This post was updated March 12 at 8:43 p.m.

UCLA is expanding its musical involvement with the culture of historically Black colleges and universities.

The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music is set to host a group of choral musicians from Virginia State University, an HBCU, later this week for multiple events under the title “Trouble the Water.” On Thursday evening, the Virginia State University Concert Choir will perform alongside UCLA choral studies students at Saint Paul the Apostle Catholic Church. On Friday, the on-campus space at Lani Hall will host a one-day symposium event starting at 8:45 a.m. to educate students and the general public about the HBCU choral tradition while celebrating the work of Undine Smith Moore, a former VSU professor known as the “Dean of Black Women Composers.” Musicology doctoral student Jordan Hugh Sam spearheaded the idea for the “Trouble the Water” performance and symposium.

“There’s this really big performance practice tradition at HBCUs that I think people in other parts of the U.S. have not been exposed to,” Hugh Sam said. “I was like, ‘Oh, that would be a really cool opportunity, if there was a way to share that performance practice tradition at UCLA.’”

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Hugh Sam said the “Trouble the Water” events were made possible through his friendship with Craig L. Robertson, the director of choral activities and an assistant professor of music at VSU, who he met while pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Colorado Boulder. Hugh Sam said he easily became friends with Robertson because they were the only two people of color in their class and formed a sense of community and nonjudgment with each other. Hugh Sam said it was a natural decision to continue his studies of the relationship between identity and choral singing by conducting research at VSU. He said he lived in Virginia for a year and a half, working alongside Robertson as an assistant choral director and expanding his knowledge of the HBCU choral tradition throughout his time there.

Unlike the a cappella tradition in America, which borrows heavily from British choral singing, HBCU choral style takes its origins from the experiences of enslaved Black Americans, Hugh Sam said. His interactions with Robertson and the students at VSU were completely different from instances where he had been exposed to HBCU choral singing at predominantly white institutions, Hugh Sam said, adding that he was amazed by their talent and soulfulness. The HBCU music culture can include spirituals, religious folk songs that emphasize messages of hoping to find salvation in the afterlife – as well as gospel, which is also religious but more thematically focused on the present day – Hugh Sam said.

Hugh Sam said the decision to concentrate on Moore’s music was because of her music’s tendency to defy boundaries. Moore spent almost half a century working at VSU – then Virginia State College – before her death in 1989, and her work helped demonstrate that Black musicians are not limited to spirituals and gospel music, he added. The performances later this week will include renditions of some of Moore’s compositions that have not been performed for decades, which Hugh Sam said he found while reading archives of Moore’s original manuscripts she wrote during her time at VSU.

“This is a composer who cannot be kept in a box,” Hugh Sam said. “She’s someone who both recognizes the Black tradition but also thinks about a Black composer as someone who is Black and whose compositions cannot just be limited to arranging spirituals or gospel. … Her compositional output reflects this tension or these kinds of issues that Black musicians, especially those coming from HBCUs, are always facing.”

Raymond Knapp, a distinguished professor of musicology at the School of Music, said he helped Hugh Sam organize the “Trouble the Water” events by acting as a faculty sponsor. Knapp said planning for these events began more than a year ago, and he advised Hugh Sam on how to apply for multiple grants to obtain the funds necessary to bring the students from VSU to UCLA for a weeklong residency. He said UCLA is strengthening its involvement in HBCU culture by holding the “Trouble the Water” events but already has faculty members deeply integrated in HBCU traditions – such as Cheryl L. Keyes, the chair of the Department of African American Studies, who organized a multimedia event at Royce Hall last year in celebration of Juneteenth.

One of the logistical challenges involved in bringing these plans to fruition was arranging the transport of 29 students from VSU to Los Angeles, Hugh Sam said, but the support of multiple departments at UCLA has made it possible. Hugh Sam said he is particularly excited for the offerings at Friday’s symposium, which will include an interactive workshop led by Robertson with participation from the audience. Fredara Hadley, an ethnomusicology professor at The Juilliard School, will speak later in the event about the impact of HBCU culture and music on PWIs, Hugh Sam added.

Robertson said he and his students were initially skeptical about the plans to come to UCLA, but trusted Hugh Sam that their HBCU music and culture would not be merely a display. The students participating in the trip were decided upon in October and are primarily first- and second-year students, Robertson said, which made the preparations for the performances of Moore’s complex music more challenging. Robertson, a VSU alumnus, said this week will mark his first visit to California and the first time some of his students have been on an airplane or left Virginia.

“I have this opportunity to share the world with them,” Robertson said. “Forget the song, the fact that you have this experience, and I was able to give it to you at no charge to you. … You can’t beat it.”

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On a performance level, Robertson said Moore’s pieces require a high level of skill and vocal stamina. He added that Moore’s music incorporates a variety of time signatures, tempos and dynamics that make extensive practice imperative for success. Many conductors have different interpretations of Moore’s compositions, Robertson said, making her music unpredictable and full of twists, with sound inspirations ranging from the African diaspora to 1970s jazz.

Robertson said he will be in touch with Moore’s daughter this week so she can view the renditions of her mother’s compositions via a livestream link. He said one of his hopes for this week’s events is that attendees will leave with an increased appreciation for not only the greatness of Black music but also of Black culture. Likewise, he said he hopes his students will take advantage of the trip to learn about graduate programs and master’s degrees offered at UCLA, as these were not opportunities he was informed about when he was in their shoes.

“I’m going to be a bucket of tears the whole week because watching them engage, watching them interact and immerse themselves into the experience,” Robertson said. “We’ve been talking about this almost a year, and this is now. It’s happening, and I’m super excited.”