The Center For Music and Arts Entrepuenership

Gospel singer and voice teacher Lois DeJean recounts the last few decades of gospel music in New Orleans, and her central role in helping the movement flourish. She especially notes the importance of gospel performance as an educational opportunity for young singers, and as a mode for cultural exchange.

Gospel singer Lois DeJean tackles the question: what makes gospel music, gospel music?

Gospel singer and voice teacher Lois DeJean, a native of New Orleans, LA, talks with a seminar class at Loyola University, New Orleans about the roots of Gospel music in New Orleans and her career as a singer and teacher, and shares some tips on teaching novice voice students to sing gospel. She also speaks at length about her involvement in community recovery and preservation initiatives in New Orleans in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. She concludes the seminar with a performance of several classic gospel songs, like His Eye is on the Sparrow and Keep Your Eyes on the Prize.

Gospel singer and voice teacher Lois DeJean draws on her experiences as a young singer with perfect pitch but no knowledge of music theory to emphasize the need for musicians to learn music theory to put names to what you already know in order to gain the respect of other musicians, and to make the most of your music career.

Gospel singer and voice teacher Lois DeJean discusses her community mapping initiative, which seeks to catalog and preserve the contents and cultural fabric of her New Orleans neighborhood, so that time, development, or another Katrina-level disaster will not wipe out the areas history and heritage.