March 21, 2011

Choir Tour 2011: Monday, March 21

The Choir travels to Tacoma, WA
Today began early! Our fabulous Seattle home-stays dropped us off at 7:45 and we stumbled onto the bus. Thankfully, the bus was pretty snazzy and very comfortable for napping. With everyone back together, we had a quiet (except for some snoring) bus ride south to Tacoma.
I woke up about an hour later just as we were coming into the city, feeling much more alert and excited.
Our first stop was at Curtis Senior High School where we sang for, listened to, and chatted with two of their choir classes. It was great to sing for them, but even better to hear the Curtis choirs, who are really doing great work. Their A Cappella Choir performed some very cool pieces from around the world, and their Men’s Choir gave a fabulous rendition of the Backstreet Boys’ I Want it That Way complete with the slide – apparently a special (and now infamous) command performance.

When the bell rang (it was interesting being back in a high school setting – a very different feel from the LC vibe), we left Curtis and drove to Skyline Presbyterian Church in Tacoma, where our concert would be that night. As we turned the last corner and saw the church, everybody noticed that they had put our concert announcement up on their reader board! Right out on the street, it announced the Lewis & Clark College Choir singing that evening. We felt welcomed and excited before we even went inside. Once we got situated, we rehearsed for a while in the beautiful sanctuary and then had a delicious dinner provided by our Skyline hosts.

The concert that evening was, in my opinion, our best performance of the tour. The space was lovely, we already had the experience of the Seattle concert under our belts, and our singing had a special kind of focus and intention that only comes from love for the music, love for our director, and love for each other (coupled with a thorough knowledge of the pieces and a lot of hard work!). We had a great audience of alumni, friends, family, and community members. That concert was particularly special for me because some very dear friends from Tacoma came to see me perform!
After the concert we had a nice reception and then scattered to our generous Tacoma homestays. I stayed that night with my friends who came to the concert, which was hugely fun. I got to catch up with them and play with their three adorable kids, and then crashed in bed after the long day. As tired as we all were, everybody was getting excited for our trip up to Vancouver, BC the next day!
Leslie Simmons, Alto
Music Major, Class of 2013