“I’ve always been interested in music,” Reverend Dennis Freeman recalls, “I guess I’ve always had the ears to listen and be open. I started playing when I was nearly five years old. I went to church and I heard a man sing ‘Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho’ and it just stuck in my ear.” Today, Rev. Freeman serves as the Artist in Residence at Witherspoon Presbyterian Church, a Minister of Music at Miracles and Blessings United Methodist Church, and the leader of a gospel choir at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Indianapolis. Rev. Freeman doesn’t just play hymns--he prays them. Music is an expression of his faith, hope, and ministry. “I don’t think there is any bad music,” he says, “I think that music comes from God.”
Sharing his lifetime of knowledge and experience with his apprentice Mark Duerson, Rev. Freeman has worked to ensure the continuation of his art and its important cultural history. A fellow music teacher from a later generation, Mark is also a classically trained pianist with a longstanding love of gospel. He respects Rev. Freeman’s talent for marrying technical skill, collaborative improvisation, and spiritual depth in his virtuosic gospel performances. Mark says, “This art takes maturity. It's not just about what you can do at the piano. It's the life lessons, how they make you feel; how you transfer your feelings to the art, to the music.”