California Here I come! 1978 MYSC Trip

So, in keeping with my going-along-for-the-ride with my lovely wife in her choir activities, I really got to go along with her as Mormon Youth traveled to California to sing at Disney Land and The Hollywood Bowl. It was a great trip filled with music and some mayhem. We travelled on chartered buses in the hottest part of the summer. Our bus, the one with hamsters & a wheel for an engine, would pretty much shut down when it over-heated, and it always over-heated. That meant that someone had to push the override switch. But it always had to be pushed so someone had to sit/stand/kneel next to the driver where the switch was so the driver could actually drive.

Our first stop was a chapel on the outskirts of Las Vegas, where we stopped for food. There were more than 300 and their spouses. We were so many, and it was 115 in the shade! Enough said!

On to Disneyland, where MYSC sang in the Space Mountain Amphitheater, which became Space Mountain the Ride. We also got and E-Ticket pass. I liked the music best! They sang many of the Disney Greats.

We were lucky enough to stay with LDS Member Families. There was a drought at the time and people were painting their lawns in the nicer neighborhoods to keep them green (I guess it was more of a food coloring than a paint)!

MYSC performed at the Hollywood Bowl, to a packed house. Elder Paul Dunn was the keynote speaker and members were asked to bring non-members as admission.

The return trip went without a snag. On the way back we stopped in downtown Las Vegas, and my wife set foot in her first casino ever! We were on a lunch break and in the middle of the day only the very addicted were in the casino we wandered into. This was long before non-smoking regulations. The haze was thick, but not thick enough to hide the people, mostly women it seemed, with one hand on their drink and one hand on the slot machine, a cigarette barely hanging on to one side of the mouth. No need to worry about my wife wanting to be a gambler after seeing this.

We made great friends, MYSC made great music, and memories worth sharing to this day.

Helping with an Emmy Award Winning Choir Special

Okay, so by now you know that my wife, an accomplished musician, was a member of The Mormon Youth Symphony & Chorus. I attended rehearsals and performances. But for this they needed a volunteer to do the grunt work that other grunt workers refused to do. The Special was called "A Christmas World". It featured Christmas songs from around the word and the Choir. The LDS Church produced it, but the real genius was Robert Bowden, the Choirs Music Director and Conductor. He was a gem. The special was filmed in the winter at several locales around Utah, famous for the "Greatest Snow on Earth". I moved track, cable, fetched hot chocolate. My contribution was miniscule, but I got a chance to help with what turned out to be an Emmy Award Winner!

Going to Rehearsals without Rehearsing 1976-82

Without singing, choir was still a big part of my life. My lovely musician-wife rehearsed every Saturday in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square, as a member of Mormon Youth Chorus. As a show of support and because we lived only 10 minutes away, I went to her rehearsals most every week. I would sit in empty hall and wait for it to be filled with rich choral sounds both modern and classic. I would also listen to the visitors from the the regular tours, agast that young people would dedicate themselves to such a cause, and at once saying that people would PAY hunreds of dollars to join such a choir. My wife was blessed to have this opportunity, and as a non-performing Choir Geek, I was blessed as well.

Marrying A Musician - 1976

I didn't know it then, but I had fallen in love with a kindred Choir Geek. I didn't know because I didn't know I was a Geek-In-Waiting. But my lovely fiance' sang in a choir with some of my friends AND MOVED TO SALT LAKE to become a member of Mormon Youth Chorus. In addition to which she played the piano excellently. It turns out my mother-in-law-to-be acompanied Joanne Ottley, famed soloist, as she performed around the mountain west.

Choir in College 1972-73

I didn't actually sing in a college choir, but wish I had the talent and knowledge to have done so. But my exposure to choir and choral music continued. In high school I took what was known as a CLEP test to get out of my General Ed. classes at the University of Utah. Unfortunately, those were some of the best, so I took them anyway, wasting most of a my freshman year. One class I don't regret was Music 101, Music Appreciation. The instructor was Jay Welch. One of the most interesting, if not THE most interesting professors I have ever met. He described classical music and the composers in a way unknown to me before. He was also the founding conductor of Mormon Youth, and conducted the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Needless to say he had the creds to deach me Music 101! I can still picture him at the piano talking about Bach or Beethoven or Lizst, and playing like he had composed it himself. Another great aspect was that my homework was listening to music! We would go over to the Marriot Library, check-out an album and headphones and rock to the masters! Later I would sing in a concert called Music 101!

A Class All Our Own - Music Appreciation 1972

To finish off my High School Music activities, myself and 3 others, who hated our first periods, found out that the District allowed students to create a curriculum if they could write the details, find a teacher with a free class to supervise, afree classroom and meet some other requirements. What we did was create a Music Appreciation Class. I was able to convince the Choir teacher, who had the period free and whose class room had a super audio system. What we did was leave Business Law & Physics and play rock & roll albums for an entire period. The teacher didn't mind because he had a sound proofed office. We really did appreciate music-Chicago, The Doors, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Iron Butterfly and any vinyl we wanted.

My Foray into Arranging Music-1972

My school had A Capella and Madrigal Choirs. I was only in A Capella. My choir teacher while good, still had much of the "Elevator Music" generation in him. He came upon an arrangement of "Peace Train" that I felt butchered Cat Stevens song. He chose this as the number the Madrigals would perform at our graduation. I couldn't let that happen! We were Woodstock and this arrangement was Elevator! I took a copy of the music and started making copies. Cutting and pasting. No Computers, barely a Xerox and me with no knowlege of arranging. But I cut and pasted then re-Xeroxed, had the choir accompanist check and re-check. After what seemed like an eternity, I restored the work to something I felt Cat Stevens would approve of for SATB. The Madrigals used my arrangement, and the conductor allowed me to sing with them at my graduation in return for my efforts.

In High School-A Capella 1971-72

I tried out to be in A Capella and made it. Our instructor was a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and I felt a good teacher for the time. I had little if any music experience and could not read music except for slow recognition tricks taught by a teacher who tried to teach me piano - but I failed. I loved Choir. It was a pleasure to practice and to perform. I was able to perform in the famed Salt Lake Tabernacle for the first time at Christmas 1971. I also got the opportunity to practice with Maurice Abravanel and his assistant Ardean Watts. I would have performed but I arrived back to Salt Lake late from a debate meet, and don't think I got to the perfomance. Ah the choices we make!

7th Grade Glee Club

I didn't know what Glee was, but there it was on my class schedule. It turned out to be one of my all-time favorite classes. Because of the music sure. But it also got me out of Reading!

When it all started...Pre Glee

...6th Grade. My class would meet and a teacher would have us sing for school programs etc. I can't remember her name but she recommended me for 7th grade GLEE Club. I was a soprano at first...