Joyce MdV Jan’s Goal Is To develop Hidden Talent
By Loretta Manage
i Entertainment Editsr
The choir marches into
the room. Once in their re
spective places onstage,
I the director motions than
to sway to the beat at the
i music. Totally focused on
the director, the choir looks
to him or her for the signal
to begin. Prom the onset of
the concert, the choir re
lies on the director. They
know how important it is
for them to concentrate on
his or her directions. So
; does Joyce McMillan. She’s
a gospel choir director.
“In order for the music to
get across to the audience,
it has to Come from me to
the choir and from the
choir to the audience. When
I’m directing I’m not
aware of the distractions
around me. I put my whole
mind into what I’m doing.
Whatever the words are
that the choir is singing at
i the time, that’s what I’m
focusing on,” pointed out
Mrs. McMillan.
The music has been get
ting across. Mrs. McMillan
has been directing for 32
| ' years. Not only does yhe
play the piano and direct
the youth and church
choirs at New Hope Bap
| list Church, but she is also
the director for the Char
} lotte Mass Choir, and the
< Angels of Joy. But her work
14 does not end there. Mrs.
McMillan co-directs the
i Charlotte Interdenomina
tional Mass Choir and the
Qiarlotte Chapter of the
Gospel Music Workshop of
America, as well as gjyes
i piano and voice lessons.
1. With such an extensive
1 commitment, Mrs. McMil
%
Joyce McMillan
. ....Builds confidence
Ian is in rehearsal from
Monday through Hiursday,
devoting one and a half to
two hours each night to
rehearsal. And while you
may hear her giving
constructive criticism to
her choirs, you will never
hear her complain. “I look
at directing as my gift from
God. It seems like I’ve
always been musically in
clined, since I was a small
child. I began playing for
Ifae Sunday School at the
age of nine and by the age
of 12 I was playing for the
church,” explained Mrs. - .
Those years spent ac
quiring experience, cou
pled with attendance at
WSOC To Air Academy
Awards Presentation
The Oscar, the entertain
ment industry’s most
coveted honor, will be
awarded to the year’s most
outstanding motion pic
tures and stars on “The
57th Annual Academy
Awards Presentation’’ to
4 be broadcast, live from
Los Angeles, Monday,
March 25, at 9 p.m. on
WSOC-TV, Channel 9.
The five nominees “For
Best Picture of the Year"
are: “Amadeus," "Places
in the Heart,” “The Kill
ing Fields,” “A Passage to
India” and “A Soldier’s
Story.”
Only the captivating
j Judy Davis (“A Passage to
India”) goes in as a first
nominee “For the
Performance By an
i Actress in a Leading
Bole.” Other nominees
•elude: Sissy Space* -
<”The River”); Vanessa
Redgrave (“The Bos
tonians”); Sally Field
(“Place* in the Heart”);
and Jessica Lange (“Coun
try").
Jeff Bridges, the son of
actor Uoyd Bridges, is one
of five nominees “For the
Best Performance by an
Actor in a Leading Role.’V
Other nominees include:
Tom Hulce (“Amadeus”);
F. Murray Abraham (also
“Amadeus”); Albert
Finney (“Under the Vol
cano”); and Sam Water
ston ■ (“The Killing
Fields”).
Two-time Academy
, Award winner Jack Lem
mon serves as host of the
"57th Annual Academy
Awards Presentation,"
airing March 25.
*vYyyrvrvvrri
► THE :
► CHARLOTTE <
► post ;
376-0496 <
qualified Mrs. McMillan as
a true professional of her
trade. She knows what a
director’s job is and has '
little or no problem in
achieving her goals. “To be
a director it is important to
be in total control all of the
time. What I’m trying to do
is to make somebody be
lieve that what we’re sing
ing about is true, that
there is a God some
where.’ My job as director
extends to the musiclans
the drummer, pianist and
organist as well as the
choir.”
“A director has to build a
choir into what she knows
it can be. I don’t focus on
the negative; instead, I try
to build confidence in the
choirs I direct,” affirmed
Mrs. McMillan. Budding
confidence is something
that she does on an indi
vidual level as well as the
collective level. “I have
this friend who was always
told she couldn’t. sing. I
kept building her confi
dence and giving her in
struction and today, well, I
fed she can out-sing any
one in Charlotte,” alleged
Mrs. McMillan.
Bringing that hidden
talent out of people
.« ,
they aren’t even aware .
they have is both the sa
tisfaction she receives and
the goal she has set for
herself as director “1 like
■ developing talent,” she
added.
CREATIVE ■
INNOVATIVE
THE CHARLOTTE POS1
IS ON THE MOVEI
; r"
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