Choral Anniversary

This week I return to my college Alma Mater, and a former professorial post, Belmont University, to participate in the 40th Anniversary Celebration of the Belmont Chorale. During the weekend events, many of the accomplishments of the Chorale will be appropriately spotlighted, and we will get to hear the exciting work of Chorale conductor and well-known choral composer, Jeffery Ames. Three former conductors of the Chorale have been invited to conduct on the celebratory concert: the founder of the Chorale, and the ensemble's second and third conductors. I was the third conductor in its history, as the Director of Choral Activities at Belmont in the late 1990s.

 

Of all the admirable Chorale accomplishments to be mentioned publicly, the following items will likely not be listed, for appropriate reasons. However, for the record, I would like to list them: it was in this college chorus that as an undergraduate I met my wife, Jane; it was in this ensemble I was elected president of my first collegiate organization and received important formational leadership opportunities; it was in this choral organization I received my first college conducting podium experience; it was there I determined, through the influence of my conducting mentor, where I would attend graduate school; it was in this ensemble I learned my early foundation of choral literature including Palestrina, Bach, Handel, Brahms, Britten, Berger, and more; it was in this undergraduate ensemble I formed a network of choral colleagues that would remain in my professional network throughout my career, including Phil Mitchell, Beth Brown Shugart, Gary Kirksey, Sherrie Lawhon, Keith Guyton, Ellen Musick, Lisa Berry, Stuart Terry, Mary Beth George, and Wilma Messenger; it was in the Chorale I witnessed my first ACDA event; and it was in Chorale that I determined I wanted to spend my life as a choral conductor.

 

The collegiate choral ensemble and organization is a power personal learning community, as well as a professional incubator. I am very grateful for mine, which was another mentor in my career. It was not my first good chorus to be a part of, nor was it my last; but, it may have been the most influential.