Story by Clarence W. Thomas, Jr. | Photos by Matt Odom
In 2017 Leah Duval, a creative born in Macon and reared in the Unionville neighborhood, started a special needs choir at just 16 years old as a community service project while attending Howard High School.
Nine years later, her desire to disrupt the narrative around the creativity of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities can be seen and heard as the Gifted Harmony Choir — a loving, caring, kind bunch of special needs adults spreading joy through the art of singing. How fortunate we are to have them.
A Choir is Born
Leah Duval wanted to make a difference in her community. When given the chance, she chose creating The Gifted Harmony Choir, an organization dedicated to making music accessible for all with a mission centered around inclusivity and collaboration involving individuals with special needs.
“I’m big on community service. Anything I can do to help our community, I’m all for it,” Duval said from San Diego, California, where she currently lives with her fiancé, an active-duty member of the Navy.
Leah’s aunt Chanda is developmentally delayed, but possesses a resilient, persistent spirit. She insisted on her niece creating a choir to see herself in it. When that collided with Duval’s desire to implement something impactful for others, the two realized there was a lack of opportunities for special needs citizens to artistically express themselves. That created an explosion.
When the smoke cleared, The Gifted Harmony Choir appeared. “Sometimes when people don’t welcome you to the table, you make your own table. Some of the best concerts I’ve ever been to include The Gifted Harmony Choir,” Duval said. “There’s no limit to what they can do.”
Singing Songs and Winning Hearts
While Duval started Gifted Harmony and is still involved closely as executive director, her mother Wanda Davis directly oversees the choir as associate director. Davis presides over practices, coordinates appearances, and works closely with the choir’s board of directors.
She is extremely invested in their success, along with a dedicated group of volunteers. As the sister of a special needs citizen, Davis approaches her role with a sensitivity and empathy that brings out the best in choir members. But she is quick to remind onlookers that much of what Gifted Harmony does is driven by the members.
The robes they wear were envisioned by a member named Cassius Walton with an infectious personality not long after Gifted Harmony was established. Members are volunteers and select the songs they sing. Davis added that they practice hard and are extremely dedicated to their craft.
For members, being in the choir gives them a safe space where they can be themselves and share freely and openly. The Gifted Harmony Choir dispels much of what the public thinks it knows about people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, according to the mother-daughter duo. “They have a gift that needs to be shared. They have a strong sense of community. People say the choir leaves you better than when you arrived to see them perform,” Davis said. Her daughter describes members as lovers of music highlighting what a community should be. “Everyone has the right to express themselves musically. We need to treat [the singers] like what they are, musicians.”
One may not realize that this choir is in such demand, but Gifted Harmony’s schedule is full of an impressive array of appearances. A mayoral-sponsored breakfast for ministers, a Mercer University basketball game, the Tubman Museum’s annual Pan African Festival, Piedmont Hospital, and numerous churches are just a few of the places Gifted Harmony Choir has graced with its presence.
The community has bought into the love, joy, and peace the choir is spreading through an outpouring of donations, Davis says. She describes herself as a proud, protective “Mama.”
“I’m blessed and honored to lead this choir. It really blows my mind when I consider what we’ve done,” she said.
Former Macon Mayor C. Jack Ellis mirrored Duval and Davis’s sentiment. Despite only hearing them perform once during this past holiday season, he was deeply moved by their sincerity.
What took their concert over the top for him was the fact that his two sons — one alive and thriving personally and professionally, and one now deceased — were born with disabilities. Like the members of Gifted Harmony, he knows they are noteworthy. “Everyone has ability. We’re not sensitive enough to people with disabilities. We have to see the humanity in everyone,” Ellis said. “Seeing them was very inspiring to me, to see people punch above their weight class. They are bringing joy and entertainment to everyone.”
One member is 52-year-old Tina Wheeler, an Amarillo, Texas native who was invited to be in the choir by Davis. Wheeler has Down Syndrome, but she says she’s using the talent God gave her and her experience as a member of Gifted Harmony has been excellent.
Her favorite things? Being with friends and making audience members happy. “It makes me feel good,” Wheeler said with a big grin. “And it makes me want to go back and sing again and again.”
Helping Hands and Proud Parents
Part of Gifted Harmony’s success is owed to its board. They are a helping hand, comprised of an intriguing mix of community members that includes Tracie Campbell-Kendrick and Pastor Stephen Summerow, servant leader of Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church.
Campbell-Kendrick has been with the choir as a volunteer since its beginning. She wears multiple hats as assistant director, treasurer, and board member. Her role as assistant director puts her in front of the choir in Davis’s absence and as her right-hand during practices and performances.
She admits that working with special needs citizens can be daunting, but, “The minute I step foot in that place with them, everything I was feeling ends immediately. It’s so rewarding. There are no words to describe how it feels.”
The board was established in January, according to Campbell-Kendrick, but it’s already focused on exposure and fundraising, now that Duval’s dream of Gifted Harmony being a nonprofit is complete. Their goals include taking the choir to more places to explore. “I can’t imagine not being a part of this. If we were more like them the world would be a much better place,” Campbell-Kendrick suggested.
In addition to being a board member, Summerow says it was important for his church to be a supporter of Gifted Harmony. He refers to members of the choir as people with exceptional abilities. “Many places want to put them in the back or isolate them, but we wanted to make sure we included them during worship services. We set aside a time for them. The Lord said to be inclusive, and that’s what we do,” he said.
Parents power Gifted Harmony, too. Without their support, achieving the success it’s enjoying would be a much tougher row to hoe. Curtis Lowe’s 40-year-old son Jon was one of the first 10 members when Gifted Harmony started. Around 18 singers are members of the choir now.
He says Jon inherited his love of singing from his mother. For the elder Lowe, Gifted Harmony was a way of getting his son to sing outside of church with a group of people of similar capacity. To witness the choir in concert is pure joy, Curtis said. “I love the fact that Leah named the choir Gifted Harmony because they all have their specific gifts, using what the good Lord gave them. But their harmonizing will make you cry.”
Jon’s disability didn’t disrupt his response when asked how he liked being a member of Gifted Harmony. “I love it. I love to sing good,” he answered enthusiastically, as his father listened. “I think it’s beautiful. I enjoy it. It’s good being with them.”
On Deck: Artistic Expansion
The future of Gifted Harmony Choir is focused on expanding artistic opportunities for Macon’s disability population, says Duval. As an arts administrator and singer who is bringing her beloved Unionville neighborhood more art and music through her For Unionville By Unionville (F.U.B.U.) initiative, it’s fitting that the intellectual and developmental disability community has a chance to experience other mediums, like the visual arts and dance.
As a result, Gifted Harmony members will participate in its first new art project this month. “I don’t want to limit their artistic ability to just singing. It’s all about breaking through barriers and making things accessible to all,” Duval said.
Next year, the choir will celebrate its ten-year anniversary, which includes a planned concert at the Piedmont Grand Opera House. That celebration will begin with a concert in Rosa Parks Square soon as a part of First Baptist Church’s 200th anniversary celebration. Appearances this year also include Northwoods Academy and a Christmas concert this December.
Duval invites the public to “watch what it feels like to unconditionally love through music.” Her mom ended the conversation with an invite, too. Here’s a promise that the author of this story can attest to after experiencing them in concert a few times. “Come see them. You’ll never be the same.”
To learn more, support the organization, or see a performance, visit giftedharmonychoir.org
giftedharmonychoir@gmail.com
(478) 318-6337
Facebook: Gifted Harmony Choir
Instagram: @giftedharmonychoir