BECOMING PART OF A CENTURIES-OLD TRADITION

Written by Josh Lawlor, Senior Music Performance Major and WJC Concert Choir member

On May 8th, just three days after final exams ended and two days after some of us graduated, the William Jewell College Concert Choir set out for a tour of England and Scotland. It's a tradition that has been going for years; we're the eighth choir from Jewell to tour 'across the pond,' but that certainly didn't stop us from being thrilled as the plane lifted off the runway.

Arriving at Harlaxton Manor-an elaborate mansion outside of Grantham in the English midlands-gave us our first glimpse of what was an exceptional living situation. (Very few hotels have historians giving tours of the rooms.) We had just a day to take in the shock of not only jetlag, but also the beauty of our new surroundings, because we plunged into singing on May 10th.

It was an intense trip, full of travel, performance and sightseeing, with concerts in Grantham, Ely, Coventry, Edinburgh, York, Lincoln, Stamford and Oxford-all in less than two weeks. In each of these cities, we also had some time to be tourist-y, snapping pictures of the beautiful cathedrals and buying souvenirs at quite literally two dollars per pound.

We stopped by Stratford-upon-Avon where an attempt to visit Shakespeare's grave at Holy Trinity Church proved unsuccessful for a curious reason: the BBC was recording a choral concert inside for a television broadcast. I happened to find the van outside which had a live feed from inside the church just as the spectacular choir started one of the Tallis anthems we were singing at each of our concerts! Dr. Epley, our choir conductor, felt validated.

Time spent at the end of the trip in London was exciting and eventful. Since I spent this past fall in Oxford, I stayed there seeing old friends and familiar places while the choir toured London. Everything really just flew by. . . well, everything except the coach ride to Scotland.

Some of my most memorable moments from this trip happened while wearing the big, shiny red dress-also known as a choir robe. Having already seen parts of England and being accustomed to immersion in other cultures, the performances became the most moving part of the trip for me. I'd toured places like this, but only sung in one of them during my previous time overseas. The cathedral performances were simply stunning for us, though it was sometimes difficult to gauge the emotional reactions of the audience. It tends to be difficult for Americans to interpret the British stiff upper lip.

What I do know is that we made choral music in buildings that are designed for two things: to inspire awe and to make choirs sound really great. It is so satisfying to finish singing a piece's final chord and then hear the very sound you produced ring out for the next few seconds; this effect is enhanced when the buildings are like English cathedrals. They are the birthplace of great choral literature; hundreds of composers have written music just to employ the acoustics in these spaces. England's cathedrals are where remarkable choirs sing, and we slipped into this tradition seamlessly. It was fun when we performed afternoon concerts and tourists stopped to listen, trying to sneak their cameras up to their eye and steal a shot. We laughed and wondered: "Do they know we're not British?"

The concert at Lincoln Cathedral was my favorite-it was the most appreciative audience, granting us an encore. Before the concert started, Dr. Epley said: "It is conceivable that William Byrd walked on these stones." And then we stood on them and sang an anthem written by Byrd more than 500 years ago. We can now say, thanks to this trip and the legacy of William Jewell, that we are a part of the centuries-old, world-famous English choral tradition.

To view photos from the tour, click here.