Hezekiah Walker Center for Gospel Music completes “amazing” first year at VUU

A celebration planned for Saturday, June 18 will honor Senior Citizens as it commemorates center’s first year and Juneteenth

When gospel artists Anthony Brown, Dorinda Clark Cole, and Patrick Riddick bellow songs of freedom during the Juneteenth concert at Virginia Union University on Saturday, June 18, the celebration will commemorate more than the emancipation of slaves.

The historic holiday weekend marks the first year of operation for the new Hezekiah Walker Center for Gospel Music.

“It was amazing,” gushed Bishop Hezekiah Xzavier Walker with emotion, shaking his head in disbelief. “It was rough starting out because we had to iron out all the kinks but once we got going and once people started registering for the classes,” the spring 2022 semester fell in place.

The multi-Grammy Award-winning gospel artist added, “I think the biggest thing for me was to hear what the students were saying after they completed the classes. It was just amazing.”

THE FIRST YEAR

The curriculum that Walker helped create for the center, located in the chapel building on campus, includes Song Writing, Worship, “Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs,” bridging the gap between musicians and ministers, and others. Some courses grant certificates in addition to or in lieu of college credits.

“Students didn’t know the history of spiritual songs,” Walker said in amazement during an interview with Women of the Word. However, he overheard some students brag near the end of the course: “‘I’m so glad I understand the history. Now I can not only sing about the lyrics but talk about them too as I present music in church.’”

In the Song Writing class, Walker said “a lot of people don’t know that the money in artistry is really in song writing. Most people would think that it’s those of us who perform on stage or sing. They think that that’s where the money is. But the money really is in the writing of the songs.”

“So, those from that class say ‘oh my God this class has changed my life completely. Now I better start writing some songs,’” he said chuckling.

How did Walker determine the success of the first year?

“I do know because of what they [students] were saying and because of what we’ve been through to get it up and running, I do know that we are on the right track,” he said.

The fact that 32 students enrolled in courses at the center was a “good number,” Walker said.

“For starters, for something new like this, yes, that’s good,” he reasoned. “Once the buzz goes out, I think it’s going to accumulate more people to come and join. We want as many as can come. We got room for everybody.”

Walker stressed there are no limits on the number of students who can participate at the center at a time.

“The Center is for any student, any student who wants to learn about gospel music,” he said, noting one student who attended virtual classes lived in another country.

“For my travels, I’m finding out other countries are intrigued with gospel music that comes out of the United States,” he continued. “It is open to everyone. You don’t have to be a Christian; you don’t have to be a gospel lover. But if you want to learn about gospel music, if you want to learn about the gospel music industry, if you want to learn how we do it and how we got started, please come on and be a part of it.”

VUU President Hakim Lucas said in earlier interviews the new center is an opportunity to commit to some of the core values that the university was founded on in 1865 as the first historically Black college and university (HBCU) in Virginia and the only HBCU in the Confederate capital. VUU was formally established in 1941.

The center highlights VUU’s commitment to social justice, the Black church, gospel music and the songs of liberation, Lucas told the online publication “Andscape” last July.

POPULAR GOSPEL ARTIST

As a well-known American gospel musician, Walker has a multitude of awards and accolades. He also is pastor of the Love Fellowship Tabernacle in Brooklyn, New York. In 2008, he became Bishop in the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith and then transferred to the Pentecostal Churches of Jesus Christ.

 Walker was awarded The Vision Award in 1994. His music video in 1994 won The Stellar Award for Best Music Video. His song, “Love Lifted Me,” won The (GMWA) Excellence Award for Contemporary Song of the Year.

On the strength of the CD Love Is Live!, Hezekiah & The LFT Church Choir were nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Best Gospel Artist, Traditional in 2001. Walker has received two Grammy Awards for Best Gospel Album By Choir Or Chorus: once with The Love Fellowship Crusade Choir for Live in Atlanta at Morehouse College (1994) and again with The LFT Church Choir for Love Is Live! (2001).

Walker’s LFT Church Choir, separate from The Love Fellowship Crusade Choir, issued two albums: Recorded Live At Love Fellowship Tabernacle in 1998 and “Love Is Live” in 2001. LFT Church Choir was a younger, hip-hop-leaning ensemble than its predecessor, and its album reached the Top 5 on Billboard’s Gospel Chart and was nominated for a Grammy Award the following year.

The center has partnerships with the Gospel Music Workshop of America, Inc. and The National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses (NCGCC), which was founded in 1933 by Dr. Thomas A. Dorsey, the “Father of Gospel Music.” The Workshop was founded in 1967 by Rev. James Cleveland as an annual convention bringing together people of a wide range of faiths from America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean.

“This will be our first year connecting with them,” said Walker, “and we are looking for a great partnership.”

Walker explained the benefits of the partnerships.

“These are the founders and founding corporations and music conferences that really have been around for years, especially the gospel music workshop,” he said. “I got my start at the Thomas E. Dorsey convention and then with the James Cleveland workshop.”

“My popularity and fame came from these two entities,” he added. “And it would be wrong for me or anyone to establish something like this [center] and not be connected to the foundation.”

OBEDIENCE LED TO THE CENTER

This is Walker’s third year at VUU’s Samuel Dewitt Proctor School of Theology, one of the oldest schools of theology in the nation. Getting him on campus was no easy feat because of the time commitment and other activities he would have to put on hold just to attend classes and concentrate on studies, he admitted.

“To be totally honest with you, I had no idea that this [the center] was going to happen,” Walker acknowledged. “I went back to school, went back to Virginia Union because I always wanted to go. But I went there to continue my studies. As I was there, I was trying to hide, be incognito.”

Hiding on campus was not an option for the bearded, bespeckled Walker, who has a stage presence even in the classroom. Once President Lucas learned the gospel legend was a student, he quickly arranged a meeting in his office.

“I’m thinking ‘he’s just inviting me to his office just to say I’m glad you are here.’” Walker said he thought.

But Lucas told Walker, “‘I wanted you to come because I have an idea.’”

When Lucas presented the idea of the center, Walker said, “I got to be honest with you. It blew my mind. I’m like ‘God!’ I’m sitting there and I’m like ‘are you serious.’ Then, something said to immediately say ‘Yes.’ I said ‘OK, yes.’”

“I didn’t know what I was saying ‘yes’ to but I was so happy that it was happening,” he mused. “It all just came together. You’re talking about God ordering your footsteps! I was really struggling about going back to school. Little did I know that by me saying ‘yes’ to [school] would lead to all of this.”

FUTURE GOALS

The Gospel Music Center is unique from all other HBCU music programs that quickly developed after VUU’s initial announcement last June. Walker explained that within the next eight to 12 months the entire lower auditorium of the chapel will be transformed into a center complete with studios, private rooms for learning such instruments as piano, drums, organs, writing session rooms and a performance stage.

Walker said he has two goals for the center: inclusivity and maintaining the integrity of Gospel music.

“When you think of Hezekiah Walker, you think of choirs. But choirs aren’t the only thing that’s a part of our genre,” he explained. “You have gospel choirs, gospel soloists, gospel groups, gospel rap, gospel classical. I just want to be able to include all genres of gospel music. I think I’m on my way.”

Walker admitted that a delicate balance is needed to maintain integrity of the music while being inclusive. “Wisdom and knowledge” are essential elements, he said.

Quoting Hosea 4:6, Walker noted that “as we embrace everything that’s going to say, ‘I want to be a part of gospel,’ I think we have the responsibility to teach [students] what they are about to do. Not just to sing and play because they have the gift but after they display the gift, there has to be some level of integrity that will correspond with what they are doing.”

For example, Walker said: “Gospel singing shouldn’t be any different than gospel preaching. If we are going to sing the word, we also have to be able to know the word and live the word. As preachers, we have to preach the word and, in order for us to preach the word, we have to study the word. And then we should live the word. We should not live [anything] that we don’t preach.”

In preparation for next semester, Walker said he and his team are busily looking at staff, selecting teachers, pursuing sponsorships and fellowships.

“I knew [the center] was going to be a little difficult and hard at a certain point,” he said thoughtfully, after a year of teaching under his belt. “I didn’t think it would be difficult and hard this quick. I was thinking we would take some baby steps, but we took some giant steps this year. And it turned out really well.”

For these reasons, VUU said the free Juneteenth celebration on the campus grounds will honor senior citizens. JenCare is a co-sponsor. Performing with the well-known artists will be local talent from the Virginia cities of Richmond, Petersburg and Norfolk and from the New York area, as well as HBCU choirs.

Written by TMCH