Houghton College Choir, the premiere choir ensemble on campus, will tour over February Break. The tour’s theme will recognize the introduction of congregational singing, which was popularized with the start of the Reformation. It will include church music in some capacity, including the hymns and spirituals “A Mighty Fortress,” “Praise to the Lord,” “Down in the River to Pray,” and “Soon It Will Be Done.”
Conductor Daniel Black commented for a tour press release that “This year’s program flows from the belief that our chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. The pieces we will present are organized around characteristics of God, the ways he intervenes to rescue us from our sin, and the privilege we enjoy of being able to worship him.”
“The first performance is always the most scary because at this point we’ve been working on 17 pieces since the beginning of the school year to take on the road, so now it’s like ‘Are you fully memorized? Have you done everything that you’ve been asked to do individually?’ and the performance the first night gets a lot of your nerves out,” said Carolynne Waddington ‘19, a choir member. She reflected, “That’s one of my favorite parts, because after that you’re like, ‘I’ve done this; I can do better because I’m not freaking out about not doing it.’”
Along the way, the choir will also visit Christian high schools to introduce students to Houghton’s music program. Waddington explained that the promotion effectively inspired students to come to Houghton and try out for College Choir. The group is by audition only, and all students must be at least sophomores to participate.
As a sophomore, Bethany Overbaugh will be touring with College Choir for the first time this year. She was excited for the time to bond as a group, pointing out the long bus ride and standing close together on risers as clear bonding opportunities. She cited rising inside jokes as an advantage of the trip. “Choir hashtags are a thing, so look out for that,” she said, before naming some of her favorites: “takethatlights,” “thanksmaurice,” and “#sinners,sinners,sinners.”
Both Waddington and Overbaugh named the opportunity for group bonding as a highlight of the trip. While the prospect of traveling on a bus for so long was less exciting, they looked forward to gathering a large number of music students together.
One of the expected sources of fun was in what would come of those assigned to “Entertainment” on the trip. After being sorted into different crews to perform tasks for the trip, some student groups will be responsible for providing entertainment in the form of silly updates on topics like “Weather” and “Celebrity Gossip.”
Other tasks include setting up, cleaning up, and checking the space. Waddington explained that it will be important to test out each new space they visit, as it will affect the situating of the risers, the placement of the chamber orchestra, and the way Dr. Black will conduct the performances.
Waddington summarized the trip as “Fifty people on a bus for a week, performing all of this music for the glory of God.”