38 Days on the Road

Concert tours are a relatively common event in the life of a college choir.  The litany is familiar to many of us – long rides in a motor coach, pot-luck suppers in a church basement, warm receptions from concert audiences full of smiling alumni, and a welcome to a host home to end the day.  Tours, usually the highlight of the choir’s season, last a week or two.

 

Imagine, if you can, a 38-day concert tour.

 

That’s what 40 members of the University Singers from Ohio Northern University are starting today – a singing sojourn across the U.S. that will take them through 19 states as they perform 33 concerts in five-and-a-half weeks on the road.

 

“They will see more of the country in these five weeks than they are likely to see for the rest of their lives,” said ONU’s choral director, Ben Ayling.  “We know this remarkable trip will elevate our program to new heights.  I’m looking forward to playing ‘Santa Claus’ every day as we share great music all over the country.”

 

Though luxuries are few aboard a motor coach trundling down the interstate, there is one notable modification being made to the ONU choir’s rolling home-away-from-home:  four seats are being removed and a keyboard installed so that students can practice on the road.