Blast #5 mentioned the loss of a lot of film. Which puts the date of this next album into question. This is an album of pictures from a college choir concert at Houghton my senior year. That would make it either the Homecoming concert right after the tour, or the Parent’s concert of graduation weekend.
Something about me wants to put this concert as the homecoming concert, but the loss of film more accurately suggests it is probably the parent’s concert on graduation weekend. I have pictures of student Dan Fortune directing the choir. That might be enough of a clue for someone to know which one of the two concerts this is.
During my college choir years I had three different directors: Dr. Brown freshman year, Professor Reigles (the most famous and longest-term of the three) sophomore and junior years, and Dr. Jost senior year. Dr. Jost came in as a one-year loan from somewhere in California, I think, while Professor Reigles took a year off to work on her doctorate.
I enjoyed all three directors, and learned a lot from them. From Dr. Jost I remember during our Messiah Sing rehearsals learning to not be afraid of my falsetto voice, and how to use it much better. I have him to thank for the extension of my useable range upwards.
During Homecoming Weekend senior year we had George Beverly Shea as a special guest at the Founder’s Day Chapel, and Dr. Jost composed a special arrangement of “I’d Rather Have Jesus” that the college choir sang with Shea. Shea was very impressed with the arrangement. I really wish I could have kept a copy of the arrangement, but it was all done with special licence arrangement for the song, and all the copies had to be accounted for afterwards. I don’t suppose the arrangement still exists anywhere.Singing with Shea under Jost is one of my fondest musical memories from Houghton.
Such are my memories of College Choir senior year.
At The Rainbow 