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The Boys' Choir of Tallahassee |
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UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH September 2001 A Slice of Campus Life Harmony Me, me, may, may, mah, mah, moe, moe. It’s a sunny, sultry day in Pittsburgh, and the melodic voices of 60 boys echo as one inside Heinz Memorial Chapel. Warming up the Boys Choir of Tallahassee for an afternoon performance, director Earle Lee Jr. is snapping his fingers: one, two, three. “Baritone now,” he says. Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah—voices traverse the scale in unison. Breathing exercises now. “Inhale: one, two, three,” he says. Then it’s time for prayer. All heads bow. The chapel hushes. The 5-year-old Boys Choir is an innovative community outreach project sponsored by the Florida State University School of Social Work. The boys, ages 8 through 19, are recruited from schools in the Tallahassee area. With the motto “No Excuses,” choir members receive intensive counseling and academic tutoring. Since its first member graduated from high school in May 1998, every senior has received a scholarship at a major college or university. Electrical engineering, business, finance, architecture, sports medicine, physical therapy, computer science, and, of course, social work are among the academic majors choir graduates have pursued. The choir had performed the evening before as a surprise for departing social work dean David E. Epperson’s retirement dinner. The 66-year-old Epperson was honored for his 29 year-tenure as dean. Now, before boarding buses for home, the choir would perform an impromptu concert at Heinz Chapel for the University community. “Our Father, who art in heaven,” the boys sang, a slow, inspirational tune, backed by a keyboard synthesizer, which sounded like an electric piano. The temperature inside the chapel rose as the choir shifted from traditional spiritual numbers to rollicking contemporary gospel music. A drummer joined the keyboard player—thump, thump, thump. The boys began swaying and clapping—tiny kids, some of them looking hardly old enough for first grade. Others performed like bold college freshmen, driven by ideals and certainty of purpose. The audience was clapping now, too. By the last number, the crowd rose to its feet, singing and clapping and cheering. Single file, the boys crisply filed out of the chapel and into the bright sunshine of tomorrow’s dreams. —Kris Mamula |
