ANDREW BARNES JAMIESON

I studied music composition at Northwestern University, in Evanston, Illinois, and worked with Aaron Travers, Lee Hyla, Hans Thomalla, Jay Alan Yim and Marcos Balter. Living in Evanston, I also played for Friendship Baptist Church and Oasis Christian Ministries International. These primarily African-American congregations may have taught me more than anything else. I learned a large body of gospel songs and developed a sophisticated understanding of gospel keyboard playing. I learned to lead choirs. I heard excellent preachers, singers and instrumentalists visiting black churches throughout the Chicago area. I developed an appreciation for and understanding the black experience, and began to struggle with my own position of privilege as a white person. And I developed a deep faith and commitment to social justice, and a calling to live out this faith and integrate it with my musical work.