In the early 1990s, Carol Bernard, BA’84, sang in and won a talent contest that would alter her career direction. Her then-accompanist mentioned that one of the judges, Marcia Bailey, was director of the Union Church Gospel Choir (UCGC), and suggested she join it.
The storied Union United Church, a pillar of Montreal’s Black community and a church with a rich musical heritage (both Oscar Peterson and Oliver Jones had strong ties), appealed to Bernard. She had been working in the head office at CN Rail, a very different environment.
“I wanted to get involved in the Black community. I was also thinking that maybe I’d meet a nice Black guy,” says Bernard, who was in her early 30s at the time.
She had been playing piano since she was eight. Her father, an elder at the church she attended, was responsible for its music. He gave her the responsibility of leading its choir when she was 12. Despite that show of confidence, her Jamaican parents had non-musical aspirations for her.
While classical music and gospel music were played in the house, the early Cuisenaire rods and math tables primed her for her eventual studies in math and computer science at McGill. She was the first member of her family to attend university.
She put her degree to practical use at CN, modernizing their accounting systems and employing early voice-activated computing.
But music would start taking up more space in her life. She eventually took over at UCGC, but stepped down to start the Jireh Gospel Choir in 1996. Ted Dettweiler, one of the church choir members, joined her new group. A friend at the time, he is now her husband. “Not a Black guy, at all,” she adds, jokingly.
Two years later, she quit her job at CN, where she had risen to manager of business planning, to dedicate herself to music. She later honed her craft even further, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in jazz studies at the Université de Montréal in 2008.
In 2011, she founded a second musical group, the Montreal Gospel Choir (MGC). While the 15 Jireh members can alternate as lead singers, the goal of the MGC, now numbering 80, was to make gospel singing more accessible.
The Jireh Gospel Choir has performed with the likes of Mario Pelchat, Bobby McFerrin and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. The choir won Gospel Album of the Year from the Gospel Music Association of Canada in 2015, and took the stage as the opening act for a concert by multiple Grammy winner Kirk Franklin at the Bell Centre. A highpoint, says Bernard, was an outdoor performance on the main stage at the 2016 Montreal Jazz Festival.
On a snowy Thursday night, the MGC was rehearsing in a small hall in a downtown church. Bernard sat on the stage playing electric piano, taking the choir through breathing exercises, pentatonic scales and harmonies.
“Altos, you’re out of tune,” she warns. One chorister had her infant in a baby wrap, another was entering the hall, singing the warmups as he hung his coat on the rack. Rich sustained chords filled the room. “Now you’re sounding like a choir,” she announces.
The choir was preparing for an upcoming concert – their third – at a women’s prison. At the last concert, they performed the song “Shackles” from the gospel duo, Mary Mary. When they sang “Take the shackles off my feet so I can dance. I just want to praise you,” the inmates were on their feet dancing, recalls Bernard. “That was a moment.”
Bernard sees the confluence between Black slavery, gospel music and the Christian faith. “These slaves were in a miserable situation and they sang anyway. It wasn’t out of ignorance; it was always full of this hope that either they were going to see God or they were going to escape.”
“Hold on. Just a little while longer,” the rehearsing choir sings. As they sway, they punctuate the message with stomps, repeating that phrase. The lyrics end with “Everything will be alright.”
Authenticity is key to Bernard, who talks to her choir beforehand about the meaning of the songs. Commitment is also vital to her.
“I only see seven of you who are dramatic,” she announces during another song. “So, the rest of you better bring it up.”
That authenticity and drama are evident in a call-and-answer song led by chorister Rex Verzosa, the choir asking God to “Rain on me,” with Verzosa’s musical proclamation reflecting joy, as he answers, “With your love divine.”
Bernard says she tries to find common ground between both the devout and the non-religious singers, and is both careful and respectful.
During the singing of “Rain on me,” smiles are exchanged among the choristers, who seem to be basking in that love divine. The song ends with whoops and claps. The common ground that Bernard found for them seems to be pretty firm.
If you are interested in finding out more about Bernard and her choirs, visit the sites for the Jireh Gospel Choir and the Montreal Gospel Choir
