A concert Friday marks the end of Andrew Marshall’s first year as director of the Inner Strength Gospel Choir.

Arts & Culture

Inner Strength Gospel Choir Finds Its Way Under New Director

Spring concert Friday marks capstone of first season for Andrew Marshall

When the Inner Strength Gospel Choir holds its annual spring concert Friday night at Marsh Chapel, it will be, as it always is, an occasion for music and fellowship. It will also mark the close of the Boston University student ensemble’s first season under its new director, Andrew Marshall.

Marshall has “created a welcoming space where we’re not just singing—we’re building relationships with one another and connecting to the music in such a deeper way,” says Dayshanay Wheeler (Wheelock’27), choir president.  

“To say that it’s akin to a family would certainly be on the mark,” says Marshall.

He has replaced Herb Jones (MET’17), who retired as the part-time choir director in 2023, bringing to an end 20 years as choir director. After a year of guest conductor residencies, Marshall took the reins of the 52-year-old group last fall.

Following in Jones’ footsteps has been “a humbling experience,” Marshall says. He lauds the tradition created by Jones and Scott Allen Jarrett (CFA’99,’08), the chapel’s music director, and credits them with graciously helping him ease into the role. “Working with the students in the wake of that legacy has been wonderful. And I see this as an opportunity to build on the awesome work that they’ve done.”

Choir secretary Sabra Charles (CGS’23, Sargent’25) says the transition has been seamless: “Herb was an incredible director, teacher, and friend who I look up to as a role model and mentor, so his retirement was difficult, and I was initially nervous about this new season for our choir. I needn’t have worried. Andrew has not only stepped into the role of director with ease and confidence, but has continued Herb’s legacy of making ISGC a family that welcomes its members with whatever they are bringing that week.”

The Sunday rehearsals and occasional performances are “a weekly reprieve from the typical crazy college schedule, to praise and sing,” she says. “I see members leaning into the fellowship in the way that they bring prayer requests, share workload struggles and joys.”

Wheeler agrees: “I joined the choir because I was looking for a space where I could connect spiritually, musically, and culturally, and ISGC has truly become that home for me.”

Marshall sees similarities between his work and that of Jones, particularly in choosing repertoire that honors the tradition of ISGC and matching it to the singers they have in a given year. 

“What I try to do a lot is to stress music literacy,” he says when asked what he does differently. “In great part, learning gospel music is done by rote, and we do rote learning, but I also give them sheet music. For me that’s something that’s a big deal, calling their attention to notation and being able to make that connection with music literacy and gospel music, where in some circles that’s not always the case or the practice.”

“Musically, Andrew brings a really modern touch,” Wheeler says. “He’s incorporated more contemporary gospel styles and songs, while still honoring the traditional sound that’s part of the choir’s foundation.”

“Creating a repertoire of familiar writers such as Edwin Hawkins and William Batchelder Bradbury and expanding our repertoire with original compositions and arrangements, he has challenged us as musicians,” Charles says. And at the same time “also acknowledging that we sing both to praise the Lord and just for fun.”

Jarrett says the celebrations around Jones’ retirement made clear the importance of the choir to its members and to the broader BU community.

“Coming out of the pandemic, it was clear that choirs and musical ensembles are some of the organizations that I really believe provide the social cohesion for us to move forward in life,” he says. “It was very clear from the choir’s alums that the choir had been that for them, both at the time they were BU students and throughout their lives. It was very beautiful to witness. And we’ve all sort of said that the choir, like every other organization on campus—we need to have the pilot light relit, you know? And a lot of love and care to nourish it.”

As the search to replace Jones evolved, it became clear that Marshall was the choice. A gifted pianist and a baritone singer—shifting up to tenor with the choir—he has a doctorate in music from the University of Oklahoma (major: choral conducting). And in addition to leading the Inner Strength Gospel Choir, he is choir director at the Winsor School in the Fenway and music director of the Presbyterian Church in Sudbury.

Marsh Chapel had decided to take time with the hire and put in place some formal procedures that had not existed previously. But then Marshall came to visit in early 2024.

“Andrew walked up to the piano in March, and he took his coat off and put it down. And from the moment he sat down and started to play, we all looked at each other and thought, this is the guy,” Jarrett says. “His approach to the keyboard alone was a moving thing.”

Marshall grew up a Seventh Day Adventist in Kingston, Jamaica, where his mother performed with a church troupe and his father was a civil engineer. He started a gospel group at church with his brother when they were in their early teens. But it was on a trip to England with his mother and the rest of the church’s theater troupe that the music really got its hooks in him.

“My mother’s friend had a bunch of cassettes around, and there was this particular tape that had a slew of Gospel Music Workshop of America songs, and that was a real turnup for me,” he says. “It was just a treasure trove of songs that I didn’t have access to. We didn’t have YouTube back then. But that mixtape was eye-opening. It was revelatory. We’re actually going to do two of the songs from that tape at the concert on Friday.”

Which two? “I Tried Him for Myself” by Edwin Hawkins and “Have You Heard” by Richard Roy. 

One challenge Marshall faces: dwindling membership in recent years. Once topping 90 members, the choir is down to a handful this year, a post-COVID low. “There are highs and lows, and I feel that we’re in the valley moment as far as it pertains to membership and attendance, but I’m confident that in time that can and will change,” Marshall says.

Although he is hired and paid by Marsh Chapel, the choir is a student organization, and he defers to student leaders in recruiting and galvanizing members, he says. “Recruitment efforts are ongoing. Although the numbers are presently small, it in no way speaks to the heart of the members and the strength and the purpose of the mission, and the intensity with which they continue to carry it forth. We recognize it [recruiting more singers]. We are aware of it. And we’re coming up with strategies to address it and to have it rectified in the near future.”

“It’s hard to commit when students are overwhelmed,” Wheeler notes, “especially when it comes to juggling classes, work, and extracurriculars and still trying to maintain the work-life balance.” To address that, the choir has been trying to build visibility, with more outreach and connection, and rebranding their image so people know you don’t need to be a professional singer or have previous choir experience to join.

The other big tradition Marshall has stepped into of course is a matter of place—Marsh Chapel, with the Free at Last sculpture dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr. (GRS’55, Hon.’59) out front and the School of Theology next door—the hallowed BU ground where scripture meets history.

Scott and others filled him in on the BU history of King, Howard Thurman (Hon.’67), a former dean of Marsh Chapel and the first Black dean at a predominantly white American university, and other African-American theologians who have passed through the chapel. In many ways the practice of ISGC embodies the legacy of these men and women.

“We want to do our part to honor that segment of tradition at the University in Marsh Chapel, and we hope to do so valiantly on Friday at our concert,” Marshall says. “We hope to see as many persons here as possible. We’re looking forward to having an enriching time, singing songs of faith and being encouraged. And we’d like to see many people from the Boston University community and the city come out to experience the students’ work.”

The Inner Strength Gospel Choir’s spring concert is Friday at 8 pm at Marsh Chapel. Admission is free.