European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 20, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Members of the Bays choir of Harlem rehearse with their director Walter Trumbull. Sweet sounds of Success by George Jahn associated press Athan a Simmons an All Ablo College music student with sights set on Broadway still remembers the Telephone Call that turned him away irom life on the mean streets of Harlem. He was ironing his Only White shirt nine years ago when the phone rang. Walter Turnbull director of the boys choir of Harlem was on the line. Or Turnbull said you be been accepted and i was just ecstatic recalls Simmons 23. My Mother was sitting at the table and i told her and she got on the phone and started calling people. It was an Honor. And it kept me Oil the  As a 14-year old Simmons remembers doing basically nothing except hanging out meeting people who did t do much except smoke and drink a lot of  crack invaded the neighbourhood a Lew years later and Many of his former buddies dropped out of High school graduating instead irom Beer to the cheap highly addictive Smo Kable cocaine. But a different world was opening Lor this teen Ager to was performing. He was receiving regular tutoring and counselling and travelling with the choir nationally and internationally to places other Harlem kids had t even heard about. The new York Board of education calculates that about one Quarter of the City s Blacks drop out of High school accounting for 39.2 percent of All dropouts. Blacks comprise Only 39.9 percent of the High school population. Troubled Harlem kids Are thought to be among the worst academic performers. But under Turnbull s supervision Simmons went on to College alter leaving the boys choir in 1984 and is in his Linal year at Westminster choir College in Princeton no. It s not a unique Story according to Turnbull. He says that 98 percent of boys choir members All Black and most from desperate Harlem backgrounds graduate from High school and go on to College. And Simmons former friends a lot of them have fallen Down by the Wayside. They re involved in drugs Simmons says. We Don t really have a lot of Long conversations because we Are in two different worlds the co founder of the choir in 1968, spends 18 hour Days overseeing the musical Scholastic and social needs of More than 200 Young people Between the Ages of 8 and 18, including a girls choir established in 1979. Turnbull Simmons and others spoke in Turnbull s office a room dominated by a Baldwin baby grand piano partially covered by stacks of Sheet music and by shelves bulging with music books. The office is in old Public school 68, on a floor rented by the choir. Turnbull spoke Over a muted background of major third chords Sung in unison. About 30 boys were warming up in a nearby classroom its windows covered by heavy wire mesh and overlooking a Row of tenements disfigured by Graffiti some boarded up and abandoned. The towering robust Tenor and former Public school teacher took Over later praising and cajoling As he conducted a selection of works including Bach s Chastus lag in Tode Banden in German. One passage that sounded perfect to the casual listener raised his ire. That s unacceptable what kind of Reading is that he thundered slamming a meaty hand Down on his note stand. The kids some in their mid teens All clearly respectful did it again without a murmur. Turnbull holds a doctorate in music and is proud of the boys choir s International reputation of excellence. Besides German the ensemble sings in French italian hebrew and latin As Well As English and has toured much of Europe. It has Sung in is. Paul s in London and is Germain Des pres in Paris and was off to Japan this month. It s a very unique sound Turnbull says rejecting attempts at comparison with Well known european boys choirs. Unlike those the Harlem ensemble includes tenors and basses As Well As the traditional trebles. There Are those purists who say there is Only one Way to sing it but in fact the boys choir of Harlem experience is the boys choir of Harlem experience he says. I Don t think anybody could sing spirituals like the boys choir. But even if the boys choir of Vienna was doing the Haydn the deum there will be a difference in Overall feeling from the Way Well do  Turnbull also places emphasis on the non musical opportunities for choir members. Tutoring in subjects ranging from English and mathematics to music theory is provided six Days a week and some kids go to the choir s own school. Choir members must maintain a b average. Three full time Counselor give year round career family and adolescent counselling. During the summer choir members attend Day Camp in new York City and a live away Camp in the Connecticut Countryside. The choir has received International reviews and Barbara Bush the president s wife commented after a june 5 White House performance that the choir s program of All round care should be duplicated around the world. But Trumbull and his aides have trouble funding even the one operation. Despite some generous corporate donations the program is chronically Short of Money $300,000 was lacking in May from a projected budget of $1.4 million although the choir is fully booked with paying performance dates. Turnbull says the staff does what it can despite financial difficulties and invoked the choir s slogan boys choir of Harlem saves  most of the children come from one Parent Low income or welfare families and Turnbull said the Counselor often have their hands full. There Are problems within the family with siblings who might be dealing or Messing with drugs or in some cases even parents he says. Poverty is the main problem. It All boils Down to poverty. Sometimes parental problems Are so severe that they make it difficult to come to rehearsals every Day and once they Stop coming every Day they kind of  the boys also have to Light peer pressure from outsiders. Many kids Are ribbed Turnbull says. But then their comeback is have you Ever been to Japan have you been to Europe have you travelled to the Caribbean there Are All kinds of things that kids in the boys choir of Harlem get to do that most kids would never get the Chance to  in a world of High priced image makers and Public relations consultants it s refreshing to watch baseball figures being interviewed. They spit on camera. They scratch no matter where they get an itch. And they Oiler such in depth insights in interviews As we came Here to play  at least it s honest. From the very minute television evolved As an a Ray into the souls of those who could look it directly in the Eye. It became something to fear. You could t let politicians appear on to without makeup a voice coach and a Media pro. Who would Ever elect them and Don t even think of vying for the White House without the assistance of consulting firms to make you look and sound  maybe this explains Why. Lor the last 15 years we be elected men who Are a combination of Hal Holbrook Ralph Bellamy and Gregory Peck Page 16 the stars and stripes and who would buy a car from a corporate giant who played with paper clips and talked to his shoes he has to be  even authors who spent two years writing a Book can t be trusted to go on the Road and Tell what the Book is about. First they have to be Able to know which camera to play to and How to keep the focus on their Book. Even when an interviewer asks How Are you they Are aught to respond wonderful since my new Book tortured Sunrise came out which i m sure the audience would like to see. Can you get a closeup of this Guys it was Only a matter of time before local institutions availed themselves of the services of professionals. Spokespersons have been groomed by the local police and fire departments to provide details robbing us of the wonderful Exchange when a fireman yelled that wednesday september 20,1989 sucker went up faster than a mortgage at the Baptist  the spontaneity of television rests with the men of baseball god bless pm. There is no one to clean up their language or their grammar no one to Tell them they just spit against the wind no one to Tell them not to look bored in the dugout. No one has told them yet that a baseball player has to have a look like Robert Redford or Kevin Costner yes Virginia there is still some honesty left on television whether it s Pete Rose snapping at the press or Nolan Ryan striking out his 5,000th with All the emotion of a Man Reading a manual for his garbage disposer. It takes a lot of guts to be honest on to but can you imagine what we d have missed if Yogi Berra had had a Media consultant clm9e/mabombck