California Lutheran University's Student Newspaper Since 1961

The Echo

California Lutheran University's Student Newspaper Since 1961

The Echo

California Lutheran University's Student Newspaper Since 1961

The Echo

    Traveling brings CLU choir closer together

    Traveling during spring break is normal. We play music and hang out with friends, work on tanning in preparation for summer,or simply bask in a series of late mornings with no obligation to put on pants.

    The CLU Master Chorale experiences an alternative spring break. They pack a statewide tour into seven days, cramming onto buses and trying not to forget the order of the program, even though theyโ€™ve been singing the same 90-minute set the entire week.

    Theyโ€™ll leave CLU long before the sun comes up on Friday morning, boarding a 6 a.m. flight from LAX to Colorado, where they will perform at different Lutheran churches around the state from March 23 through 29.

    Sophomore Nolan Monsibay, who first travelled with the CLU choir during the 2012 spring break tour, says that it gives CLU singers the opportunity to share music with people they might not otherwise meet in places they might not otherwise travel to.
    โ€œItโ€™s a way for CLU to become more well known and give the musicians in the choir a chance to perform in other venues,โ€ said Monsibay.

    The choir has been traveling nationally and internationally since CLU was founded. The tourโ€™s manager, Nicole Hovland, said that Wyant Morton, the current choir director, has a lot in store for the singers in the future, with trips to Germany and Austria planned for 2015.

    โ€œWe get to sing and make beautiful music, see pretty sights, and meet cool people,โ€ said junior Russell Fletcher.

    Fletcher and his peers are anticipating their trip, but Fletcher jokingly said he is a bit apprehensive about what could go wrong during those seven days.

    โ€œThe bus might break down, we might get food poisoning, we might be attacked by savage prairie dogs. No matter what happens, the group will definitely grow closer, and hopefully come away better than before the tour,โ€ said Fletcher.

    Each night, the choir will perform featuring an array of instrumentation and using a variety of mixed formations that put different vocal parts next to one another, putting the singersโ€™ abilities and hard work into practice. Monsibay said these challenges help studentsย  work with one another to ensure the accuracy of the music is pristine and appealing to the ear.

    โ€œBeing involved in choir is rewarding in the sense that all of us come from different backgrounds and are unified by the music we sing. The choir teaches us to listen to each other and also fosters new friendships,โ€ said Monsibay.

    The singers agree that the positive aspects of performing with a choir outweigh any negatives.

    Sophomore Natasha Boychenko is confident that whatever obstacle presents itself over the course of the week, the choir will work together to overcome it.

    โ€œYou have to get to know the people around you. You find people to admire, and then as you grow, some people admire you. Thereโ€™s just like a type of family sense in that,โ€ said Boychenko.

    Hour after hour, from buses to venues and back again, the choir will share all theyโ€™ve learned and will express the music that they love.

    Being around the same people all the time instills a sense of safety and reliability that is unique to being a member of a choir, said Boychenko.

    โ€œItโ€™s a good bonding experience for the choir. We really have to rely on each other. Itโ€™s even more intense than a team,โ€ said Boychenko.

    So while some of us spend our spring break lying in bed, complaining that weโ€™re bored after two days, the members of the CLU choir will be busy sharing music all over Colorado that theyโ€™ve worked tirelessly on.

     

    Christa Price
    Staff Writer
    Published March 20, 2013

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