In harmony The Boys Choir of Harlem’s joyful noise BY BILL RODRIGUEZ

The Boys Choir of Harlem, which is coming to the Providence Performing Arts Center on November 29, in a way is an idea as much as a celebrated singing group. After all, it changes membership from year to year, while 35 to 40 voices remain sweetly steadfast and the audience appreciation remains the same.

But while the individual boys grow up and leave the choir, the one person who has remained is music director and founder, Walter J. Turnbull. Thirty-five years ago, the hard-working man from rural Mississippi, newly out of graduate school, put aside his hope to become an operatic tenor and organized a 20-boy choir in the basement of Ephesus Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Harlem.

By 1993 he had established the Choir Academy of Harlem, and this New York public school now has more than 500 students, boys and girls, in grades 4 through 12, aspiring for openings in both the Boys Choir and the Girls Choir of Harlem, which was formed in 1986. The Boys Choir averages 100 performances a year, and they have done nine tours in Europe and four in Asia. Ninety percent of the singers are African-American and 50 percent are from Harlem, with the others drawn from the rest of the city’s five boroughs.

The Providence program will range from Bach and Poulenc to Christmas gospel songs. Turnbull took some time between consultation with his soloists to speak about his work in a phone interview.

Q: This is the age of hip-hop. Do your students resist classical music because they want to fit in back in the neighborhood?

A: No, they don’t. It really has to do with how the teacher teaches and what you teach, you know? I mean, even hip-hop had to come from some source of music. So it’s how you teach. And it’s about introduction. Does a kid know everything historically that he should know? No, a history teacher teaches it and then they put it in the proper context. The same goes with music. Yes, this is the age of hip-hop, and they do hip-hop — they love hip-hop.

Q: So you approve.

A: Oh, absolutely. That’s their treasured medium of expression. But that does not negate the legitimacy of a classical approach, of the classical medium of expression. So what they are doing is broadening their horizons and learning all mediums of artistic expression.

Q: You’re teaching them about more than harmonies — you’re teaching them character, aren’t you?

A: Absolutely. Because in a boy choir, development of character is a part of what comes along. You can develop character, camaraderie, working together, honesty, wholesomeness — all that comes from being in a choir. Those things are transferable to real life.

Q: Now, boys who can rise to the challenges and discipline of the choir probably tend to be a real handful. How much trouble do they give you?

A: Oh, as much as any adolescent would! (Laughs) Yes, they can be a handful. Before their rise and after their rise. It’s about using music as a tool for life, so discipline is required. Discipline is required in life.

Q: You have a reputation for being a strict disciplinarian. How do they respond to that?

A: Well, it depends on the individual. Some in a submissive way, a passive way, some in a belligerent way. But there’s a way to deal with all of them.

Q: You’ve had success even with those who resist.

A: Oh, yeah. Yeah. The ones who resist, most times they become your most loyal supporters. Those are the boys you need in a boy choir.

Q: You began with a church group of 20 boys, and now the choir is the center of an academy. Were you losing too many boys because they had to spend their days in the public school system?

A: Yeah. Usually [because of] the inconsistency of requirements. They would go back to their schools, and there was nothing required — being on time, order, and discipline — and then they come to you and it’s hard to put them back into control. So therefore we absolutely needed a school. But it is the tradition of boy choir to be a school. I mean, they started schools first and then boy choirs. We had to start boy choir first and then add a school.

Q: So these days, how often do you lose a promising kid to the streets?

A: Oh, well, we do lose kids. I can’t say how often, but we do lose kids to the streets. Or we lose kids to disinterest — and that’s OK, because it’s not for everybody. Although it can be used by everybody. Yeah, you lose kids.

Q: So you do the best you can and don’t take it as a personal failure.

A: Not anymore, after 30 years.

Q: This was a problem initially?

A: Yeah. Because it would wreck my soul every time I lost a kid. Ah, we try, we try. But over the years I’ve developed ways where I’m not as likely to lose kids. So that starts from the beginning. That is, even the audition. The kids you’re most likely to lose would probably not be encouraged to be a part . . . You can see by the interest of the kid whether he’s just doing it as a fad or whether this is something he really wants to try to do.

Q: What’s been the most fulfilling for you personally from your 35 years with the choir?

A: Seeing kids go on into college and come back and be successful, I think that’s the most exciting for me. Then it really helps me when I can see them do world-class music. From knowing nothing about music to doing world-class music — that’s exciting.

The Boys Choir of Harlem will be at the Providence Performing Arts Center on Saturday, November 29 at 8 p.m. Call (401) 421-ARTS.