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"DID YOU MAKE THE UST?
MEMOIR OF A GLEE CLUB BROTHER
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Malik Ray
Contributing Writer
malikjray @gmail.com
There are two very special weeks about every passing year. These two weeks
are precious, coveted and the two weeks that a specific group of men spend
all year preparing for. They are the weeks that have been described by many
as an “anomaly”, a “spectacle”, and “an experience.” These two weeks are
the Morehouse College Glee Club’s Annual Spring Tour.
Every year at the start of spring break, the Glee Club (MCGC) embarks
on a two week tour. Though the Glee Club is comprised of eighty some-odd
individuals, only 44 are selected to go on tour.
So, how does one make the list? Well, there’s a recipe. First, you spend
the entire year up to this point learning your music. Not just learning it, but
learning it well. We rehearse four days out of the week for almost two hours
in efforts to master our extensive repertoire. Two weeks prior to tour, you are
ready, right? Wrong! Why? Doc, the affectionate term we call our director,
David Morrow ’80, just pulled out five new pieces in three different languag
es that need to be ready for tour. Two days after the new pieces are released,
quartet auditions are set to take place.
It’s just you, a grand piano, Doc and the student director. Your Corin
thian leather folder shakes in your hand as you walk into the ten minutes that
could possibly make or break your year. Doc, true to form, is being extremely
candid and not making eye contact; that is, until you mess-up. Then you im
mediately lock eyes with him as he almost beats the keys off the piano in ef
forts to get you back in tune. A few songs later, the audition is over. Then the
wait begins.
A long week later, the list goes up. Generally late at night, there is
always one mole who hangs around to wait for the student director to saunter
to the sound lock to put the list up. A short text message later, textbooks are
closed and sweatpants are being slipped on - it’s time to move. Glee members
swarm Brown Street, dispatching for their lives to RayPAC in hopes of seeing
their number on the list. Once you see the list, you will either shout or you
will pout.
Lucky for me, I got to shout!
Fast forward another week, it is the day of tour. Rehearsal starts at 4
and we must show up to the rehearsal packed and ready to board the bus at
7. After a painfully long rehearsal, the president comes in with a large bank
envelope and said the magic word, “stipend.” How much was the stipend?
Well, I won’t say. But I will say that we shouted our way through an exten
sive praise break!
After our press materials, CDs and instruments were loaded to the bus,
the president yelled “BOARD!” and the glee club files out and onto the bus to
begin the tour.
We began in Ohio, spending several days traveling through the state.
Next, we moved throughout the blistering cold of New York State, ending our
journey singing a soul stirring performance of “Ave Maria” from Chanticleer
with the Cornell University Men’s Glee Club. We then moved on to Boston,
MA where we began to encounter a problem. Everyone is now coughing and
sneezing. Suddenly the dressing room reeks of menthol and everyone is driz
zling honey down their throats. Uh oh. The world renowned Morehouse Col
lege Glee Club was getting sick! But, never let em’ see you sweat, right?
So we went to Old South Baptist Church that night and we SANG. This
was also the concert that President Wilson attended - greeting us, front row,
in support of his beloved organization. After Boston, we moved on to Con
necticut. Then came my favorite part: four days in New York City. Five star
hotels in the middle of the city, Broadway shows, taxicabs and trench coats;
our time in New York City was one of the fondest memories I have of the
tour. But that time soon ended as we continued through Pennsylvania, making
our way to Maryland, D.C., and ending at our sister school, Bennett College.
The tour ended with a prayer circle to commemorate our senior broth
ers, as this would be their last tour. Who else was to deliver a prayer over
such a group of people than our own doctor? Doc walked out of his dressing
room with his Bible in hand, and there was a shift in the atmosphere. The
prayer ended in a weeping “Amen,” barely heard through the sniffles and
sobbing. We proceeded about the concert in true excellence and before we
knew it, the tour was over.
Now, here I am, on this coach bus driving through South Carolina, on
my way back to Atlanta. As many of my brothers sleep off their “end of tour
festivities”, all I can do is look around. I am very much stuck in the beauty of
this moment. I finally understand why the glee club is “an eminent expression
of brotherhood, a united force of dedication and commitment, and an unself
ish labor of love” and I am better for knowing this. There is truly no organi
zation in the world like the Morehouse College Glee Club.
Recycle The Maroon Tiger
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MARCH 29-APRIL 3, 2013