This past July, at the AGO National Convention in St. Louis, we had the opportunity to interview GIA artist and composer Dr. Eurydice V. Osterman. The video and accompanying transcript below are the first part of the interview. The second part will be released soon.
Interview Transcript
What was your first or most significant memory of music as a child?
Well, I’ve always had a desire to play. That’s all I ever wanted to do when I grew up. But I think the moment that I can recall that really impacted me was seeing someone play the organ up close and personal. I came from a small town and in our church we did not have an organ, but when we would get together for district meetings, that is when I think I was sitting with my mother, who was a musician as well, and we were up near the front and I happened to see this lady playing the organ with her feet. And that I think is the seed that was planted that started me on my journey.
Who were your most significant mentors and teachers?
The most significant teacher was my college professor, Cecil Warren Becker. He was just a fantastic artist. And I used to love to watch him lead a congregation. When I first went to college, I attended Andrews University up in Berrian Springs, Michigan. And in my mind, he looked like God sitting on the throne [laughter].
When did you begin composing?
Now that is a very interesting story. I never even realized that I could compose. Growing up, I never even tried. I just played all the time. I played all the songs that I knew. But I never really tried to to do any kind of composing whatsoever until my college years.
Everything seemed to just bloom when I was in college. I belonged to, back in that day, they had little witnessing groups there that went around singing, during the Jesus movement. And different groups like the Heritage Singers came out and other little groups and on campus there was a group that I belonged to and a group in the group that came, they went to high school together and they began to sing songs that were original songs. And they just, that was so fascinating to me. And then I remember, I think it was the end of my sophomore year, I was on my way to Chicago to play for a friend’s wedding. I was living in Indianapolis by this time. And on the bus, I said to myself, “I should write a song.” And right there on the bus, without any manuscript paper or anything, I did have some kind of paper. And I wrote my first song. And I’ve been writing music ever since.
What can you tell us about the writing of “Alleluia”?
This is one of the few pieces that I wrote in one sitting. And I was visiting up in Buffalo, New York at the time. And I just had this idea in my head. I remember lying across the bed, and this time I took manuscript paper with me because I thought what if I get ideas then I can juot them down. And I just remembered writing “Alleluia”. I was lying across the bed and I got all my ideas down on the paper and I did that at one time. I didn’t have to go back and labor. I wrote that one particular piece in one city. I don’t do that often. But that was one of the pieces that I built.
Another influence was the fact that I was directing at the time the Oakwood College Choir. And what was so wonderful about that group, anything that I could think of, they could sing. And so I think I wrote it hearing them sing it. And it was just so inspiring to me. And I loved how the end of it came for singing ‘alleluia’ in different ways but at the end they all all the different versions come together. “Alleluia” just I could almost hear angels singing that when I wrote it. And it just like the burst of merge that carries that particular piece. I think that’s one of my favorite pieces.
What can you tell us about the writing of “Pentecost”?
It was a commission piece by a church in north in Raleigh North Carolina, White Memorial Presbyterian Church and I was given the option to write my own text or use a given text and I decided to use the given text. And from there, that too, just I followed the text and I just kind of started writing. Usually for me it’s it’s interesting to see I start with a blank canvas and just start putting some notes down and I just see where it goes. It took several days to write this one, but I think I got the piece written in about two weeks. Two week period of time.
I’ve been blessed in that it doesn’t take months and months and months to write something. If I start something, I’m just antsy until I finish it. And so I’ll just keep picking at it and picking at it until I get it right on paper and then I’ll tweak it. But as I started going through the text, you start, the Holy Spirit has to affect eyes, the ears, all of the senses.
And the last stanza “unless the God be known” you have to know God see him in the mind. He will just not be known and I like how the piece ends in that all of the different senses were put together at the very end to create a what I call a luscious chord.
What composers or artists have influenced your writing?
Starting back in my college days, there were some people who I really liked their music. First of all, the Carpenters. I used to like the Carpenters. And just listening to how they put music together, I think could have been one of my influences.
Then there was a gentleman, he lives in Nashville still, Paul Johnson. He wrote some original music that I loved. His music and he was an influence.
Then there was a man that I know personally named Shelton Kilby. He was living in California at the time, but he was a great influence. I loved his chords. He has kind of like a jazzy approach, but some of his ideas were just, as far as I was concerned back then, way out. And I just loved his harmonic progressions. I loved his syncopations and all of that sort of thing. And it was just a mixed bag of of various things. But those three influences I think started to help shape my music.
For someone who is new to your work, what pieces best represent you?
“Alleluia”, number one. “Oh, What a Beautiful City.” There is also one that you published, and the co-writer to that was Wintley Phipps, “Climbing to Zion.” That was another popular piece, and it was written, of course, for the [Oakwood] College Choir as well. And then once I started using my musical knowledge and understanding about how music flows, the “Psalm 23”, I think. That was one of my major works.
The Works Mentioned
Alleluia - G-10381/G-9893
Pentecost - G-11027
Oh, What a Beautiful City - G-10203
Climbing to Zion - G-10145
Click HERE to browse more works by Eurydice Osterman
About Eurydice V. Osterman
Eurydice V. Osterman is a Fulbright scholar and a published author and composer whose works have been read and performed around the world. A listing of her works is cited in the book, Music by Black Women Composers: A Bibliography of Available Scores by Helen Walker-Hill, CBRM Monographs, No.5, 1995. She is also the featured composer in the dissertation of Angelique Clay, “The Life and Music of Eurydice V. Osterman.” She is an accomplished organist and served as Dean of the Greater Huntsville Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. She was commissioned by the AGO to compose a piece for the 2024 national convention.
Dr. Osterman is the author of the books, What God Says About Music and Worship: From Praise Him to Praise Hymn. She has written numerous articles, and is featured in several books, including Who’s Who of American Women, to name a few.
Dr. Osterman earned both the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan in Music Education, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Composition from The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, studying with the late Harry Phillips. She is the first female and African American to graduate with this degree.
Dr. Osterman is currently a retired professor of music from Oakwood University. During her tenure at Oakwood, she served as chair of the department, choral director in addition to teaching theory and composition courses. She was also an adjudicator for the standard setting process for the Praxis II Teacher Certification Examination for use in the State of Alabama. In 2009 Dr. Osterman took a leave of absence from Oakwood to serve as chair of the Department of Music at Northern Caribbean University in Jamaica, preparing for first-time Music Department accreditation.
Dr. Osterman has conducted numerous music seminars throughout the United States, Europe, the Caribbean, Porto Rico, South America, and Africa. She has also made professional presentations at several universities across the country-- Andrews University, Michigan; Clark-Atlanta University, Georgia; Fayetteville State University, North Carolina; Hampton University, Virginia; Morehouse College, Georgia; University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff; Tuskegee University, The University of Dayton, and the most recent at the University for Women, Columbus, Mississippi.
Dr. Osterman is the recipient of many awards and holds membership in several professional organizations, including Phi Kappa Lambda, a national honor society.
Dr. Osterman’s Community service includes serving the Music Director for the Tennessee Valley Oneness Committee, planning and presenting programs on the African American contribution to music for the Alabama Bicentennial during 2019. She is also Coordinator for her neighborhood Community Watch.