This is super fun. It’s not every day that we welcome a new composer to the Graphite family!
Welcome to Marques L. A. Garrett, our newest voice in the Graphite kaleidoscope!
New songs:
“Go Down, Moses” | “Veni, Sancte Spiritus“
Photo credits: Michele Stapleton/Office for the Arts at Harvard; Justin S. Robinson
“I always start with finding the natural, speech-like rhythms.”
A Virginia native, Marques L. A. Garrett (he/him) is Associate Professor of Choral Studies at the University of North Texas (UNT), where his responsibilities include conducting the University Singers and teaching graduate and undergraduate choral conducting. He earned his PhD in Music Education (Choral Conducting) at Florida State University. Dr. Garrett is an avid composer of choral and solo-vocal music whose compositions have been performed to acclaim by high school all-state, collegiate, and professional choirs.
An active conductor, Dr. Garrett is the founding conductor of the Nebraska Festival Singers. He has served as a guest conductor or clinician with several school, church, community, and festival/honor choirs throughout the country. In addition to his conducting classes at UNT, he leads conducting workshops at other universities and conferences. His experience transferring music to singers directly influences his approach when composing. “Most important to me is the sing-ability of each line because it directly translates to how long it can take an ensemble to learn the music. Syllabic stress and word stress are at the front of my mind” when beginning a new composition.
“Go Down, Moses”
SATB a cappella with baritone solo | Difficulty: 3
A powerful, forceful, yet sparse and economical arrangement of the famous spiritual. “This simple arrangement of one of the most famous spirituals was written for a church choir with limited experience with choral music,” says Marques. “The conjunct bass lines and repetition should aid in quicker rehearsal.”
Two truths, one lie:
- Marques loves sitting in the window seat on airplanes.
- He has run three half marathons.
- His shirts are hung up in rainbow color order in his closet.
Scroll down to find the answer!
As a researcher, his most advantageous topic is the non-idiomatic choral music of Black composers. As an undergraduate student, “I learned about this original music of Black composers without even realizing the impact it would have on me as a professional musician. Early in my career, far too many colleagues and teachers were only familiar with spirituals, Gospel, and jazz music by Black composers. That set me on the path of being more vocal about discussing this music and intentional with programming it.”
“Veni, Sancte Spiritus”
SATB div. a cappella choir | Difficulty: 4
From Marques: “Veni, Sancte Spiritus” is special because it’s another one of my songs based on a Negro spiritual but is (hopefully) hidden well enough to the point that no one would know without me pointing it out. I had a blast using the spiritual as the source musical material.”
His lectures at state and regional conferences of the American Choral Directors Association and at other local and national venues afford him the opportunity to showcase this underrepresented area of music resulting in the anthology The Oxford Book of Choral Music by Black Composers released in February 2023.
A versatile voice that performs both as a baritone and countertenor, Dr. Garrett has sung with several community, church, and university groups as both a chorister and soloist. Given his wide breadth of experience across the world of choral music, we asked him for a foundational nugget of wisdom to share with other artists. He encourages composers to be clear-eyed about their intended purpose with producing pieces: “Just because we produce art does not mean that everyone has to like it. If your goal is to make money, then you’re setting yourself up for a world of disappointment if you don’t write what people enjoy. (This does not mean that you must sacrifice who you are as an artist.)”
Two truths, one lie REVEAL: #1 is the lie. He avoids the window seat whenever possible!
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