Essence 2 celebrates 20 years of bringing community members together through song

Twenty years ago, Tony Leach — a now-retired professor of music and music education at Penn State — decided to organize and conduct a choir that would allow members of all ages and skill levels to join. The result was Essence 2 — a community choir and sequel to Essence of Joy, the Penn State School of Music-affiliated choral ensemble.

Leach said the idea for Essence 2 was for it to be a “y’all-come choir,” meaning no audition process to get in. Before Leach retired, Essence 2 gathered only in the fall, but now the group practices year-round and has traveled to cities including Pittsburgh and Lewisburg to perform with local choirs there.

“My goal was to provide an opportunity for the State College community to participate in a choir that sings secular and non-secular music from the African and African American traditions,” Leach said.

From 2008-2016, Essence 2 sent money donated by concert attendees to Limpopo, South Africa. The funds were then used to support the construction of a primary school there called The Mogoshi School and provide it with school supplies and other items.

The president of Essence 2’s board, Jo Lash, said that before their financial help, the school had almost nothing.

“Money in South Africa goes much further than it does in the United States,” Lash said. “(Essence 2) was able to help with basic things that we take for granted, like running water, to the point where they actually got one or two computers.”

Lash met Leach while doing graduate work at Penn State, and frequently saw Essence of Joy performances. When she learned there would be a choir for community members, she saw it as a place she could fit in.

“Any time you’re passionate about something and you find others who are equally passionate, that joining together is just a blessing in itself,” Lash said. “Learning about African and African American composers and learning those difficult rhythms and harmonies has expanded my background as a choral singer.”

In December 2018, the group performed in Harrisburg alongside the Capital Area Music Association. The two put on another concert this past December with the Essence of Joy Alumni Singers, an experience Lash called “very rewarding.”

“I like to say there’s a circle of energy that comes in a concert like that, in that we send the energy out to listeners and they respond,” Lash said. “There’s not a quiet moment. There’s verbal appreciation. (The audience) will literally stand on their feet and clap.”

The group also aims to join communities together by performing all kinds of music for all kinds of congregations. One example of this was when they performed for a predominantly Jewish audience three years ago, and had to alter their music selections since so much of the African American repertoire is based on a belief in Jesus Christ.

Nina White, a longtime member of Essence 2, worked as a nurse in Philadelphia during the civil rights movement and saw firsthand the need to bring people together through music. She joined a local church choir there in order to integrate into the black community, as opposed to expecting them to integrate into the white community.

She said that when Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed, she lost all hope for the future. But she knew music was key to opening lines of communication between polarized groups — that’s why, upon moving to State College, she joined Essence 2.

“When we sing these songs, we’re listening to the words, we’re letting them have a voice. And that gives me hope,” White said. “Because without the music, who can sing?”

This story was originally published March 22, 2020 at 5:00 AM.