When you go to a school with such a legendary musical heritage as Anderson University, it’s hard to truly stand out. But junior Antoine Brown does. A miraculous singer in the Chorale whose solo in Candles and Carols is a legend in itself, Brown has found the support and encouragement he needs at AU to do anything he can imagine. And he imagines things that may one day be legends themselves.
“I started off singing in church choir when I was really young,” Brown begins his musical biography. When he was very young, his family moved around because of his father’s Air Force career. They eventually settled in Cincinnati, where Brown had the chance to explore his musical interests. One day in junior high, he was walking through the halls of his school singing when the choir director pulled him aside. She told him that he had a “tremendous gift” and started working with Brown. “She’s kind of like my mentor,” Brown said. As he started pursuing music, he performed in his high school band and choir. However, he is more interested in teaching younger children. His experience growing up with 14 siblings has helped guide his career path toward elementary music education.
Although his major is focused on Music Education, Brown also aspires to perform himself, and he is involved in many ensembles that afford him opportunities to grow musically. Besides Chorale, he’s a member of the Gospel Choir, the Concert Band, and the social club Agathos which puts on the campus karaoke event Encore. His emphasis on Music Ed requires that he learn to play many instruments, but his instrument in Concert Band is truly unique. He plays a small tuba called a euphonium. “I was in a tech class… I was playing [the euphonium] and I ended up liking it. I told my prof John Huntoon that I wanted to play it, ‘cause he plays it. And he told me to go for it,” Brown says. The faculty at AU have helped Brown realize that he has an amazing opportunity for performance. “They really made me see that I may have a shot with this career. I never really thought about it much until I came here. But they say, ‘Antoine, if you want to do it, you can do it,” Brown says.
That attitude has driven Brown to succeed on another level—solo performance. Working with Orangehaus records, Brown is preparing to release his second album, Another Level. For this album, Brown is featuring songs you can get up and dance to. “[My first album] was deep and soulful. I tried a crack at that. But I gotta do me. ‘Soulful’ is me, but this is even more me, you know, just having fun,” Brown explains. His work with Oranghaus promises to produce some very polished sounds that he hopes will compete well at the annual Orangehaus Showcase which awards winners with a recording contract.
Although he has made a name for himself on campus for his musical skills, Brown aspires to much more. He is currently raising money through concerts to expand his horizons and perform with Chorale in Europe this summer. But his vision is even bigger than that. “My goal is one day to try to get onto Broadway. I know that it’s very hard. I just want to try just to say, ‘I tried,’” Brown says. With all the personal drive he’s acquired through the support of the AU community, perhaps one day his own legendary dream will come true: “I want to have a lead on Broadway. And have huge reviews, good reviews. I want to have a career in music. I want to have my album out and be driving down the street one day, listening to the radio, and have it on the top ten. And then they’d say, ‘You’re number one!’ And I’d be like, ‘That’s me!’ That would be like the best thing ever!” Brown’s enthusiasm and courage will no doubt lead him far beyond the stars of Anderson, and hopefully his preparation here at AU will be the springboard he needs to leap into his own dreams, the stuff of legends.
