---

Asbury Park High School students joined Monmouth University students Tuesday in meeting First Lady Michelle Obama during the educational workshop “The History of Gospel Music” at the White House.

The event, part of the White House Music Series, paid tribute to the fundamental role gospel music has played in the American musical tradition and the important artists and repertoire that have marked its vibrant history, Monmouth University spokeswoman Petra Ludwig said in a written statement.

Seven Asbury Park High School students were invited by the University to join their 10 students in traveling to Washington, D.C.

“This music, gospel music, has really played such an important role in our country’s history, from the spirituals sung by slaves to the anthems that became the soundtrack of the civil rights movement to the hymns that millions of Americans sing every single day in churches all across the country,” First Lady Obama said during a video tape of the program.

Held in the White House State Ding Room, the 17 New Jersey students were among 100 from Hawaii, California, New York, Virginia, Maryland, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

“This is the kind of lesson that can’t be taught in a classroom,” said Joe Rapolla, Monmouth University professor and chair of its Department of Music and Theatre Arts. “Gospel music has had such an impact on American culture. It’s an important part of our culture to share with future generations. To be invited to the White House and have the First Lady help make that connection is an experience all the students will remember for the rest of their lives.”

“The History of Gospel Music” was produced and led by the GRAMMY Museum Executive Director Robert Santelli, a Monmouth University alumnus.

Santelli, a leading musicologist and music educator, gave students an overview of the origins of gospel music, its artists, and its contribution to other American musical genres.

“[Gospel music] has roots all the way back to the founding of this country,” Santelli said. “Even though it is a sacred music form – sung in a church, born in a church – it has a lot of connection to the kind of music that is on your iPods today.”

Singers Darlene Love, Rodney Crowell, Rhiannon Giddens, Lyle Lovett and Michelle Williams not only fielded the students’ questions but appeared in the PBS music concert special “The Gospel Tradition: In Performance at the White House” taped later that evening under the executive musical direction of T Bone Burnett.

Monmouth University is one of only five university affiliates of the Los Angeles based GRAMMY Museum, Ludwig said. The partnership provides access to GRAMMY Museum content for educational purposes, curriculum resources, research programs, professional development seminars, collaborative marketing and promotions, project-based learning and unique student internship opportunities.

For more information, visit www.monmouth.edu.

To view “The History of Gospel Music” workshop video, visit the White House website.

The photo above courtesy of Monmouth University: Asbury Park High School and Monmouth University students pose with Professor and Chair of the Department of Music and Theatre Arts Joe Rapolla.

——————————————-

Follow the Asbury Park Sun on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

---