Inheritance of Praise Global Productions (IOPraise)
On this edition of the Artist Spotlight, I spoke with Marian and Manuel Swingler a mother-son duo that own a vocal production company called Inheritance of Praise (IOPraise). Beginning in May 2018, IOPraise takes part in vocal performance, conduct vocal lessons online and musical production with goals to contribute in ventures involved in forms of art beyond music such as painting and dancing among others. They are currently working with music producer AJ Throwback co-producing an EP for Maryland singer Queen Omara (@ArAmOofficial n Twitter and @aroma_music_ on Instagram). They also make videos for their church’s music department with Manuel taking on the task of putting the film together and editing the videos.
On top of everything they are doing in music and otherwise, Marian is a full-time Government worker while Manuel is a student at North Carolina A&T State University in his final year studying Engineering. Manuel and Marian are not the only creative members of the Swingley family as Marian’s sister is a clothing designer and is collaborating with IOPraise on a new line of apparel including t-shirts, tights, masks, bags, mugs, etc. Meanwhile, Marian’s daughter paints (a shock to Marian the first time she found out) and has a portrait she painted displayed on a wall in her house.
With all that Manuel and Marian do, it is possible that one responsibility can be given priority over others or even worse one could procrastinate all tasks. Marian spoke on how she keeps from giving one responsibility too much attention starting off by saying God is first and her responsibilities as a mother follows. Marian went on to talk about the importance of scheduling how she puts each task gets its own block of time saying, “be mindful of your time, be respectful of other people’s time” and that God gave her the wisdom she needed on how to manage all the tasks she was taking on. Manuel spoke on how he deals with potential procrastination making the connection to when he has an assignment due in school he does it as soon as possible to prevent having to rush doing it later.
On the topic of artistic expression, Marian spoke about how we are all still learning our gifts and that we should “do what feels natural, what brings you joy.” She urged people “our gifts are endless and how we express them are endless” that we should start today but that we should not “look for perfection.” For people looking to start a career in the art industry, Manuel advises that they “hone in on what it is they want to do.” He explains that knowing exactly what a person wants to do helps identify who/where they should get help from. He gives examples that people who want to draw need to see different pieces of art from different perspectives and learn what message each artist is trying to convey. Marian added by saying that “you have to be a sponge” and that “you need to be teachable.”
As it pertains to their vocal lessons, Manuel described them as “customized” saying that they ask artists what they want to work on, the artists will be asked to bring songs that they will sing and be critiqued on what they should work on. He gave an example that if a singer came into a lesson saying they wanted to work on their breathing, they have exercises in place to work on breathing. However, if Manuel or Marian feel that a singer should work on annunciation, they will have them do exercises to work on that as well. They work with more than just singers they have also worked with rappers and saxophone players in a wide range of genres beyond just gospel and R&B. Marian added that they are willing to work with anyone in any genre as long as its “building up, going to love” and that they like working with artists that “honor God, honor other people and honor ourselves (IOPraise).”
On the topic of artistic expression, Marian spoke about how we are all still learning our gifts and that we should “do what feels natural, what brings you joy.” She urges people that “our gifts are endless and how we express them are endless”. We should start today but not “look for perfection.” For people looking to start a career in the arts industry, Manuel advises that they “hone in on what it is they want to do.” He explains that knowing exactly what a person wants to do helps identify who/where they should get help from. He gives examples that people who want to draw need to see different pieces of art from different perspectives and learn what message each artist is trying to convey. Marian added by saying that “you have to be a sponge” and that “you need to be teachable.”
Manuel and Marian have a long list of musical influences with Manuel’s list including Marvin Sapp, Fred Hammond (one of my personal favorites), Al Green, Gibeon, Frank Ocean, Tyler the Creator, and Etta James. Marian’s list includes Kathleen Battle, Marian Anderson, Sarah Vaughan (whom she was afforded the opportunity to sing with at Blue’s Alley), Prince, Michael Jackson, and Cyndi Lauper.
For any aspiring artists interested in working with IOPraise, they can be found at their website iopraisegp.com and on Twitter/Instagram @IOPraiseGP.