TV Listings
    • Movie Listings
    • Death Notices
    • Entertainment
  • Themes
  • Communities
  • Shopping
    • Stores
    • Coupons
    • Daily Double
    • Promotion
    • How It Works
  • Videos
    • Two Guys
    • Birnbaum on Washington
    • Liz Glover
    • Amanda Carpenter
    • Morning Briefing
    • Documentaries
    • Joe Giganti
    • Video Game Minute
  • Podcasts
    • About Headlines
    • Audio and Radio
    • America's Morning News
  • World
  • National
  • Politics
  • National Security
  • DC Area
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Technology
  • Investigations
  • Faith
  • Energy
  • Environment
  • Headlines
  • Citizen Journalism
  • National

    VAN CLEAVE: A Thanksgiving message from Russia's spy agency

  • National

    HOLMES: Behind Obama's overseas allure

  • World

    Thailand seeks U.S. help battling insurgents

  • Politics

    Obama taking emissions goal to summit

  • Business

    Retailers bank on post-holiday Black Friday

  • World

    Corruption stain puts Pakistan leader at risk

  • Politics

    Courage the turkey escapes Obama's plate

Home » News » Citizen Journalism

Friday, July 3, 2009

CITIZEN JOURNALISM: 'Wildly American' music

Rate this story

Average 0.00
after 0 votes
Login or register to rate this story

Atwater's Soul Symphony mixes classical, gospel, rock

  • Font Size -+
  • Print
  • Email
  • Comment
  • Tweet this!
  • Share
  • Article
  • Comments ()
  • Click-2-Listen
  • Videos
Please stand by, images loading!
  • PHOTOGRAPHS PROVIDED BY BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has worked with Soul Symphony founder Darin Atwater (top) to increase black patronage. Mr. Atwater, also a composer, has conducted the BSO.

More Citizen Journalism Stories

  • CITIZEN JOURNALISM: Youth council reborn
  • CITIZEN JOURNALISM: Black colleges
  • CITIZEN JOURNALISM: Sorority sisters claim funds misused
  • CITIZEN JOURNALISM: Disabled woman gets college dream

By Lyndia Grant SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Darin Atwater, like Beethoven, one of his musical muses, started playing piano at the age of 4. Beethoven left school at 11 to become an assistant organist; Mr. Atwater's first arrangement came at the same age, when he wrote a rendition of the gospel standard "Blessed Assurance" for the choir of the Third Street Church of God in the District.

Beethoven received his first music lessons from his father, who was a tenor in the choir of the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, in Bonn, Germany. Mr. Atwater, mainly self-taught, learned music from listening to Beethoven on his grandmother's wooden gramophone and playing on her upright Wurlitzer.

There the similarities between the 18th-century and 21st-century pianists and composers may end.

"Everyone has wanted to be accepted by embracing the European [musical] standard. But I'm embracing our standard. Let's be wildly American, which means going back to our roots anyway," Mr. Atwater said about drawing most of his material from black music forms, beginning with drumbeats and slave spirituals.

The 38-year-old composer, conductor and pianist, who has a background in classical, jazz, gospel and sacred music, continues to raise his musical stature by blending these genres in an innovative mix that is uncharacteristic of his generation.

"We're beginning to make some new inroads in the music arena, and not just in gospel," Mr. Atwater said in a recent interview. "We're taking music to a new level; we're elevating music. We perform from Motown to Duke Ellington to pop, and we take music and celebrate it in a grand way."

His gospel concertos, which combine a spiritual and classical sound, have been well-received, but audiences jumped to their feet when Mr. Atwater's Soul Symphony performed its signature "The Sounds of Motown" program at the Music Center at Strathmore in Bethesda in May.

Not sure what to expect, members of the business and professional sorority Gamma Phi Delta - who were meeting in the area for their annual convention - seemed surprised as they watched Mr. Atwater heartily conduct the Motown review as a lineup of performers imitated the original acts.

Some of the women said they were taken back to Detroit of the 1950s and 1960s, as their sorority was founded directly across the street from Hitsville USA, Motown's original recording studio, on West Grand Boulevard.

"It really took them back" said Donna Harrell, Eastern regional director of the sorority. "Hips were shaking all over the theater, and some hand-danced in the aisles. It was wonderful."

[Get Copyright Permissions] Click here for reprint permissions!
Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC

123Next »

Post a comment

There are comments on this article, submit your opinion!

Please login or register to post a comment

Ask a Question

You Report

Do you have another point of view, photos, audio, video or more information about a story?

Top Stories

Most Read

  1. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  2. Top Republican lawmakers not attending State Dinner
  3. Fenty trails Gray in D.C. poll
  4. Conservatives seek test for RNC funds
  5. Food snobs fork over $225 for taste of heritage turkey
More Top Stories »
  1. Climate 'czar' says hacked e-mails don't change anything
  2. D.C. sports icon, Wizards owner Pollin dies
  3. List of W.H. state dinner guests
  4. PRUDEN: Obama's due process doctrine
  5. EDITORIAL: Obama's sacked inspector general

Most Shared

  1. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  2. Climate 'czar' says hacked e-mails don't change anything
  3. EDITORIAL: The duty of a nation to obey God
  4. Grade-schooler unearths fossil at dinosaur park
  5. The global-cooling cover-up
More Top Stories »
  1. Climate czar rejects doctored data claims
  2. EDITORIAL: Kennedy vs. Catholicism
  3. The United Socialist States of America
  4. VAN CLEAVE: A Thanksgiving message from Russia's spy agency
  5. EDITORIAL: A call to prayer and repentance

Most Commented

  1. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  2. Climate 'czar' says hacked e-mails don't change anything
  3. Climate czar rejects doctored data claims
  4. EDITORIAL: Obama's sacked inspector general
  5. Ky. hanging, ruled a suicide, leaves bloggers at loss for words
More Top Stories »
  1. Obama to attend Denmark climate summit
  2. A-listers, fundraisers at W.H. state dinner
  3. PRUDEN: Obama's due process doctrine
  4. EDITORIAL: Kennedy vs. Catholicism
  5. Conservatives seek test for RNC funds

Listen to Washington Times Radio

  • America's Morning News

    with John McCaslin and Melanie Morgan

Question of the day

Did you travel out of town to see relatives this Thanksgiving?

Blogs & Columns

  • Hot Button Blog

    RNC: Breast cancer recommendations may lead to 'rationing'

  • Belief Blog

    Evangelicals OK civil disobedience

  • Out of Context

    Foods that might kill libido

  • On the Fly

    United lifts some 'award' blocking

  • Technology

    Facebook wins round against phishing spammer

  • Redskins 360

    Blades downgraded

  • SNOBlog

    Beyond 'Woody'

Videos

Advertising Links
TWT Store
  • e-edition
  • Print Edition
  • Weekly Washington Times
TWT Affiliates
  • Middle East Times
  • Golf
  • UPI
  • Arbor Ballroom
  • Washington Times Global
  • About TWT
  • Press Room
  • F.A.Q.
  • Work for TWT
  • Advertise
  • Sponsors
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map

All site contents © Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC.