Crystal Sellers Battle began her musical journey in church, singing gospel as a youth with her father and siblings. But when she entered college to study voice, \u201cI went into my very first voice lesson and was told by my teacher that I had to choose between singing gospel music or singing classical music,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Classical vocal training has been honed over centuries to protect the health and viability of the vocal cords. Thus, the teacher reasoned, gospel singing could limit Sellers Battle\u2019s prospects for a long and successful career\u2014as a classical singer. Later, as a doctoral student at Ohio State, Sellers Battle found a mentor who supported her aspirations, and she was able to make a major contribution toward advancing the study of gospel music through her dissertation, I Sing Because I\u2019m Free: Developing a Systematic Vocal Pedagogy for the Modern Gospel Singer<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n But Sellers Battle, who started in July 2022 as the inaugural associate dean of equity and inclusion at the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½<\/a>\u2019s Eastman School of Music<\/a>, also knew that something unspoken was at play in the efforts of teachers to steer her away from gospel.<\/p>\n