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The Full Story

MCGC DIRECTORS

This page offers a comprehensive look at the 114-year history of the Morehouse College Glee Club, which has been led by just three primary directors and two interim directors. It highlights the bio and significant contributions of each director, detailing their impact on the Glee Club's legacy and musical excellence over more than a century.

David E. Morrow

Dr. David Morrow ('80)
1987 - Present

David E. Morrow is a native of Rochester, New York. He earned the Bachelor of Arts degree from Morehouse College in 1980. While at Morehouse, he became a member of Phi Beta Kappa, was awarded the Kemper Harreld Award for Excellence in Music, received departmental honors, and graduated Valedictorian of his class. He received the Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan in 1981 and was elected to Pi Kappa Lambda. He received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music in 1995. He has studied conducting with Wendell Whalum Sr., Thomas Hilbish, Elmer Thomas, John Leman, Earl Rivers, Elizabeth Green, Teri Murai, Fiora Contino and Donald Neuen. He has taken conducting master classes with Stephen Darlington, Jan Szyrocki, Dale Warland and Sir David Willcocks.

Dr. Morrow has been a member of the Music faculty at Morehouse College since 1981. He served as Assistant Director of the Morehouse College Glee Club until 1987, when he succeeded Dr. Wendell P. Whalum, Sr. as Director of the Glee Club. He is also Director of the Wendell P. Whalum Community Chorus, Co-Director of the Morehouse-Spelman Chorus, and Artistic Director and Conductor of The Atlanta Singers. In December 1991, Dr. Morrow conducted the Morehouse College Glee Club for the Kennedy Center Honors as part of the tribute to Robert Shaw, Conductor Laureate, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. In January 1993, he conducted soprano Jessye Norman and the Spelman-Morehouse Chorus at Atlanta's Symphony Hall in a concert celebrating the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. In January of 1994, he conducted the combined choruses of the Atlanta University Center and Natalie Cole singing the National Anthem for Super Bowl XXVIII. In April of the same year, he conducted the Morehouse College Glee Club in a concert with the Black Music Repertory Ensemble at Orchestra Hall in Chicago, Illinois. In 1996, Dr. Morrow conducted the Morehouse College Glee Club during a tour of Russia and for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Atlanta Centennial Olympic Games. In addition to numerous performances with the Glee Club in the United States, international performances with the Glee Club include a tour of Poland in 1998, Bermuda in 2001, the Bahamas in 2005, South Africa in 2008 and Canada and Puerto Rico in 2011.

In June 1990, Mr. Morrow conducted combined choirs and brass from the Atlanta University Center schools for the Academic Convocation for Nelson Mandela at Morehouse College. He lectured on "African-American Music: The Oral Tradition" for the 1992 and 1993 Choral Conducting Workshop at the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Morrow has served as a clinician and/or lectured at the Hampton University Ministers/Musicians Conference, the Iowa Choral Directors Association Meeting, the University of Tennessee - Chattanooga, the South Carolina Choral Directors Association, the University of Cincinnati, the Detroit Public Schools Mid-Semester Music Workshop, the 1998 Intercollegiate Men's Choruses, Inc. National Seminar, Miami University (Oxford,OH), and Cornell University. In August of 2002, he was guest conductor for the first Festival of Spirituals organized by the Centro Ecuatoriano Norteamericano in Guayaquil, Ecuador. In August 2009, he was selected as a national conductor for the 2nd Annual Concert of the 105 Voices of History HBCU Concert Choir at the Kennedy Center. In April 2010, Dr. Morrow was conductor for a one week residency at Westminster Choir College of Ryder University. He is a sought-after guest conductor for high school honor choirs and All-State choruses in the state of Georgia and beyond. His choral arrangements of spirituals and other African-American folk music have been published by Alfred Music Publishers, Hal Leonard Music, Oxford University Press and most recently, by GIA Music Publishers.

Dr. Morrow is a member of the Metropolitan Atlanta Musicians Association and is past-president of the National Association of Negro Musicians, Inc. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Intercollegiate Men's Choruses, Inc. He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, Chorus America, the Georgia Music Educators Association, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and is a "Friend of the Arts" member of Sigma Alpha Iota.

Dr. Wendell Whalum, Sr. ('52)
1953 - 1987

Wendell Phillips Whalum, Sr., the third of five children of the late Thelma T. and H. David Whalum, was born on September 4, 1931, in Memphis, Tennessee. When he was a very young boy, his musical talent, which was nurtured by his parents, was evident. He played for Avery Chapel A.M.E. Church, Central Baptist Church and Providence A.M.E. Church, all located in his hometown. In 1948, Dr. Whalum graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis and entered Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. He received the Bachelor of Arts degree from Morehouse College in 1952, the Master of Arts degree from Columbia University in 1953, and the Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Iowa in 1965. The University of Haiti conferred upon him the Doctor Honoris Causa in 1968. After joining the faculty of Morehouse College in the fall of 1953, Dr. Whalum was appointed Director of the Morehouse College Glee Club, succeeding the late Kemper Harreld. The Glee Club earned national and international acclaim during Dr. Whalum's 34 years of leadership. In spite of numerous attractive offers of positions at major college and universities, he chose to remain at Morehouse where he spent his entire professional career and achieved an enviable record as a professor, director of both Band and Glee Club, Chairman of the Music Department, and Fuller E. Callaway Professor of Music. He was elected Faculty Representative to the Morehouse Board of Trustees and the National Alumni Association. He was also a Merrill Faculty Travel-Study Grant Abroad recipient and a Danforth Fellow.

Dr. Whalum achieved international recognition as teacher, organist, conductor, musicologist, arranger, composer, author and lecturer; and he traveled extensively throughout the United States and abroad. In Bonn, Germany, he studied the origin and the intricate construction of the pipe organ. He performed with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as an organ soloist in 1968, and he prepared the chorus for the world premier of the opera Treemonisha in 1972. During that same year, he took the Glee Club on a State Department tour of five countries in West and East Africa. He also prepared the Morehouse College Glee Club and the Atlanta University Center Community Chorus for numerous appearances with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and he conducted at major music centers, including the Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center.

Through his involvement in and contributions to the community, Dr. Whalum reached legendary fame. He organized and directed the Atlanta University Center Community Chorus and was co-director of the Morehouse-Spelman Chorus. Because he was always extremely interested in quality church music, he accepted positions as organist-choirmaster for several Atlanta churches: Providence Baptist Church; Allen Temple A.M.E. Church, at which he was a member and trustee; Ebenezer Baptist Church; and Friendship Baptist Church, where he was serving at the time of his passing. His superior performance on the piano and organ revealed the standard of excellence that he demanded of others. He was constantly selected as a music consultant, as a member of evaluation committees, as a conductor or workshops, and as a lecturer throughout the United States and abroad. He held memberships on advisory boards of numerous music and civic organizations. The walls of his home are filled with plaques and certificates of honor and appreciation.

Along with holding memberships in eighteen professional organizations and learned societies, Dr. Whalum created an immense variety of musical arrangements and published numerous articles and chapters in books. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, American Guild of Organists, National Humanities Faculty, National Society of Literature and the Arts, Music Educators National Conference, Georgia Folklore Society, Alpha Phi Omega Service Fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, and the Intercollegiate Musical Council.

Dr. Whalum possessed the rare mixture of intellect, common sense and humility. He was truly one who could "...walk with kings, but keep the common touch." His deep religious heritage showed in his daily relationships with his students, colleagues, friends and family. Above all, he was generous, warm, cheerful, charitable and committed to excellence and service. Dr. Whalum's capacity as a storyteller was unparalleled, for he has the unique ability to mesmerize his audiences with an unending reservoir of historical interpretations. Equally infectious, however, was his sense of humor, his incisive wit, and his indomitable spirit. So personable was he that all who came to know him also came to love him as "a member of the family."

Wendell Phillips Whalum, Sr.
Kemper Harreld

Mr. Kemper Harreld
1911 - 1953

Kemper Harreld was born and educated through his high school years in Muncie, Indiana. His musical tutors there were respected and well trained musicians who invested in the gifted boy the amount of time and loving attention needed to give him a proper launching. A type of versatility that would be extremely important to him during later years was fostered by these early teachers - Vida Cassidy, a young violin teacher just out of Berlin Conservatory training, and Birt Summers, an able musician who taught the boy to play the organ and piano, trained him as his apprentice in organ tuning and repairing, and who furnished him with an excellent background in theoretical subjects. An old German band musician living near the Harreld home taught him to play the flute.

Far-seeing parents sent him to Chicago where he enrolled at Chicago Musical College. Chicago was at the time a flourishing musical capital that attracted numerous young people because of its good opportunities for instruction and for general enrichment. The young musician seized upon every opportunity for development. He was an avid concert-goer and increased his musical knowledge in numerous self enriching ways. He became a member of the music college's orchestra and appeared as performer and conductor with choral and instrumental groups in the city. However, substantial permanent posts and apprenticeships or teaching positions were unattainable for the Black aspirant in the Chicago of that day. He decided therefore, to join musical friends in New York, who were hoping to carve a niche in the entertainment field. Again, there was challenge, but limited opportunity.

A telegram from his mother early in October, 1911 urged him to get in touch with John Hope, president of Morehouse College in Atlanta. Mr. Hope offered him the position of Director of Music at the college. He accepted with the mental reservation that he would remain only until the end of the term. Teaching young men to perform music and to love and appreciate it became an exciting and wonderful career. The city of Atlanta recognized his exceptional ability and welcomed him with open arms. He was given freedom by the college to continue his activities as a concert violinist. Through these tours and those made with his various college music organizations, he was able to introduce fine programs to many audiences and communities. Back in Atlanta, he became involved in a multitude of assignments: studio teaching, a community orchestra, intercollegiate concerts, choral conducting, and the organization of a Fine Arts Study Club. Of vital importance was the encouragement of other concert artists for whom he arranged tours and to whom he offered hope and appreciation. In 1927, he joined the faculty of Spelman College and became joint head of the Morehouse and Spelman music departments. In 1929, he became the solid link that welded together musical forces at the newly created Atlanta University Center as the person in charge of all music activities. In this capacity, he helped to strengthen the concept of the enlarged and self nourishing academic community. The thousands of young people trained or influenced by Kemper Harreld during a period of seventy years, long settled in all parts of the United States, and many traveled much beyond. From their various positions, they are in turn contributing to a functioning and vital national culture.

Kemper Harreld left the Atlanta schools in 1956 and went to live in Detroit, Michigan. He continued to teach and to influence young people, helping them to further plans, to implement programs, and to give meaningful expression to their abilities up to the time of his death in 1971. He belonged to a group of rare individuals - vigorous in advanced years, who accepted life as being continuously zestful, rich, and fruitful, and who were unflagging in the power to view the time ahead as hopeful. Josephine Harreld Love

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