Ensemble Offerings at HBCUs
For more than 150 years, the musicians produced at HBCUs have been known across the globe. The Fisk Jubilee singers were perhaps the 1st to bring recognition to their college and the music of African-Americans, but since then numerous internationally famous jazz musicians, opera and gospel singers, composers and performers have matriculated through HBCUs. Please refer to the impressive “Notable HBCU Musicians” below. Professional musicians and performing HBCU alumni have made a significant impact on American musical culture.
Music programs at HBCUs typically provide the following instrumental ensemble opportunities:
-
Symphonic Bands
-
Chamber Ensembles
-
Jazz Bands and Combos
-
Marching Band
-
Wind Orchestra
-
String Orchestra
-
Pit Orchestra
Notable HBCU Musicians
Central State University: Both Leontyne Price and Nancy Wilson attended Central State University. William “Kedar” Massenburg, former CEO of Motown and jazz bassist, Cecil McBee.
Clark Atlanta University: For more than 100 years Clark Atlanta University has produced musical standouts including bandleader Fletcher Henderson, Grammy Award-winning producer, keyboardist and engineer Phil Davis, percussionist, songwriter and record producer Hamilton Bohannon and Brand New Heavies singer N’Dea Davenport.
Fisk University: Robert McFerrin Sr, the 1st black man to sing at the Metropolitan Opera; gospel and contemporary Christian recording artist, Mandisa, who was also a finalist on American Idol; saxophonist and swing band leader, Jimmy Lunceford; and record label owner, manager and father of Beyonce and Solange, Mathew Knowles.
Florida A&M University: Both jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley and Prince saxophonist Bernard Jackson earned degrees from FAMU. Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, Kendra Foster; music executive, television and film music supervisor, Amir Windom; and the director of the Count Basie Orchestra, Scotty Barnhart; Wycliffe Gordon.
Howard University: Shai, Roberta Flack, Donnie Hathaway, Jessye Norman, Lillian Evanti, Crystal Waters, Richard Smallwood, Kenny Lattimore, Gerri Allen, Billy Eckstein, Eric Roberson, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Shirley Horn; and many more.
Morehouse College: Gang Starr’s Guru, Grammy-nominated gospel singers Canton Jones and Byron Cage. Grammy-nominated Nigerian percussionist Babatunde Olatunji, Harlem Renaissance composer Edmund Jenkins, opera singer Uzee Brown, Jr. as well as three members of Bruno Mars’ Hooligans.
Morgan State University: Singer Maysa Leak, jazz pianist Lonnie Liston Smith and music arranger and producer Jae Deal
Oakwood University: Alumni of Oakwood include rock n roll icon Little Richard, R&B singer Brian McKnight, acapella group Take 6, actor and songwriter Clifton Davis, gospel singer Wintley Phipps and opera singer Angela Brown.
Tennessee State University: Hip hop artist Starlito, Gary “Lil G” Jenkins -the lead singer of the R&B group Silk, Jimmy Blanton who performed with Duke Ellington, and pianist and educator Jimmy Hamilton who may be best known as Prince’s first music teacher
Texas Southern University: Joe Sample, Yolanda Adams and Kirk Whalum
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff: Gospel recording artist Smokie Norful, jazz pianist Art Porter, Tower of Power lead singer Larry Braggs and Grammy Award-winning James H. Leary are among the alumni of UAPB.
University of District of Columbia: Alumni include jazz musicians Davey Yarborough, James King, Jr. and Allyn Johnson
HBCU Marching Bands
Since its inception at the Tuskegee Normal School in 1890, HBCU-style marching bands have been reimagining the roles and style of collegiate athletic bands. From uniquely powerful musical arrangements and drill design to fun and exciting dance routines and 5th quarter battles, HBCU marching bands continuously provide spectators with an exhilarating gametime experience that is unmatched in the world of collegiate marching bands. The unique pageantry of HBCU marching bands is well respected in the marching band community. It is not uncommon for patrons to attend football games for the sole purpose of seeing the marching band perform.
HBCU marching bands continue to have a significant impact in academia. HBCU bands continuously offer opportunities to excel and scholarships for high school students, who otherwise may not have attended college. Additionally, HBCU bands foster a sense of communal unity. They are so popular that many predominantly white institutions have adopted a more diverse approach to their performance planning, using the HBCU marching band programs as models. The atmosphere at HBCU football games is vibrant as fans are consistently intrigued by the HBCU marching band experience. From the reimagined roles of the drum majors and auxiliary, to traditional, yet innovative show designs, HBCU marching bands continue to cater to African American culture in powerful ways.
The HBCU-NBDC
“The vision of the HBCU-National Band Directors’ Consortium is to facilitate a pedagogical approach of the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits necessary for success in music education, performance, theory and research on all levels. This enlightened experience will touch on all learning domains including the psychomotor domain, the cognitive domain, and affective domain. We will empower students, young and old, to experience music as a source of personal enrichment, as a vehicle for the constructive expression of human emotions, and as a unique intellectual discipline. Bennett Reimer said, “Whenever and wherever humans have existed music has existed also.” As we exist, so shall the advocacy and enhancement of music at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and our surrounding preschools, primary schools, and secondary schools.”
Thomas G. Warner, Jr., M. M. Ed.
Past President, HBCU National Band Directors’ Consortium
