Never Give Up! Dare to Achieve! Dream to Dream! There is No Success Without Hardship.
The usual signs you might expect to see in an athletic locker room, right? Close, but these signs actually decorate the corrugated walls of Music Building B, which Bruce Lesley, choral director, affectionately likens to an airplane hangar.
Some would argue that it doesn’t resemble a building at all.
“The choir building is more like a few walls held together by a tin roof,” said senior Chamber Singers member John Talbert.
Inside, members of the four singing groups are preparing for their annual fall concert.
The Concert Choir, Chamber Singers, Women’s Chorale and the newest group, the Men of Maroon and White will perform. About 135 students make up the four groups.
The concert will be held Monday in the Union Ballroom at 7:30 p.m. It will feature general choral repertoire including Renaissance to contemporary Christian, Lesley said.
The students are excited about the event.
“The concert is gonna rock your socks off,” said senior Concert Choir member Jennifer Bell.
Even with 25 years of music teaching experience Lesley is enamored with this year’s crop of vocalists.
“This is one of the best concerts that I have ever conducted,” Lesley said. “These students sing with sensitivity, expression and are artists in every sense of the word.”
The choral director said he would like to encourage the student body to support their fellow classmates and the work they have put in.
It’s always nice to see a full house, he said.
“You won’t be able to hear music this good without extensive traveling,”
Lesley said, “And once in a blue moon will you experience it for free.”