Choir/Coach

Welcome to the choir seminar, lead by Professor Jim Turner! Please join us for a short discussion of the different ways the church may wish to utilize his different skills and training...for your benefit.

Dr. Jim Turner enjoys teaching...and singing. What a great combo for a church choir, where he can visit your facility, and give the group a seminar on proper vocal production, finding the right harmonies, and learning to put in a "sparkling performance" to fulfill your congregation's ache for Inspirational Music for the glorification of our Lord.

Many members of church choirs have never had a private vocal coaching session, so they appreciate a taste of what it would be like to be a full-time singer. At the same time, the choir as a whole is enriched, by studying the live performance by bass/baritone singer J.T. It is great fun to watch it all come together at the concert, after a day of choir seminar study.

Wednesdays are always good for intensive choir seminars, since the singers are usually meeting at that time, anyway. Jim could rehearse them, and all could perform together the following weekend... A special Saturday night concert, or Sunday service.

Gather 'round, and watch the joy of learning! Not just there for the solos, but for your choir, too. Dr. Jim Turner has received a Doctorate of Divinity for his body of Christian Music Ministry, and earned a PhD in Music from Oxford, England in 1993. The University of TN at Knoxville sent the Central High School Senior on Tour with the UT Singers, with a full Scholarship. He was able to sing in the historic cathedrals of Europe at age 17, the youngest featured "Music Major" in UT's history (all on his own...accompanied by his classical guitar, backed by the choir), and uses some of those stories of a "southern boy" ... discovering Paris & Rome ... to entertain the members during the Choir Seminars. However, as both of his parents had been Music Majors followed by the demands of their Professional Careers, they decided he should work his way through an Engineering Management degree by suppoorting himself with his family-friendly band bookings each summer. "Just a little calculus you can fall back on", said his Dad.

Always a choir member as a prodigy four-octave youth (which he retains to this day) he listened to and watched his father solo at the First Christian Church in Knoxville. Back then, it was common to have paid soloists, and his father's contrabass was well-utilized by the late Music Minister Charlie Sanders, of St. Paul MTC, especially on Spirituals such as, "Ring Dem Golden Bells" plus "Sweet 'Lil Jesus Boy" and great semi-formal music, as "The Messiah". Ms. Georgia always made sure the fee went back into the offering plate, as a good example for small Jim on "God-given Talents". Joining the choir as a boy of six, Jim was soon standing proudly next to his Dad singing bass, too.

As a basso profundo with the Los Angeles Light Opera Company, Capt. Herb Turner sang "The Vagabond King" at the Hollywood Bowl, accompanied by his concert pianist wife, Ms. Georgia ... who barely squeezed up onto the bench, while expecting J.T. in just another month! What a great "musical family" in which to grow up, to later become part of "The Musical Family" of The Lawrence Welk TV Show.

They also encouraged him to audition on Broadway for "Jesus Christ Superstar" , and sure enough, the Knoxville "country boy" was the only singer in the original production to perform two lead roles, in three octaves... "Pilate" in tenor, and "Ciaphas the High Priest" in contrabass. He accepted the role, with the understanding that it would be a great tool to spread the honest Word to a secular world. He is still credited for adding the "Resurrection" Upward Cross Movement to end the play, which initially ended at the crucifixion. He considers his time in the Broadway musical as the start of his Music Ministry.

Such a varied career (pop/folk, Broadway & Welk) woven around his Country Music roots and albums, allows him to be a private coach to just about all choral styles, whether contemporary or traditional. A well-known "studio session" vocal coach in the Nashville area , Jim Turner is able to offer further private study in his personal studios in Hendersonville. Adults and young people are both taught proper techniques, as well as "performance", to help convey the meaning of the music you are singing. He accepts both secular and non-secular students, and continues to work on Music Row as a voice coach for record labels.

Dr. Jim Turner also offers his choir seminars to high schools and colleges throughout the state...encompassing both the "churched" and the "unchurched". Music teachers have found Jim's choral seminars to be of help in encouraging young people to become more enthusiastic members of their own school's choir, plus he guides them through the rigors and the requirements to win an audition for a college music scholarship.

Capt. Turner (Dad) credits his professors at the Chicago Institute of Music with perfecting his own God-given natural voice. However, the Captain (decorated in WWII) made sure that young Jim took private vocal coaching from a contemporary-style professor (Charlie Sanders), so as to be able to be a singer of all types of songs (not as "operatic" in mood). Thus, Jim can offer you a wide array of musical styles to suit your individual church's presentation.

It is this type of choir seminar and solo performances that Dr. J.T. offers to the regional churches, and he has the freedom of schedule to travel nationally, all the way back to his temporary home church, "The Crystal Cathedral" in Los Angeles. Being based out of Hendersonville, near Nashville gives him the freedom to drive the tour bus nearly anywhere. Please feel free to listen to some of his music on this site, and we pray you will be comfortable with his straight-forward manner and years of experience. Letters of reference are available from his current vocal students, and from regional educators and pastors; plus, a CD and/or DVD resume of performances is yours for the asking. Of course, testimony and altar calls are included in church seminars and concerts, at the discretion of the presiding pastor. Dr. Jim Turner's wife, Pastor Terri Lynn, accompanies him whenever she is able. Please call (615) 822-1004 for scheduling information.

... "Gown Up"...

This rag-tag crew looks a whole lot different with a little sparkle!

We love youth choirs, as well as the full ensemble.

Previous Page Next Page

"FAMILY-FRIENDLY CONCERTS"