What to know about the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir has a new live CD coming out called Pray. Here’s some Q&A with choir director Carol Cymbala, followed by 10 things you might not know about the choir…

Church choir worship is becoming less prevalent in many churches today.  What is the key to sustaining and maintaining a vibrant choir ministry?
I’ve been directing the Brooklyn Tabernacle choir for many years, and week after week, I look up at about three hundred people singing with all of their hearts to the Lord, and every time I am moved and the congregation is touched. I see them lift their hearts and their hands and their voices to God in worship and praise, and I see how their hearts are stirred by music.  I really believe that it’s very important that in the church today, if we are going to have a choir, that the people in the choir need to be committed members, who have a heart for God and a heart for ministry. I also believe that the choir directors need to focus on seeing lives changed through the power of the Gospel in song.  There’s just something really beautiful and powerful about seeing so many people lifting their voices to the Lord in praise in one accord.  I pray that there would be more choirs that would be raised up in the day that we are living in so that we can sing a song of praise and victory to our God because He is worthy of all our praise.

Why is corporate worship so important to a church service and how do you motive the congregation to participate?
Corporate worship not only lifts up God and glorifies Christ Jesus, but it invites the Holy Spirit to come into our lives.  Jesus said the Spirit would glorify Him.  When we truly worship, we open ourselves to the power of the spirit, which helps us open our hearts to hear from God. The praise teams should never perform praise and worship.  If we simply perform, our congregations become spectators instead of worshipers, and it is vital that we worship from our hearts in spirit and in truth.  Worship is contagious, and when we worship as a choir and praise team, the congregation, in turn, begins to lift their hearts and worship God. I also believe our song selections should be simple enough that young and old, the diverse body of Christ, can lift their hearts in praise and worship together as one.

What events are coming up for the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir this year?
We are very excited about premiering the new CD in February.  We are already planning a very special Easter production that we put on every year. We have many outreaches during the year, and one of our most anticipated outreaches is when we can bring in the homeless of our city and are able to minister to them. We have a lot on our schedule and we’re really excited to see what God is going do.

What keeps you motivated as a choir director to find new songs?
I love the old hymns.  I love so many songs that were written the past, but I’m so grateful to the Lord that he can give people new and fresh music that can minister to those that do not know Him, and those that know him can be blessed and renewed. Thankfully, God has used many of these songs to be an incredible blessing here in our congregation and around the world.

What excites you most about the new CD?
One thing that is so special to me about the Pray project is that it focuses on the Gospel. The bible says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” There is an eclectic mix of songs on this album– from contemporary Christian to praise and worship to gospel– but the one thing we’re really excited about is that on this project, there are songs reminiscent of the traditional Brooklyn Tabernacle choir sound. As I look at the condition of the world today, I see so many people who are hurting and looking for answers, and we know that Jesus Christ is the answer. Our prayer is that this new CD will point people to Him.

10 things you might not know about the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir:

• They do not use and have never used sheet music to teach songs to the Choir.  It is all by ear.
• Director Carol Cymbala doesn’t read music, yet has been blessed to win six Grammy Awards and multiple Dove Awards.
• The Choir’s first album was recorded in seven hours from start to finish in 1981. No overdubs, stacking or effects.
• When the Choir did their first concert at Carnegie Hall, Carol played the piano for the entire concert.  She was the first musician for the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.
• Carol is married to the pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, Jim Cymbala.
• The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir started with nine people, all of whom were untrained vocally.
• The Choir has recorded over 200 songs.
• The Brooklyn Tabernacle Singers, which is the primary traveling group for the Choir, is made up of many of the Choir’s soloists and strongest vocalists.
• The Choir has sung in almost every major venue and theater in New York City including Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden and many more.
•  The Choir sang at the 2013 Presidential Inauguration.

Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir recording another live album

If you’ve never been to the Brooklyn Tab, you should know that it’s in a grand old movie-house theatre from a century ago. You feel like you’re in luxury in there. And even with a balcony, its seats get filled and people end up watching services on a screen in a lobby and such. It’s an experience to attend the Brooklyn Tab.

And the church is particularly known for its choir, which has been recording albums for years and years and years.

This year, the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir is getting ready to record its 28th album under the direction of choir founder Carol Cymbala, an accomplished musician. What sets this one apart from recent albums? Well, it’ll be “totally live with no studio tracking.” So it won’t be perfectly polished. It will be, however, “live and spontaneous.”

If you’d like to attend the recording, visit the Brooklyn Tab on Sept. 26 at 7pm or Sept. 28 at 3pm. The church is located at 17 Smith Street in downtown Brooklyn. –Mark Weber, ChristianMusicMakers.com

Jackie Gouche’s new video filmed in Nigeria

Most of you already know Jackie Gouché from the music she writes. Jackie wrote “My Help” in 10 minutes. The song was made popular by Bam Crawford’s Purpose, and also recorded by Donnie McClurkin, The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, and CeCe & Ronald Winans. It is sung in many churches across the world every Sunday.

Now, she has a new music video, “Every Fiber,” that was shot in Abuja, Nigeria, and it’s both uplifting and gorgeous.

“Every Fiber” is a beautiful song. It’s off her new CD entitled, “BIG GOD, little me.”

You can find Jackie every Sunday at Pastor Beverly “BAM” Crawford‘s Bible Enrichment Fellowship International Church in Inglewood, California, where she is the Minister of Music and Worship Leader.

 

Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir sings at Obama’s Inauguration

Carol Cymbala leads the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

This week the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir sang a rousing, Gospel-influenced version of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” heard by millions watching President Obama’s inauguration on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. They “knocked it out the park!”

Over the last four decades, the choir has garnered six Grammy Awards, a host of Dove Awards, sold over 4 million CDs and released 28 albums. That’s a lot of albums!

The group of 285 singers is an amalgamation of transformed people, from corporate executives to former drug abusers. One of the most transformed members is its founder and director, Carol Cymbala, a woman who survived cancer over a decade ago and shyness throughout her youth. As a child, the Chicago native played piano and dreamed of one day leading a choir, though she didn’t like or necessarily want the spotlight. “I never wanted …the attention that comes with it,” she wrote in her 2001 book, He’s Been Faithful (Zondervan). “I never wanted to get up on stage and speak. But I’ve done it anyway.”

Cymbala’s father, the late Rev. Clair Hutchins, a former opera singer, founded The Brooklyn Tabernacle church in 1965. In 1971, Hutchins turned the church over to Cymbala’s husband, Pastor Jim Cymbala. In 1973, Carol Cymbala assembled nine voices and formed the choir that grew as the diverse congregation swelled, a reflection of the multi-ethnic New York borough.

“It’s been amazing to see changed lives glorifying the Savior who has saved and redeemed them,” Cymbala once said. “When I look at the choir with people of every race and background, I’m reminded of what heaven will be like. People from all over the world singing and praising His name for all eternity.”

An interesting aspect of the choir’s history is not only how its encouraged fans of its music and helped its members rebuild their lives with a sense of purpose but also how the helped a once bashful woman blossom into a confident, spiritually-charged leader who has conducted the ensemble at Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden, on “Good Morning America” and at churches across the country.

In the early days, she backed down when singers or producers dismissed her opinions in the studio, nowadays, her years of experience and spiritual insight have equipped Cymbala for the job.

“Anyone who knows me well will tell you that today I haven’t the slightest problem asserting myself when I feel the music is heading in the wrong direction,” she also wrote in her book. But, at the end of the day, the choir’s purpose is people.

“God is love and we sing about His love,” Cymbala has said. “If the Brooklyn Tabernacle leaves a legacy of any sort, I believe it will be the story of how God has worked to change the lives of so many broken people.”

Visit www.brooklyntabernacle.org for more information on the church or choir. The new rendition of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” can be heard at this link:

http://soundcloud.com/brooklyntabernaclechoir

The song is available for download on iTunes and will also be featured on the choir’s forthcoming spring CD release, “Love Lead The Way.”