07 Mar The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
One of the privileges we get to enjoy as a charter transportation provider is the opportunity to work with church groups. Sometimes we are moving a lot of youth from 1 place to another within a church-organized service project. Sometimes we take good care of the transportation to get a task involving an entire congregation. And, sometimes, we get the blessing of profiting from the power and joy that comes from a church choir group as we get them to wherever they have to be.
Music plays a vital part in meaningful worship, and because of this, many faith traditions find a way to integrate it in their services. And even though this music takes on various styles — spirituals, by way of instance, or the singing and dancing that may accompany the praise that is going down at the Baptist church — all these are unique and precious in their own right.
Among the most iconic church choirs in the USA is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, whose home base is in Salt Lake City, Utah. The choir is made up of 360 volunteer singers. They are perhaps most well-known for their famous Sunday morning broadcasts of Music and the Spoken Word. This broadcast is a combination of thoughtful words and music, aimed to offer inspirational ideas and supply healing and peace to those that are listening.
Transferring a choir that dimensions, as you might imagine, is no small accomplishment. In 2015, when they went on what’s been called “the dream tour,” moving the choir, orchestra, supervisors, and volunteers involved 3 airplanes, 11 buses and 6 trucks.
On this tour, the choir done in places. They sang the national anthem in Yankee Stadium, and joined the ranks of other prestigious musicians by singing two nights at Carnegie Hall and getting 7 standing ovations. And while it may seem thankfully ironic, they also played at Woodstock, the place of the famous 1969 music festival regarding peace and love in which big name artists of the day performed including Jimi Hendrix, Credence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, and Grateful Dead. And, interestingly, they got a taste of the exact same weather when they were there as others did in 1969: rain. About the 4th of July they conducted at West Point to celebrate our country’s freedom and the freedom we hold dear.
And, for a random detail? One may wonder how they possibly keep the various dresses that appeal to each woman from the choir organized so they are easy to find while traveling. They do so by using every choir member purchase some ribbon of the selection. They tie that ribbon to every article of clothing that is theirs, and then organize them in the traveling apparel pockets. Whenever someone is searching to their apparel, they just track down the compartment number their stuff belongs in, then look for their ribbons to find their clothing. Voila!
While it involves a lot of work to make travel possible, the real joy for the ones that sing in this choir is sharing the strength and beauty that is found in the music itself. As Katie Bastian, a choir member stated: “What brings us together is the songs and what we understand. Our music can communicate matters which you can not share any other manner, and whether you are singing it or playing it or listening to it, it’s hard not to feel the power of it”
That is the beauty of music, and becoming to transfer church groups (or their choir!) Is something we enjoy. So. . .if you are responsible for organizing the transport to your congregation’s impending action, or in the event that you’d like to find out pricing for a choir tour, service activity, or charity event, call us today!
(The information for This post came from these sources:
https://www.mormontabernaclechoir.org/articles/the-dream-tour-ksl-documentary.html