"We Sing With Passion and No Fear"
The SF State Gospel Choir was founded by current choir director Ja Ronn Thompson in the Spring of 2004. At that time he didn%u2019t expect anyone to take him seriously. He was only a freshman and not even a music major. But he was determined to bring Gospel music to our campus. When he expressed interest in starting the choir, music professor Dr. Dee Spencer told him to %u201CMake it happen.%u201D Therefore, Ja Ronn toured the campus handing out fliers and encouraging people to try out.
There were seven members at their first rehearsal, singing without sheet music or a band to accompany them from one musical transition to the next. They also didn%u2019t have a regular practice room, so they used various classrooms and sometimes hallways in order to perfect their songs.
The San Francisco State gospel choir, a student-run group, became a one-unit music course in its second semester. Now a 3-unit course and in it%u2019s 22nd semester the group is comprised of 60 singers and 7 musicians of different backgrounds and majors, there is plenty of diversity in this group. Having grown exponentially over the past 11 years, their big sound has only gotten better.
