Singers Tour 2011

I am a performer--I love tour. This year BYU Singers took us across Colorado and up to Cheyenne, Wyoming.

My favorite part of tour is speaking with the audience members. I love walking into the audience night after night and starting conversation with loving grandmothers, working businessmen, or the local teenagers. I love shaking hands with the dressed up six year olds who have just started violin. I love the audience members who know classical music and the choral art. I love those who have never heard music like this before. I discuss the parts of the program that were most moving. Often the little boys liked the more rowdy numbers and the fiddling.

One of my favorite new friends from the trip was Maggie. She lives with her mother at home and invited Karen and I to stay with them overnight. She was such a gracious hostess as well as a singer & actrice herself. Most often the neighboring stakes host the Singers, but in this case, Maggie was kind enough to offer us a place. Her favorite was 'Peace of Christ.' She told us that she was brought to tears during that number. We were able to stay up late and have deep conversations about things that really matter over macaroni and cheese.

It was thrilling to meet those who don't have much interaction with people of our faith in their homes, at school, and in the audiences. It was exciting to meet with high schools all over Colorado and work with them. Some might say that the art of choral singing is dying in today's society, but what we saw was quite the opposite. High School students were excited to work with us, were full of questions, and were impressed with the sound a collegiate level choir could produce. It's been six years since I was in High School, and we were still able to relate with one another and find commonalities.

I would not trade the time we spent on buses, waiting in high school cafeterias or stake centers, or in the sand dunes with the other stellar members of BYU Singers. I learned more about each Singer and was continually inspired. Needless to say, the whole tour was a success.

pics: 1. sightreading the accompaniment to our combined number, Littleton 2. performing in Sacred Heart Church, Alamosa 3. my best performance of Summersets with Dr. Staheli, Colorado State University. 4. 'Jinny' on the violin, Cheyenne 5. last concert in St Elizabeth's, Denver