Dr. Jennaya Robison Visits LSM 2024
Love is Love is Love is Love (Betinis)
The 2024 LSM community had the pleasure of welcoming Dr. Jennaya Robison, Artistic Director of the National Lutheran Choir, to campus this past week. During her visit, Dr. Robison fully embraced the non-stop LSM schedule, beginning each day with morning prayer, running off to rehearsals, enjoying performances, and ending with evening prayer. LSM students, faculty, and fellows learned from Robison during rehearsals, over meals, and in worship.
Dr. Robison focused on technique and physical engaging the LSM Festival Choir students, highlighting ways they can healthily prepare themselves for singing. “Those students were so engaged,” she said, “and 40 minutes was a long time for me to throw vocal pedagogy stuff at them!”
Dr. Shannon Gravelle, LSM Festival Choir conductor, echoed this sentiment. “I was so proud of the students for their focus and responsiveness. I think that is partly a testimony to Dr. Robison’s ability to engage and partly a testament to these students’ ability to focus because they want to be there. It was just a really cool synergy of similar hopes.”
Dr. Robison and student Naomi in the Conducting Elective.
Dr. Robison also worked with the conducting elective, providing guidance and feedback to beginner conductors. Students had the opportunity to conduct their classmates in a safe and supportive environment. Choral Conducting Fellow Tyler Buhr also received coaching while leading the LSM Festival Choir in a rehearsal of Joseph Haydn’s The Creation/Die Schöpfung.
Dr. Robison is in her second year as the Artistic Director of the National Lutheran Choir (NLC). Both LSM and NLC share a vision for continuing and strengthening the tradition of faith-based community music-making. Dr. Robison quickly immersed herself in LSM’s worship. During morning prayer, she taught the community Abbie Betinis’s beautiful canon, “Love is Love is Love is Love.” She also conducted the Chapel Choir in evening prayer on a setting of the Magnificat in English and Tagalog during evening prayer.
Reflecting on the importance of worship at LSM, Dr. Robison shared, “I think that there is faith formation that is intrinsic [to LSM], but it is also about exposing students to how music functions in a worship setting so that they can see that there are [career] paths other than teaching high school or conducting at the college level; for them to see that music is integral to worship.”
Dr. Robison also praised the musical experience of LSM as a way for students to get a taste of the depth of music that exists at colleges and in the professional music world. “For many students, it’s showing them that this is what your life can be like if you want to take this seriously,” she said. “I’m incredibly impressed by the level of rigor required of all participants.”
Even though Robison was on campus for only a few days, it is apparent that her time here had an immense impact on many. We are incredibly grateful for her visit and look forward to future collaborations.
