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| J. Dekle Hometown: Statesboro, GA |
His father kept a well-used trumpet in a closet in his bedroom. It was one of several instruments that his father used in his cover band that played funk and R&B. His father had dreams of becoming a big-time professional singer and performer. Dekle had the privilege of watching his father drift away with the intense, happy, metallic sound that would escape from the trumpet during his father’s home-performances and cherished the moments when his father would allow him to attempt to play it.
Ironically, Dekle chose to play the saxophone when he joined the school band, but his father passed his love of music and the aspiration of becoming a professional singer and performer onto him. By the time Dekle was 11 years old, he was trying his hand at songwriting and participated in local and statewide Georgia music festivals throughout middle and high school. While in college, he joined the world-renowned FAMU Marching ‘100’ and the FAMU Concert Choir.
Dekle is no stranger to music education, having graduated magna cum laude with his bachelors of science in music education from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (2006) in Tallahassee, Florida, and obtaining a master of music education degree from Winthrop University (2011).
Through his years of experience in performance and education, Dekle hopes to fulfill his personal motto: “If I can help somebody, then my living will not be in vain,” while working with students at Purdue.
“I hope to ignite the spirit of artistry in each individual student. Through music, I hope to stimulate their life’s purpose to be the best human being they can be at whatever they are seeking to be,” Dekle said. “My joy and purpose in life is to make someone else’s life a little easier or better.
It was an easy decision for Dekle when he was given the opportunity to become the choral director at Purdue.
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“Early on during my undergraduate matriculation, I knew that I had a desire to be a conductor at the university level. I did not know that my first opportunity would be a university of Purdue’s status or prestige,” Dekle said. “It definitely made the decision easier.”
According to the director of the Black Cultural Center, Renee Thomas, Dekle was selected to serve as the new choral director for the Black Voices of Inspiration choir, “because of his remarkable experience as a choral director, teacher and clinician.”
“I anticipate Dekle will expose the campus community to compositions by African American composers into the total fabric of our musical culture and cultivate new audiences for the Black Voices of Inspiration choir,” Thomas said. “He will serve as an essential and indispensable link in the preservation of our musical heritage.”
Dekle plans to do just that.
As the new choral director, Dekle hopes to “strengthen” the legacy of the Black Voices of Inspiration choir by creating a “world class performing ensemble.” He hopes to achieve this by recruiting students of all ethnic backgrounds to the ensemble, seeking performances on a state, national and international stage and recording a CD.
Dekle hopes to “enhance” the current music program by exposing audiences to the vast array of genres within African American choral music.
“It is too often assumed that African American choral music is just spirituals and gospel music. This assumption is incorrect. African American composers have composed sacred and secular music (that includes) jazz, pop and other uncategorized works as well as gospel and spirituals,” Dekle said. “It is my hope that our audience leaves our concerts with a deep appreciation of African American choral music and a desire to experience it more often.”
By KALEY HIGGINS Summer Reporter, Purdue University
COURTESY: THE EXPONENT ONLINE
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