Piedmont College Navigator

Issue date: 8/18/08 Section: A&E

Media Credit: Benji Stegner Chamber singer students traveled to Boston to sing at various Congregationsl churches in the area. When they were not performing or practicing, students took advantage of the Boston scenery.

Every year, the Piedmont College Chamber Singers get the chance to travel to a new place and tour around churches. On the day of graduation, May 3, they traveled to Boston, Mass. for five days of rehearsing and performing for United Congregational Churches.
After arriving in Boston on the night of the third, the group checked in and wasted no time, as they had two performances that day. Not only did they get to perform in churches in Boston, but also in Cape Cod.
"We hit as many churches as we can," says Dr. Wally Hinson. "There are a lot of Congregational churches in New England. There are more congregational churches than there are Baptist churches here." Dr. Hinson, chair of the music department, says when the group tours, they do a mixture of pieces from the fall and spring concert. Since churches want certain pieces, when the group tours they make a general list of pieces for the program and they chose pieces based on their certain venue.
Many of the students that went on tour this year have not traveled much and Hinson says he always wants the group to do something memorable that does not include performing and rehearsing. This year the Chamber Singers went on the Freedom Trail with a national park tourist guide.
"Some people in the group don't travel much, so I want it to be something they can talk about later," says Hinson
Jessica Allen, sophomore, was a first time traveler to Boston and the New England area. She says she wants to go back to Massachusetts to see some of the surrounding area of Boston because she was able to see and learn a lot about Boston on the trip.
"It was really incredible," says Allen. "We were singing where a lot of the composers of our pieces were from."
Every year when the group travels it chooses a different state. Most of the time a New England state is where it ends up traveling because they have the most Congregational churches.
Recently, however, Florida's number of Congregational churches has increased because of the amount of people retiring there. This year, the Chamber Singers will be performing their tour in Florida and Hinson plans on the group touring the Gulf Coast.
Hinson says the group usually has around 40 members and the singers have already auditioned for the upcoming school year. He says, however, he is short on male singers. Rehearsals for upcoming concerts and tours are starting this week.

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