Photography 2006 Debbie Gehris. All rights reserved.
By Brian C. Roberts
Editors’ note: Our dear friend, Brian Roberts, has just completed 20 years of service in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. We pled with Brian to take some hours to transform from being a singer to a writer and give Meridian readers a perspective on his experiences in the choir. The following is a heartwarming, inside voice from the choir we all love.
20 years! Who would have thought anyone would spend that much time in one calling in the Church? Aside from a few General Authorities, that is something unheard of today. But there it is! After an inauspicious beginning on Thursday, January 16, 1986, I have managed to remain an active member of the world renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir, completing 20 plus years of service on Sunday, June 11, 2006.
During this remarkable period I have participated in the solemn assemblies of three Presidents of the Church (Ezra Taft Benson, Howard W. Hunter and Gordon B. Hinckley); sung in the 3,000th and 4,000th broadcasts, not to mention the 60th and 75th anniversary broadcasts; sung at the Bicentennial Presidential Inauguration; witnessed first-hand the rededication of the Nauvoo Temple; joined with the Choir in singing for literally billions during the Opening Ceremony of the 19th Winter Olympics; toured Europe, the former Soviet Union, Australia and New Zealand and many of the United States; sung at the Garden Tomb at Jerusalem; and performed with the likes of countless celebrities from the respected newscaster Walter Cronkite to television actress Angela Lansbury, from pop icon Sting to Motown maven Gladys Knight, and from renowned composer John Williams to renown diva Rene Fleming.
Thanks to the encouragement, kindness and support of my dear friends, Scot and Maurine Proctor, and my colleague Robb Cundick of the Choir, I hope to briefly chronicle what has not only been a unique chapter in my life, but the amazing opportunity I have had to take part in such an unheralded chapter in the history of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
My Beginnings with the Choir
You’ve probably heard it before – so many saying they’ve always wanted to sing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Not so with me. During my high school and early years at college, I really didn’t have an interest in joining the Choir. However, during my mission to Korea (1975-1977), I began to have a change of heart.
Then later, while finishing a degree at BYU, I served as an officer in the Oratorio Choir under director Ron Staheli. During that time the choirs at BYU were invited to participate in General Conference. To prepare for the occasion, we thought it would be nice to invite Dr. Jerold Ottley, then music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and his wife JoAnn to come to BYU and give a fireside to the choral students about what to expect with their experience at General Conference. Because of my role as an officer in the Oratorio Choir, I was to be the liaison with Jerry and JoAnn to see they got where they needed to be while at BYU. It was a wonderful opportunity and I was particularly struck by the personable and humble countenance he and his wife carried. This was a person I wanted to get to know better.
Then in the mid 80’s, I heard about a concert being planned for the Tabernacle where the Choir would be performing with the famous Air Force Singing Sergeants. I had heard so much about the Singing Sergeants that I just could not pass up the opportunity. So I got myself a date and went. And though I was thrilled to hear the Singing Sergeants (who at that time were under the direction of Captain Craig Jessop – how ironic!), I was absolutely stunned, amazed and blown away with the performance of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. From that point on, my goal was to join the Mormon Tabernacle Choir when the opportunity afforded itself.
Such an opportunity came just following my 30th birthday in 1985. Back then you could not even call the Choir office for an audition until you were 30, as opposed to age 25 today. The audition process hasn’t changed much since then. It is still at times nerve-racking and just a wee bit intimidating (Read all about the process in this two-part series – Part 1 and Part 2). I filled out an application, got my bishop’s recommendation, and began the process. And as fate would have it – or, more accurately, should I say, as intended by the Lord from the beginning – I made it through, an opening in the 2nd Tenor section of the Choir was available, and I received my letter congratulating me on my call as a musical missionary and a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in the late fall of 1985. Little did I know what remarkable experiences awaited me.
The Rigors of the Choir
Being a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir can be both exhilarating and exhausting. And it is always time-consuming. During the course of a normal week, you could expect to spend an average of 5 hours in Choir-related activities (Thursday evening rehearsals and Sunday broadcasts). And that doesn’t include the commute time. Then there are the extra rehearsals to prepare for concerts, recordings and tours. They swallow up a good deal of the Tuesdays and quite a few extended rehearsals following a broadcast on Sundays. And then there are the events themselves, many occupying Friday and Saturday evenings, and plenty of Wednesdays, too. In fact, where the extra activities in the past would be the exception, in recent years, with the demands on the Choir increasing so dramatically, it has become the norm.
Brian Roberts doing what he does best: Singing!
Case in point: During 2002, the Choir had the distinct honor of participating in the Opening Ceremony for the 19th Olympic Winter Games that were held in Salt Lake City. In conjunction with the Olympics, the Choir also scheduled a series of concerts in the Tabernacle with John Williams, Frederica Von Stade, the King’s Singers, clarinetist Richard Stoltzman and percussionist Evelyn Glennie as guest artists. On top of that, the Choir also had an active role in the Church’s contribution to the Olympics, “Light of the World” – a pageant-like presentation done in the Conference Center. Each of these events had its own music with its own rehearsal schedule running up to the Games.
When the Olympics finally came in February, the Choir was in Salt Lake City every day of the month with the exception of four days (and all but 8 of the 31 days in January). The only way to make it work was to imagine that the Olympic experience was akin to a major (and I mean MAJOR) Choir tour. But we made it and performed in four concerts to some 30,000 people in the Tabernacle, around a half-million in the Conference Center, and millions and perhaps even billions on live TV during the Opening Ceremony.
What an opportunity for not just the Choir but for the Church as well. And though grueling, the ordeal was met with grit and all in the Choir were humbled by and grateful for the experience.
But the ones who were most challenged during such times are not the Choir members themselves, regardless of how trying the schedule might be, but our families, who sacrifice much for us to be in the Choir. For me, this was particularly unique.
I entered the Choir as a single in 1986. Two years later, through a blind date, I met my future bride, Denise. After a lengthy courtship of all of three weeks, we were engaged in February of 1988 and married Memorial Day weekend of that year, 2 weeks before the Mormon Tabernacle Choir left for a tour to the South Pacific (Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia)! Not too many people can say that they went on their honeymoon with 350 of their closest friends – but that we did. It was a choice experience for both Denise and me, and one we will long cherish. Needless to say, we were known as the “honeymoon” couple on the tour and had our fair share of ribbing and teasing during the three-week excursion. In fact, one of our close friends whot sang in the Choir at the time commented to us that if we could survive a Choir tour together, our marriage was destined to last forever. Well, survive we did and our marriage has as well.
Since I was married while a member of the Choir, our children, Michael, Kevin, and Amy, have only known Dad in the Choir. For those in the Choir with young families, being away so much can be trying. You miss a lot of events – first words, first steps, bumps and bruises, activities, parent/teacher conferences, music lessons, practices, games, school concerts, and so on and so forth. It also means that Dad isn’t there a lot when Mom has to get kids ready for and go to church. In fact, when your ward meeting schedule switches to an early hour you become unofficially “inactive” and your spouse a choir widow. In our current ward Denise related how once while on such a schedule someone came up to her thinking she was a single parent or widowed to express her admiration of how Denise faithfully comes to every meeting. It does become a source of much fun at times.
In many instances, the Lord has been a great help and protector of Denise and the kids while I have attended to my Choir responsibilities. One such experience occurred on a Saturday during an October General Conference a few years ago. Of course, I was in Salt Lake to fulfill my responsibility with the Choir. In addition, I had to stay the day because the men of the Choir were also scheduled to sing during the Priesthood session that evening. As with every time the Choir meets, the formal rehearsal begins with a prayer offered by a member of the Choir. I was particularly impressed with the prayer that morning as the individual invoked the protective care of the Spirit on our families as we fulfilled our calls during General Conference. Little did I realize how important that inspired prayer would be for my family on that day.
After the morning session I got a quick bite to eat at the mall in Salt Lake and returned to the Little Theatre in the Conference Center to enjoy the afternoon session of Conference before we had to return to the Choir loft to prepare for the Priesthood session. Early during that afternoon session I was approached by another member of the Choir, who informed me I was wanted on the phone at the Conference Center Ticket Office.
Surprised, I went with him to the ticket office and answered the phone. It was Denise. She was a bit distraught. She needed information about our insurance, which we had just changed that week and that I had in my car. When I asked why, she said while she and the children were traveling home on I-15 following a touch football game of Kevin’s, the right rear passenger window of our van had been shot, apparently by a pellet gun fired by some teens and a young adult as a prank. The pellet hit the window right next to where Kevin was sitting and completely blew it out. Fortunately, no one was hurt. It was an answer to that morning prayer by a faithful Choir member that my family was not seriously injured that Conference weekend.
Then there is the music… and music, and music and more music! It has been estimated that during the course of any given year the Choir will see approximately 350 individual pieces of music, from sacred to secular – classical to contemporary. During the course of time much of it becomes memorized, either by force or by fate. That aspect has changed significantly as well during the 20 years of my tenure. Originally, pieces were rarely if ever memorized, generally a couple for a concert – although there were always four that had to be memorized from the moment you entered the Choir – “God Be With You”, “Come, Come Ye Saints” (first the Cornwall arrangement, but more recently, Mack Wilberg’s), Malotte’s “The Lord’s Prayer”, and of course “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” But in the last half-dozen years, the memorization requirements have increased substantially; and for good reason. With songs memorized, the ability of the director to better mold the Choir into a fluid instrument that is responsive to the nuances and unique characteristics of a given piece is greatly improved, thus enhancing the edification to both the performer and the listener (D&C 50:13-22).
There’s only so much that one can do in a short period to prepare music for the weekly broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word, especially with all the other demands on the Choir. But the conductors do all they can to push that preparation to the limit and many members of the Choir take music home to work on it. In the end, the lights go up, the cameras roll, and “Gently Raise the Sacred Strain” heralds the beginning of yet another broadcast. And whatever the preparation, you feel each week that the Lord acknowledges the preparation and steps in to make up the difference and another wonderful broadcast is carried over the airwaves. It is an amazing process and you know the Lord is very much a part of it.
Experiences with the Choir
After 20 years with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, it would be safe to say that there were a few experiences during that time that would inspire and move you. And it has always been amazing to see the hand of the Lord in it. Two related incidents stand out in that regard.
The first was early 1991, as the Choir was making its final preparations for its tour to Eastern Europe and the then Soviet Union. The announcement of the tour was met with great excitement and anticipation. But that was quickly tempered after U.S. and coalition forces invaded Iraq in January 1991 as part of Desert Storm. Anxiety heightened as word began to circulate that travel to Europe was not being recommended by the U.S. State Department.
Because of this, President Wendell Smoot, then President of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, approached our General Authority advisor President Gordon B.
Hinckley (who has served in that capacity since 1971) about those concerns. After consultation with President Hinckley, President Smoot came back to the Choir to inform them that President Hinckley said, in essence, “Don’t you worry. You go on with your preparations and go on your trip to Europe.” So we did and the rest is history, as that trip was one of the most successful in terms of missionary efforts that the Choir has ever had.
In contrast, the other experience revolved around the summer of 2005, when the Choir had again planned a major trip to Europe. Initial plans had the Choir flying to Denmark where they would board an ocean liner/cruise ship and tour the Baltic countries and Scandinavia. Financial and logistical concerns resulted in the cancellation of that trip and a new tour was planned for Great Britain, which included a concert in Cardiff. This was significant to me personally because my final tour with the Choir would include Wales, my ancestral homeland (my Roberts’ line came from Wales in 1856 and crossed the plains with the Bunker Handcart Company). To make it even sweeter, the Choir eventually added a stop to Paris at the end of the tour and I had a nephew just called to serve in that nation.
Shortly after April Conference 2004 and after the funeral of President Hinckley’s wife Marjorie, President Hinckley asked the Choir leadership to come to his office to discuss the pending 2005 tour. During that discussion he expressed reservations about the Choir going on that trip, citing concerns about security and other related matters. He then asked the Choir leadership to let him speak with his counselors in the First Presidency and he’d get back to them. The next day he asked them to return. They went to his office where he told them that the trip to Britain was to be canceled and that they go to the Pacific Northwest instead. “I need you more in Portland than I do in Paris,” said President Hinckley. So the joke became, the Choir went from a boat on the Baltic to a bus to Boise. As fate would have it, instead of finishing my Choir career with a concert in my ancestral homeland, I finished it with a concert in my hometown, Boise, Idaho, before many of my family who still live there and countless friends and acquaintances that knew me as I grew up.
Read Part 2 of Reflections on 20 Years in the Tabernacle Choir in tomorrow’s issue of Meridian Magazine.
