College Choir Tour 2012

As I prepared to go on tour, I knew that I would want to remember it. So, I decided to keep a journal as we went, since there would inevitably be things that I would forget otherwise. I have added some clarifications, since I wasn't always writing this to explain everything, but instead so I would remember the trip myself. Also, I have taken out most names for internet privacy reasons. Without further ado:

   1. 3/29/12, West Genessee High School, Fairmount, NY
Heard recital choir and chorale, both of which were quite unusually good for High School choirs (vowels, cutoffs, group discipline). Worked mostly on dynamics and phrasing.
   2. 3/29/12, Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, NY
Small chapel, priest was super nice and said it was the best choir they had ever had, and we connected very strongly spiritually. Standing-room only, and very enthusiastic audience with a large Sacred Honor Choir. {Sacred Honor Choir was when we had high school students come up and sing with us on the last two pieces of the program; we did this at most of our concerts.} 1st time run-through of the Bach {Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied} in concert - and they gave us an excellent potluck dinner! {Most of the churches gave us dinner; we would come, set up, have dinner, then give a concert.} :)
   3. 3/29/12, Homestay
Truly lovely couple and a beautiful home. Stayed with 5 other girls. They gave us lemon cookies and tea, and we stayed up talking about a range of topics. He is a psych prof in Syracuse [taught a Houghton professor!], and she was an elementary music teacher. Their house looked more than a little like something out of a magazine - all so perfect, but so tastefully done and we felt very put at ease.
   4. 3/30/12, Troy Music Hall, Troy, NY
Stunning acoustics, full floor and two balconies, and side balconies (reminding me of the Royal Opera in London!) So easy to be too loud; Dr. J {Dr. Johnson, our conductor} kept telling us to be quiet! Had pizza for dinner with a very nice group of SHC kids (one girl had the craziest laugh, like a dying duck, which made the rest of us laugh and we had a good time). The audience was small, but seemed to enjoy the concert and we just had a lot of fun glorifying God in a place where it was so easy to make a good sound! Sometimes we would finish a piece (the dramatic/loud endings) and the sound would hang, shimmering, in the air. Awesome!
   5. 3/30/12, Stay Inn [Hotel], Troy, NY
Pretty nice hotel, and the beds were comfortable, (most important thing!). We got in around 9:45, and I finished off my paper, submitted it, and went to bed. Slept in, then continental breakfast,  quick nature walk on a path another girl and I found, and we were back on the bus!
   6. 3/31/12, King of Grace Church, Haverhill, MA
Diner was potluck again, delicious as usual, and they made a nice cake that said "Welcome Houghton Choir", so that was nice. We had devos and the guy doing them was sharing about how much music meant to him and how the concert pieces were so deeply moving. We were all sitting around very quietly when a little kid came running in, rather loudly (and graphically) proclaiming his success in the lav. It made everybody laugh. The concert went very well, with the audience clapping the whole time we were filing in and out. The space was nice, too, with a wide open stage although the piano was back behind the choir so we had to fool a bit with sight lines for the songs we do with piano. They were super appreciative, with whistles, yells, and standing at intermission as well as at the end :) The only nightmares: 1 ladies toilet in the whole building, and taking the robe boxes up narrow, twisty stairs to the attic that was the ladies' dressing room.
   7. 3/31/12, Homestay
Stayed in New Hampshire, since it was so close to the boarder. Along the way we passed the  church that sent out the first missionaries from America. That was neat! They gave us tea and popcorn and banana bread, and we saw their pellet stove, which was cool. The not-cool (well, cold) part was that as a result when we shut our door at night it was so cold! I woke up freezing, and my throat was so cold. I had some tea and toast for breakfast, and one of the girls loaned me her scarf and I took a shower. But regardless, after going to bed at midnight, getting up at 6 feeling miserable was not so fun. Chugging tea and cough drops, and off again.
   8. 4/1/12, Greater Framingham Community Church, Framingham, MA
We arrived at 9:30 or so, unloaded quickly, robed, and met the pastor. He informed us that we would be up front the entire service, and would follow his directions. Dr. J nodded, and it was so. We filed up in formation, (never having seen the sanctuary!), and went into rows of chairs on the stage (aka "choir loft" - it was most emphatically not a choir loft!). From the music playing we confirmed that it was a black Pentecostal church (or something along those lines). There was an electronic organ (think rollerskating sound, the man playing it was quite good!), an electric bass, and drum set. There was also a men's choir that was pretty much getting right into the music, and the pastor directed us to sing along, clap, sway back and forth (what we call the "choral shuffle"), etc. The service was an interesting mix of what I would call Baptist preaching, Pentecostal singing, and High Church (Anglican or Catholic communion and liturgy (confession of faith, Lord's prayer, Apostle's Creed, Gloria Patri). The did have a "welcome" like I hadn't seen before; all first-time visitors they asked to stand up and give name, where you're from, and religious affiliation (if any). Up on the stage, all 70 of us stood up, along with random people in the congregation (Houghton PR crew, some parents of choir people, etc.) They passed a microphone around and it took quite a long time. Then the pastor turned around and saw the choir standing there and just kind of laughed and skipped us. We sang a couple spirituals as a part of the service and even while we were singing the audience was standing up, singing along, clapping to the music, etc. It was good practice focusing on the conductor and staying together ^_^ After we finished, though, the pastor said 'Amen' a dozen or so times, then laughed and said "we saw those purple robes [our choir robes] and were wondering if you could actually sing. But you can sing!!!" That was nice =)
   9. 4/1/12, Concert at GFCC
We had lunch (bean chili, spaghetti, meatball sandwiches, over-sized sub sandwiches, cookies, cake, etc). It was quite good, and afterwards we had a few minutes of free time, then some quick formations/testing out the space, devos, (where the guy doing devos made some good Palm Sunday points on praise), and we were on! The concert went well; on account of the audience we only did the first section of the Bach, but all our spirituals, etc. The liked us a lot, and we got rave reviews after the concert.
   10. 4/1/12, Homestay
Stayed with a very nice lady and her just-16-year-old son; her husband was in Arizona with 17 other guys from the church, golfing for 4 days. Their house was jaw-droppingly posh, but they were super nice. We went out to dinner at a place called Legal's, where I ate (on recommendation) a cup of clam chowder and also grilled salmon. I'm quite certain it is the best fish I've ever had! But it's Boston; that is to be expected! :) Went to bed early, since we were exhausted. She is actually from the deep South, so for breakfast we had grits, eggs, bacon, and sausage - along with Greek yogurt, fruit, coffee, orange juice, etc. We dropped the boy off at his school, then were dropped off at the church. We were early, but just hung out at the church.
   11. 4/2/12, Boston Trinity Academy, Boston, MA
Day of utmost insanity! My voice was quite tired, so I talked as little as possible. Worked on my Arabic on the bus, and we stopped at a school along the way to sing. We got stuck in traffic getting into Boston and were running late, so Dr. J had us do our warm-ups on the bus. When we stopped, we were instructed to leave everything on the bus and run in. So we jogged/ran across the grass and into the school, where there was a 'relay' of teachers who took our coats/waterbottles and directed us. We kept running right into the auditorium with Dr. J telling us as we went what formation to get into on stage. It was apparent that instead of the usual masterclass, we would just be doing some singing. We filed right up onto the stage; the room was already full of students and as we started in, they started cheering and clapping. We sang Witness (one of our spirituals), then Ehre Sei Gott (in German), the latter half of Idumea (early American, and the stomps were lots of fun on the hollow wooden stage - plus, all the girls were wearing our flats, not slippers!), and Give Me Jesus. For the last, Dr. J invited the students who sang with us in Haverhill as a part of the SHC to come up, so they did and that was fun. Then the bell rang, the students all left quickly, and we were directed to the bathrooms and handed bottled water, then hustled back out onto the bus. Turnaround time? About half an hour :O
   12. 4/2/12, Calvary Baptist Church, Easton, PA
Lunch was a half-hour stop at some mall, the food court of which consisted of 7 options - one of which was closed, and three of which were Asian (and all were basically the same). I really just wanted tea, but couldn't find any, so got gingerale instead. Arrived at the church around 4 pm, so it had been a 7-hour or so drive that day. We were all pretty tired, but unloaded, and did some warmups/our standard figuring out of formations and testing the space. They fed us chicken, beans, boiled potatoes, salad, and amazing rolls! There also was a huge dessert table. Between prep and dinner we had a little time off: Quote of the day goes to Dr. J - "Okay, you can go now. For the next 7 minutes I won't manage every detail of your life." :D I thought the concert went decently, although the audience felt kind of meh. Coming after churches that so warmly welcomed and loved us it was a reminder that we need to always do our best, and that we're singing for God's glory, not so we can get appreciation from the audience. The awkward part was driving back with our hosts (who actually were perfectly nice, don't misunderstand!) and he went on a 5-minute exposition of the virtues of the auditorium, how it was specially built for music/sound, the floating clouds adjusted just so, etc. My roommate and I just kept mum, because it was by a long shot the worst place we have sung in to date for sound - kind of like shouting into a black hole. We couldn't hear anything, and the whole space felt dead. But like I said, our hosts were very friendly and we chatted for a bit, then headed off for some sleep.
   13. 4/3/12, Philadelphia, PA
Had my 21st birthday in Philly! Got back to the church early, so we hung out in the choir room, looked at their music, practiced the Bach melismas, told stories, and generally hung out in a very choir-ish fashion while waiting for everyone else to show up. Voice-being-tired is now more like I-have-a-cold; my voice doesn't hurt so much, but the whole coughing/sneezing/continually blowing my nose is not so fun! Anyway, we got to Philly, and the buses dropped us off for a few hours of free time. We walked around and looked at the Liberty Bell (from the outside), and wandered down South street. We had heard that a good place to get cheesesteaks down there was a place called "Jim's", so we found it and 16  of us crowded in line (it's a small place!). The guys working there were super friendly, and asked if we were on a field trip ... um .. haha? We told them we were with a college choir, at which they told us to sing something! We had a good mix of people, so we sang Witness, and they loved it. Then we got our cheesesteaks and went upstairs to eat. While we were eating my choir friends sang Happy Birthday, which was sweet of them :) Then we went exploring, bought ice cream, funnel cakes, and fresh-squeezed orangeade (not all of us buying each thing!), saw the tomb of the unknown soldier, posed for crazy pictures, and sat in the sun in a park. it was all rather fun, and we met up again with the buses and drove to the church.
   14. 4/3/12, Church of the Holy Trinity, Rittenhouse Square
The trick with the church was unloading; there was no parking and the buses had to simply stop on the street. We had been given orders on the way over, and when we stopped the crews jumped off, we yanked everything (luggage and concert equipment) off both buses, and they were off again within a minute or two. It was quite impressive, and we hustled everything inside so it would be off the street. Then we had the standard formations, set-up, dinner, robing, concert call, etc. By now I was blowing my nose a couple times a minute, and seriously considering sitting out of the concert. But I really didn't want to; it was one of those gorgeous old churches, and I had really been looking forward to that concert. So I just prayed that I wouldn't have to cough/sneeze/blow nose during that time and for the next hour and 35 minutes - the time from when we lined up for the concert until I got back to the dressing room - I was fine. Praise God! :)
   15. 4/3/12, Hampton Inn, Philadelphia, PA
I did crash. After pushing all day, I finally had to admit how absolutely awful I felt. Took some cold meds, had some tea, and tried not to focus on being miserable (which I think I failed at). To be truthful, I pulled the blankets over my head and cried. The girls I was staying with are wonderful and came to the rescue; hugs and kind words make a world of difference and I fell asleep. Woke up and fever had broken; I felt utterly wiped out, but on the mend and my head was clearer. had a shower and quick breakfast, then shoved everything back on the bus (the situation was the same as at the church, except the street was bigger!) and we were off again.
   16. 4/4/12, Hilltown Baptist Church, Chalfont, PA
Well, the "Hill" part makes perfect sense; I don't know where the "town" came from! We drove out of the city, down a highway, into a small town, then out of the town, into the country, then very rural country ... then pastures, woods, farms, a lake, one-lane roads, big hills, etc. until we were wondering if maybe we were lost (and by we I mean choir people, not the bus driver). however, we finally pulled up at a church which was actually pretty good-sized, and we unloaded with plenty of room (and grass!) all around. It was still morning, and we had a rehearsal to learn the music we'll be singing for a special Easter service. Then we went across the road to a arm/country store/sandwich place and got lunch, then more rehearsal. We ended up with some free time and were pretty much told not to talk, but to take a nap. I was really dragging, and did go outside in the grass for a nap. The concert was a bit sentimental; the last full concert of the trip [by which I mean Dr. J told us that we wouldn't be singing the Bach again] =( But it went well, and the acoustics were pretty good.
   17. 4/4/12, Homestay
We stayed with a retired couple who had been missionaries in the Philippines for 35 years. We heard a lot about their kids and grandkids, and they had us sign their guestbook. She was also a Houghton grad, and we talked about the changes that have taken place in the last 40-some years. They also asked us how they could pray for us. It was a wonderful homestay, and she dropped us off with time to spare at the church.
   18. 4/5/12, Hawthorne Christian Academy, NJ
We headed out for NYC, and on the way stopped at another school. Here we met with their choir, plus a homeschooled choir. After we sang and Dr. J did some masterclass work we had a quick snack, then did some more singing.
   19. 4/5/12, NYC
As we drove into NYC, Dr. J did some tour-guide/info talking. We arrived at Calvary Baptist Church/the Salisbury Hotel on 57th Street, Manhattan, and did another super fast unload onto the street and into the hotel. When we were settled in, one of my roommates and I headed off to Central Park. We wandered around and had snacks, then back to the hotel. We dressed up, then headed off for the Metropolitan Opera to see Verdi's "Macbeth". Afterwards, several of us walked down to see Times Square at night. It was quite stunning, and on the way back we stopped at a street vendor and got falafel. We also got stopped by a guy who declared how much he loved each of us and the whole world, and proceeded to rather awkwardly hug us before walking on. We got back and collapsed tiredly. :)
   20. 4/6/12, Day in NYC
We had call at 9:30 the next morning, to work on the Masagcali. While we were there we did our formation work, too, and Dr. J pushed our call time back so that we had pretty much all day off! By the time I got out of rehearsal it was a little after 11. Had lunch with two choir friends (pizza at a little Italian shop!), and we decided to wander up to the Metropolitan Museum of Art through Central Park with others. We looked around, and after awhile everyone except one other girl had gone back. We agreed to split up, since she wanted to see some Dutch masters and I was more interested in British and French. Ended up seeing somevery wonderful paintings and having a lovely time.
   21. 4/6/12, Calvery Baptist Church, NYC
I was on for helping with lights, so got back to the church around 4:15. We did set-up until dinner at 5:30, then dinner and a quick change, devos, and we were on! We hadn't really known what the Good Friday service would be like as far as structure, but it turns out that they pretty much wanted us to sing our concert and the pastor gave a pretty short, direct message that was very good. They loved us, and I found it to be a deeply meaningful service. Partly getting over my sickness and feeling human again, partly the significance of Good Friday, partly just knowing the material well and working well as a choir, partly a full house and engaged audience, but it rated as my favorite concert. (I can say that since it's our last concert, so I know for all of tour now.) The only real downside of the evening was having only me and one other guy on robe crew come to haul the robe boxes to the storage room. Plus, there were only two elevators for the entire hotel, and they were finicky and wouldn't come. So we and two other [nice, helpful, wonderful, kind] guys [who volunteered] from the choir carried all six boxes down 3 flights of stairs. It was very tiring!
   22. 4/7/12, St. Joseph's Cathedral, Hartford, CT
The next morning we were up early and off again! Heading out of Manhattan we hit 2 red lights just as we were leaving the hotel, but other than that we didn't get a singe one the whole way off the island! We made it from central Manhattan to the highway in about 5 minutes. I feel like that might be some kind of record! We arrived at the church without difficulty, and quickly hauled equipment in and were handed programs for Holy Saturday service, Easter concert, and Easter service - plus a packet of music, which were were informed we would be singing! *Blink* ... well, so in the next few hours we [kind of] learned everything we needed to sing for the 2-hour mass that night, an hour concert the next day, and another hour mass. [Note that we do not sing that whole time, that's just how long the services were.] We had a quick lunch somewhere in there, but otherwise rehearsal until 2 pm.
   23. 4/7/12, Hotel, Hilton/Garden Inn
We went to our hotel under quite strict orders to be quiet! Take a nap, read a book, etc. I took advantage of the free wifi to check emails, then watched youtube clips of college students doing standup comedy and tried not to laugh too loudly :)
   24. 4/7/12, Holy Saturday Mass, St. Joseph's
New experience as a part of college choir: sightreading music at a performance/having music during a performance! Since we sing all our concerts memorized, it was very strange to not be very familiar with all the music! As far as the service itself, it was at 8 pm although it was the service I would think of as being the midnight service - starting in darkness, reading the story of the crucifixion, then lighting candles, lights, bells, and finally "alleluia". [For anyone not familiar with non-protestant tradition, it should be noted that during the season of Lent {40 days before Easter} the word 'alleluia' is withheld from the service as a part of the anticipation for and rejoicing of Easter.]
  25. 4/7/12, back at the hotel
We left the church around 10:15 pm, and 4 of us decided to get pizza, since we hadn't had dinner. We ordered some to be delivered to the hotel, and it came around 11:45. In the meantime and while we were eating someone turned the TV on, so we were watching the cooking channel and commenting on the good or negative things we thought about the food people were making. Around 12:30 we wrapped it up, having had a couple more people come and help with the pizzas/comment on the cooking channel. The next morning breakfast was not included with the hotel stay, so I had the leftover piece of pizza for breakfast out on the patio and enjoyed the sunrise/early morning since it was a lovely one. Made coffee to go, and it was back on the bus again!
   26. 4/8/12, St. Joseph's, Easter morning
We had a concert at 10, then mass at 11. [And by 'we', I mean us as college choir, the cathedral choir and cathedral brass, Soli Deo Gloria orchestra, and the church organist. A note about the organist: he is from Argentina, and has his PhD or something in organ playing, basically his expression looked like 'let me have some fun improvising on a ~ 3,000 pipe organ for an Easter service - BANG!' He was phenomenal, and a treat both to watch and to listen to! :D] The mass was considerably shorter (only about an hour) since there weren't any baptisms or confirmations like there were Saturday. We packed up quickly, and a few of our organ people from HC who are in choir got to play the organ! The organist was also very nice, and after the service thanked us for coming and told us that it was the best Easter service he'd had in his 15 years as organist there!
   27. 4/8/12, Bus ride/home
So, we all got on the bus for the long drive from Hartford, CT, to Houghton, NY. The good part was being with friends, and we did have a lot of fun. However, when we saw the sign welcoming us to Houghton, there may or may not have been - okay, there was - some very excited cheering! We thanked Dave, our awesome bus driver, did a pretty much record-breaking unload (although not because we were holding up traffic, this time!) and headed of to crash after our adventure. Since the dorms don't open until Monday, I'm staying with one of my friends/fellow choir alto since she lives off campus and can get into her apartment.

Fine. SDG 


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Well, there you have it! If you really did read the whole thing, I a) am very impressed with your fortitude, and b) hope you enjoyed it!

Here are a few things that didn't really fit anywhere else:

- "Your zeal to close the consonant borders on the humorous" - Dr. J
- Telling someone that 'you're the sparkle in my champaigne' is way funnier than it should be when everyone is overtired
- Cold meds + exhaustion + coffee = everything is much funnier than it actually is
- "Veggies prefer a short commute" - on the side of a truck, advertising local produce
- (regarding a cemetery) - "People are just dying to get in there" - anonymous
- "Oh, look. It's a big bell with a crack in it" - unnamed choir man, sounding like Riley on National Treasure and referring to the Liberty Bell
- "I could go for some Ecstasy right now. Quiet bus become the high bus" - choir man (also, this is totally in context!)
- "The penultimate bar, on beat 9, you get to go baaaahhhhh!!!" Dr. J
- For general information, the Bach motet we sang (memorized, of course) was 92 pages long :)
- choir tour was awesome and I would totally do it again and am so looking forward to next year!!!!!!!!!