By Charlie Johnson
Courtesy of The Blue Stocking

March 28, 2007

As the campus emptied for spring break – with students heading to the beach to relax or home to catch up with family and friends – the Presbyterian College Choir was arriving in England for its annual spring choir tour.

While last year's tour took the choir out west as far as Texas and back east through Tennessee, this year the choir explored a number of locales in the south of England.  

The choir had the opportunity to sing in five cathedrals and one modern church. The first place they sang was a modern church building on a historic church site in Isleworth, a town just outside of London. The remaining five performances all took place in ornate and spacious cathedrals in Gloucester, Worcester, Wells, Exeter, and Chichester.

Performances included four that were locally publicized to benefit local charities. The two final performances were, "just for us," according to choir director and professor of music Dr. Porter Stokes, so that choir members could experience the magnificent acoustics in those spaces.

All performances by the choir at these cathedrals, including the shorter, latter appearances, were arranged only after representatives from the cathedrals were sent programs and recordings of the PC Choir, to ensure that the ensemble met a certain musical standard. 

The choir did not spend the entire trip in performance but, rather, had a great deal of time to explore the cities and towns that they visited. Beginning with a tour of Windsor Castle after getting off the plane, other sightseeing destinations included the British Museum in London, the town of Bath and the Roman bath that made it famous, the remains of Glastonbury Abbey, Salisbury Cathedral and its original copy of the Magna Carta, and Stonehenge.

Students also had a chance to explore the cities they stayed in during the evening, particularly London and Exeter, where many students went out to experience local restaurants and pubs.

According to Stokes, the cycle of choir tours has included an international trip every four years, but he plans to move to going abroad every three years. The reasoning for this change is twofold.  First, this plan gives students unable to go on the tour as freshmen the chance to learn about it and plan for a trip their senior year.  It also would provide a sense of continuity, ensuring that in the year of an international tour, there is one class of students that has had the experience and can attest to its value for wary or uncertain underclassmen. 

Stokes also reflected on the value of the trip abroad for the musical ensemble as a whole.  He describes the growth from the trip as "big ears," illustrating an exposure to different spaces and elements of how music is made, which changes the way students sing even after they return. He believes that this new insight is contagious, spreading also to the students who were unable to take the trip.

Students interviewed found the tour to be a worthwhile experience as well.  They found a number of cultural elements that were intriguingly different – such as food service and the common slang – and they all took away something valuable.

For Beth Ivory, junior soprano, it was hearing the seven-second echo at Gloucester Cathedral.  For Zach Williams, a second year tenor, it was "seeing a thousand years of history and being able to touch it."

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