Q&A with Brandon and Kristian Douglas

Interview by Terrell Manasco | Photos by Blakeney Clouse

Cousins Brandon and Kristian Douglas have been involved in music since they were growing up in Oakman, Alabama. Kristian is now a high school Spanish teacher in East Harlem, New York, and is the gospel choir director at Columbia University. 

 Brandon works for a company called CER, is a Dora volunteer firefighter, and is director of music at St. Matthew's Missionary Baptist Church in the community of Docena, Alabama.

 78: Did you grow up in a musical family? 

 BD: Everyone sang, but our grandfather, Milton Douglas, really spearheaded us to play musical instruments. He was the minister of music at the church we grew up in, New Bethel Baptist Church.

 78: Did you sing in a group, in church, etc.?

 BD: We both sang in the choir, but Kristian was the first to start playing music. He took lessons and played piano alongside our grandfather. I started off on drums when I was three or four years old. 

 Playing together with our grandfather on the organ, we started our own church band. I never took it as seriously as Kristian did. He started getting more outside of gospel music and playing other things. Seeing him do that, I started playing around with it. 

 When our grandfather was up in age, he said, 'Well, since both of y'all can play, I'm going to stop and give it to you.’ We started seriously when we were between eight and eleven. We took over the choir rehearsals and taught different parts of the songs. A lot of times, Kristian would teach me the music. I was still learning to play so I picked up everything by ear.

 78: Who are some of your biggest vocal influences? 

 KD: I ventured away from gospel music into classical. I took piano with Jane Hudson and went to undergrad on a piano scholarship. I really studied and looked up to Dr. Mattie Moss Clark, mother of the Clark Sisters. She is credited with developing the three-part harmony we hear in churches today—soprano, alto, tenor. That came out of the Church of God in Christ, or COGIC. 

 There are modern people we look up to, like Kirk Franklin and Hezekiah Walker. Now we’re in the praise and worship period with people like Jonathan McReynolds and Kierra Sheard.

 78: How are you currently involved in music?

 KD: I attended University of Alabama at Birmingham as a music major and was with the UAB Gospel Choir. I received my masters from Columbia University in New York. Now I’m doing a Ph.D. in Education, and I’m the gospel choir director at Columbia University.

 BD: I've been director of music at St. Matthew's Missionary Baptist Church in Docena going on seven years. I lead, I teach, and I’m in charge of choir rehearsals. That's been my role since Kristian and I were at First Baptist on Corona Avenue in high school.

 78: When did you get involved with the Columbia University Choir?

 KD: I moved from Alabama in 2015 and I was a member of the choir my first year. The director was a graduating Ph.D. student and asked me to take over in 2016.

 78: Do you ever sing in the car or in the shower?

 KD: I find myself singing all the time. Primarily, we deal with gospel music and gospel means "good news.” With all the social unrest and racial protests now, people want to hear good news. Every now and then I sing Near the Cross or By and By, When the Morning Comes, just to ground me in the work that I'm doing.

 78: If you could have dinner with a famous vocalist, who would it be?

KD: The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, and the Queen of Gospel Music, Albertina Walker. 

BD: I'd like to sit down with Cory Henry. He's based out of COGIC gospel music but has won GRAMMYs in jazz and orchestra. 

 78: What advice would you give someone who wants to pursue music?

 KD: Get in front of somebody who knows something, who can teach you and show you something. 

 BD: Just follow what you believe in. Follow your heart. When I started playing drums, I never thought I would ever touch a piano or organ. I tell Kristian, I amaze myself because I didn't have music teachers to teach me. You can never stop learning, you can never stop surprising yourself at what you can accomplish in music. 78