By Emily Fox · Editor-in-Chief
Spring break has ended and the annual tour of the Grove City College Touring Choir has concluded, but the college has not run out of opportunities to hear the singers perform this semester.
The choir is hosting a concert in Harbison Chapel at 4 p.m. Saturday, and they’ll also be performing at President Lingo’s Inauguration March 19, the college’s 150th Anniversary Celebration at Carnegie Music Hall March 20 and at the senior baccalaureate service May 8.
While the choir anticipates a busy few upcoming weeks, they just got off a buzzing spring break on tour.
Last week, 49 choir members performed for churches in seven states, spreading the gospel through song as they traveled.
The choir started preparing for their tour during the early weeks of the fall semester, learning a total of 15 pieces and representing many time periods, genres and composers. What they all have in common though is that they offer praise to the Lord.
“We sing entirely sacred works each year for the purpose of glorifying God and sharing the truth of the gospel through song to the people that come to our concerts,” Touring Choir President Owen Hershberger said.
The choir has a tradition of including both a women’s piece and a men’s piece in their repertoire each year. This year, the women performed “Ubi Caritas” and the men sang “Hold Out Your Light.” Their first song of the second half of the concert is always a surround-sound selection. For this piece, the choir encompasses the congregation in a circle as they sing. This year’s surround-sound piece was called “The Lamb.” Touring Choir alumni are given the opportunity to sing with the choir again as they sing their closing song, “God Be in my Head.”
“Being part of Touring Choir has been a huge blessing to me during my time at college,” Hershberger said. “Choir tour has always been a time where I experience much spiritual growth because of the interactions I have with others, devotional times and pieces we sing. Because we are interacting with people every hour of tour, ample opportunities arise to show Christ’s love and learn ways in which we need to grow as followers of Christ.”
Performing on tour presents a new set of circumstances to which the singers must adapt. “Performing on tour is different than performing at GCC. Firstly, performing at GCC typically means you know many of the people in the audience. On tour, the vast majority are strangers, and you are pleasantly surprised to recognize fellow students (although they somehow appear at nearly every concert!). Secondly, performing at GCC means performing in familiar spaces. On tour, each space provides a new acoustic and often a new standing arrangement so we all fit on stage, both of which we can only adjust the day-of,” choir member Tim Heiser said.
Along with singing at churches, the choir also gets to explore a city mid-way through the tour. This year, the choir spent the day in Nashville. They visited iconic locations such as the Country Music Hall of Fame, Broadway Street and the Tennessee State Museum. They also enjoyed their fair share of side quests.
“A large group of us went to this hole-in-the-wall restaurant called Big Al’s, run by Big Al himself and his son out of his own home in the middle of a neighborhood. Because it was so small and there were 17 of us, we thought we’d have to split up, but they pulled out a folding table and set it outside on the sidewalk for us! It was such a nice day, and they had the best sweet tea I’ve ever tasted and the biggest portion sizes I’ve ever seen!” Heiser said.
As they experience the joys of traveling to new places, their ministry continues offstage in the communities and cities they visit.
“We have the opportunity to share the gospel through our singing, but I also heard multiple stories of people sharing the gospel and praying with their hosts or people they met on the street in Nashville and elsewhere,” Heiser said.
When the Touring Choir stops for a performance, members of the congregations they visit host them in their homes. Host families not only give the choir meals and a place to stay, but they also form a bond with the choir, trading stories and sharing their lives with them.
“One of my host families had a daughter whose job was to program pinball machines. They had five pinball machines in their basement (Jaws, King Kong, Terminator 2, an older baseball machine and a classic pinball machine with no paddles and no electricity), and we played with them for some time, as did our host parents!”
The choir has a special bond with their bus driver, Randy. He spends a lot of time with the choir on the bus, sings with them and makes sacrifices to support the group. This year, he gave up tickets to see Journey perform so that he could drive the choir on their tour.
“This year, Randy was unable to drive us back to the college after our final concert, so we wrote him a letter and sang him a thank you song. He teared up, which caused the rest of us to tear up, and then he sang for us, which left us in an emotional mess. Seeing our influence on him has had such an influence on us, revealing the power of music and God’s love to and among us spilling over to others,” Heiser said.
Going on a tour also means riding the bus. The choir passes the time through what they affectionately call “tourditions.” These include singing silly songs, telling each other stories about their experiences in their host homes, honoring members who did good deeds and daily devotionals. They are also given packets with coloring pages, a scavenger hunt and mad libs to entertain them during long drives.
