Music man
Tim Sharp not only directs the Oklahoma City-based American Choral Directors Association, but also plays banjo and guest conducts worldwide.
Not long after Tim Sharp took the helm of the American Choral Directors Association in 2008, he was invited to speak to the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber.
Versus a standard speech, he turned the audience into a choir with high, medium and low sections.
The fresh twist on the presentation was fitting for Sharp, who not only leads the national association, but also regularly appears as a guest conductor and clinician worldwide, including in Thailand, Austria, Greece, Italy, Ireland and China. Week before last, he played banjo and conducted his own cowritten “Bluegrass Mass” in New York’s Carnegie Hall. He can speak with authority on Appalachian folk music and more.
While in New York, Sharp, who travels for business frequently, also interfaced with some 20 choirs, 10 industry labels and three composers — who all belong to the 22,000-member association of choral conductors, teachers, students, scholars, composers and choral industry representatives, which he and his staff of 13 serve from Oklahoma City.
Established in 1959 by the McMahon Foundation in Lawton, the association was moved here in 2001. Its staff publishes a monthly magazine for members, and plans and hosts alternate national and regional annual conferences. The most recent was last month in Minneapolis, which drew 15,000 attendees.
From his offices at 545 Couch Drive in the Arts District, Sharp, 62, recently sat down with
The Oklahoman to talk about his life and career. This is an edited transcript: Q: Tell us about your roots. A: My parents are retired and live in Elkton, Kentucky, near the family of my brother, who’s six years younger and a math professor. Our father was a Baptist minister and mother, a homemaker. We lived in Elkton until I was 11, when we moved to southern West Virginia.
Q: At what age did you get interested in music?
A: I started singing in church when I was 5. My mom caught on to my talent, and my parents bought me a used piano, which was a big purchase for them. I still have the piano in my office today. It’s an American-made Baldwin, formerly owned by Liberace. Like any kid, I wouldn’t practice. But every time my mother asked me if I wanted to quit, I never said stop. I’m so thankful. Piano theory is the underpinning of all music. All music majors are required to take it,
and I’m glad for my early introduction.
Q: Other than the piano, what instruments do you play?
A: My primary instrument is my voice. I also play the guitar, banjo and clarinet. When I was 14, I switched from the guitar to the banjo because it makes more noise. My father had been charged with opening new churches in the coal mining region of Williamson, West Virginia — the most godforsaken area. My father would deliver the sermon, my mom would be the nursery (we kept a bassinet in the trunk of our car) and I’d play the banjo and sing. I played the clarinet in my school band, which enforced my ability to read a single part and play a B flat instrument versus a middle C instrument.
Q: Did you always plan a career in music?
A: No. I was in the math club and chess club in high school, and started out as a math major at Bluefield College in Bluefield, Virginia. I was naive about music as a vocation until my choral teacher saw potential in me and pointed out the opportunities. My junior year, I transferred to Belmont University in Nashville. Nashville was good to me. I got to work with some of the best musicians, including the best studio people, and learned not to think that the only good
music is classical music. From Belmont, I went on to The School of Church Music in Louisville, where I earned my master’s and doctorate degrees in musical arts.
Q: Walk us through the universities where you’ve taught.
A: I taught five years at Taylor University in northern Indiana, and three years at The King’s College in Westchester County, New York. June taught at a school in Chappaqua, where Bill and Hillary Clinton live. We lived in the city so our daily commute was opposite. Then, we moved back to Nashville, where I worked in publishing for seven years; the last four years for my own company: The Antara Music Group. It was great business and sales experience. But when our daughter was born, I returned to the stability of a tenured job in academia. I taught three years at Belmont and then followed Belmont’s outgoing president to Rhodes College in Memphis, where I taught eight years before coming here.
Q: What prompted to leave academia for your current job?
A: I’d been a member of the association myself for years, and knew various administrators well. The search committee found me. At one point, I got cold feet about disrupting my family with yet another move and withdrew my name. At dinner that night, my wife was dismayed that I’d pulled out, pointing out that this job— with its diverse church, children’s and university choral director members and business aspects — is perfect me. And it is. I’m so glad the search committee circled back for me to reconsider.
Q: What is it about choral directing that you love?
A: What turns me on, and most members of this association, is the ability to get in front of people and shape sound. A choir is a focused instrument. As executive director of the American Choral Directors Association, I get to let people learn about singing and give them the chance to do it.