SMITHFIELD, N.C. — The voice drifts down the hallway at Sharon Baptist Church in Smithfield, N.C., and no matter how the sound might have progressed in ability, it’s music to Todd Johnson’s ears.
Remember the classic episode of “The Andy Griffith Show” when Barney joins the choir? Johnson could more than likely figure out a way to work with ol’ Barn’s off-key warbling, as bad as it might be.
Johnson is Sharon Baptist’s minister of music, and he helps oversee a music academy begun by the congregation in the summer of 2010. Such projects in other, larger churches in the region had been successful, but with nothing like it in Johnston County, the veteran church worker figured the time was right to give one a shot at Sharon Baptist.
Parker Watson (right) prepares for a vocal competition at a nearby community college, assisted by instructor Julie Stewart.
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Since its inception, the academy has offered voice, piano and guitar lessons. Quite possibly best of all, the school has been able to reach out to students as young as five years old and to those who are “experienced” as 60 and 70.
“The vision was just to take people where they are, with their gifts, and help them to develop their musical gifts so that they can use them,” Johnson said. “Our vision is for people to use their gifts to serve the Lord in worship. That’s it in a nutshell.”
A self-taught musician, Johnson has worked in the public history field for many years as an archivist and librarian. Along with his duties at Sharon Baptist, Johnson is also a director of the Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield, dedicated to the famous hometown actress of the 1940s and 1950s. He’s currently working on a master’s degree at Campbell University, with a special concentration in music and worship.
He also teaches music at Neuse Charter School in Johnston County, which he helped get started several years ago. Johnson taught there full-time, until beginning his studies at Campbell.
With a background like Johnson’s, it seemed only natural to seek out and work with those who might not otherwise have developed their musical ability. The academy focuses on church-related music, but there are a few show tunes along the way as well for students preparing for various vocal competitions.
“It’s everything, pretty much, but there are certain boundaries because they do the lessons in the church building,” Johnson said with a chuckle. “I thought that since we’re located in Smithfield, which is the center of the county and the county seat, it might be a good place to have something like this. We’re kind of targeting people who have an interest in church music and serving in some capacity in church-music programs.
“As it’s turned out, we’ve had several of our students who do work in churches. But a lot of them are voice students who are preparing for local competitions and other things that are outside the church. I absolutely have no problem with that. They’re using their musical gifts. That’s what we’re all about, to help people, especially kids, develop their musical gifts.”
A 30-minute lesson costs $22, and the academy has offered a handful of scholarships.
“We didn’t have a huge pot of money to deal with scholarship for kids to do music lessons,” he admitted. “We have done a few, but basically, we’re trying to provide a safe place people to drop off their kids to have music lessons after school.”
One challenge the Sharon Baptist music academy has faced is time, and where young people can possibly shoe-horn yet another activity into their already-crowded schedules. School, sports, social life, you name it, and youth are more than likely involved in some shape, form or fashion, he says.
“I’ve lined up instructors to do lessons for brass and woodwind instruments,” he concluded. “I was hoping that our local band students might take advantage of this and do private lessons, but kids are so busy these days. There are also financial constraints, but kids are so busy, they just don’t have time for music lessons.”
What’s the payoff for Johnson? That’s an easy question to answer. When he sees a student making progress, it makes all the difference in the world. Maybe there is hope for Barney after all.
“It’s a sacrifice, but I think it’s well worth it when you see the results,” he concluded. “Especially with these voice students, I’ve seen several who started out and had never taken voice lessons. They had their raw talent, and all they need is somebody to show them some techniques. And, boy, can they take off and grow. Getting them from one level to the next is awesome.”
Rick Houston ([email protected]), based in Yadkinville, N.C., is a contributing writer for the Religious Herald.