Meet Chris Crook

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Crook.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
As a child growing up in rural Mississippi, I was introduced to music through piano lessons and children’s choir at church. My musical journey continued through high school and into college, where I obtained an undergraduate degree in sacred music and a masters in choral conducting. Upon graduation from Baylor University, I was fortunate to receive a music director position in a large United Methodist church in Plano.

The next seventeen years were spent with those wonderful people, nearly 400 people of all ages were making music in choirs, orchestra, handbells, and even a music academy was formed. The job could not have been more rewarding. I was loved and appreciated, and I learned how to better love and appreciate others during my tenure there. Lifelong relationships were formed and deepened through the years. At some point, I began to get restless and sensed it was time for a change. In 2015, I resigned the church position and hit pause on my working life until I could better discern what was to come next. In that season of reflecting and listening, it became clear that the answer was not to simply move into another full-time position, but instead to be open to something new. I began to craft a new career direction that was an outgrowth of my experience at church. TriplePoint Music was born in 2016!

Please tell us about your art.
In addition to a rewarding part-time church music job and part-time choir director position in a Reform Jewish congregation, I also teach a handful of voice students and am the Owner and Creative Director of TriplePoint Music, LLC. TriplePoint resources professional musicians to events all across DFW. Throughout the past twenty years, I have built tremendous relationships with hundreds of local professional musicians and am thrilled to be in a position to put them to work in all kinds of venues. The company has provided dozens of solo performers, from harpists to guitarists to jazz singers and players, to the Dallas Arboretum and for weddings and corporate events.

I am most passionate about the work I do with families in planning and executing high-level musical experiences for funerals and memorial services of their loved ones. In 2018 alone, TriplePoint musicians will sing and play in more than 250 of these services. I serve as musical director for a half dozen funeral homes and am available to any family who realizes the value of live music and the power it brings to heal and aid in the grieving process. All of us have been to funerals where only recorded music is played or perhaps no music at all. We provide pianists and harpists for visitations and receptions, bagpipers for graveside services, and vocalists, pianists, string quartets, and guitarists for indoor and outdoor services. I get to know the families and listen to stories about their loved one then match the best music and musicians to the service. It is very personalized care, and I am always honored to be a part of celebrating and remembering the life of the one they loved. Pastoral care is a gift that I have been able to transfer from the church job to working with grieving families. I never take for granted the privilege of serving them in such difficult circumstances.

Given everything that is going on in the world today, do you think the role of artists has changed? How do local, national or international events and issues affect your art?
The world will always need great music to inspire us and to heal us. My hope is that I can remain open to offering whatever makes the biggest difference in people’s lives. I consider it a great privilege!

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
TriplePoint musicians are everywhere. It is likely that you have experienced their music at the arboretum or at a friend’s wedding or a memorial service. They are not necessarily identified by company attire or overt advertising. But I like to think that if you were especially moved or impressed by the work of exceptional musicians at a DFW-area event, they certainly could have been from TriplePoint!

Contact Info:

• Phone: 214-394-0351
• Email: triplepointmusicllc@gmail.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/triplepointmusicllc/

Image Credit:
Lisa Bul and Molly French

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