“A Grand Gathering of Glorious Song”
by Richard Huggins
Page Five

A GRAND CONCLUSION

The intermission of ten minutes was almost an intrusion, so excellent had the program been to that point. But certain realities associated with so good a banquet and so old some of the alumni base...well...in any event there eventually was great eagerness to get back to the music asap.

First up was as brave a group of women as has been inside Raley for awhile. I say that because on the day before, it wasn't quite coming together for the Angell Bisonettes. (These were from the group of Bisonettes who had been led by Warren Angell until he turned it over to others due to the pressing demands of being Dean and of directing the ever-growing BGC.) But, with the capable reunion leadership of Mary Kay Parrish, and just hard and tenacious effort on their part, they came a long way (baby). Their sound was oh-so-lovely, and more than that, most of them remembered that under Dean Angell you never just sang, you emoted as well! They did a great job of selling their performance, and were entirely enjoyable to hear. Ladies, we're glad you came, and Dean would have been quite pleased.

After that ringing performance another one was at-the-ready in the person of the 2nd solo performer, handbell soloist deluxe, Lois Holland, accompanied by her husband, Ken. Ken also arranged the piece she played, Joy Medley. Think of your favorite songs about joy and probably it was in there. Lois is one of the country's premier handbell soloists. "Amazing" only begins to describe what she does. You are saying to yourself, "No way she'll get that next note in at this tempo..." Then she does! A graduate of the class of '74, Lois inaugurated OBU's handbell set and was influential in getting a handbell program started. The Hollands together mesmerized the audience while also inspiring them.

Next up was a slightly unusual situation, an alumni BGC within the alumni BGC. The weekend had featured a sub-reunion of the guys who had sung under Randall Bradley, whose tenure was largely through most of the 90's. They sang Jesus Paid It All, He's the One, and When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. And so well! Looked to be about 30+ guys and they sounded like 50. Randall had great BGCs and this alumni group represented his era par excellence.

The third and final soloist followed the Bradley era segment, trumpeting his way into as solid a performance as any of the evening. Aaron Jameson, class of '05, played a sweetly soft, somewhat tone- poemish piece, the first movement of Sonata for Trumpet and Organ by Alan Hovhaness, Op. 200. Accompanying him was Dr. Ron Lewis at the organ, now an adjunct instructor of organ for OBU. To play a brass instrument the mouthpiece of which is second-smallest only to a french horn's, and which loves to go "Splat!" if you don't stare it down through superior technique, is hard! Aaron ably showed why he's now studying for a Trumpet Performance master's degree.

Now came the supreme task of the evening. Oh, not whether the mass alumni glee club could match its glittering first-half performance, or whether it could well-execute the choral pieces coming up. No, it was whether after sitting so long the likes of Bill Rayborn and Harry Cowan were now so stiff as to make the mere act of standing up an audience-engaging act in its own right. Fortunately they and their peers did manage to creak up once more as the concert began its homeward course.

The sacred section was, in a way, a fourth "solo" spotlight, as the respected BGC alumni-arranger-composer, the late Jim Cram, was featured in four of the six pieces. Don Blackley led us in Cram's Doxology arrangement to provide just the right tone in music and content as the lead-off piece. Former BGC director Jim Brown then took over the baton for a medley of Love Divine, All Loves Excelling and O Love That Will Not Let Me Go. I hadn't seen Jim conduct choral works before; I was to admire yet another side of this very talented guy.

Dr. D. then took the podium to lead us in Deep River. It was a pleasure to sing with him, and he handled Deep River exquisitely, even with WMA looking down (*admiringly*).

Don returned to lead us in Cram's Rejoice, (and boy did that last "- joice" ring out!), after which Dr. Michael Cox, class of '69 and Dean Angell's first successor as BGC director, came forward to conduct Salvation Is Created. I had long hoped we could add one of the great Russian pieces to an alumni concert, and this seemed the time to do it. We sang it as a mixed chorus, inviting the Angell Bisonettes to join with the Little Sisters. Michael is an exceptional choral conductor as well, very defined as to what he wants and skilled at getting it. I'm sure he'd have loved three more days on this wonderful piece, but in the time he was allowed he got the most out of us. (The fact that he's in my graduation class plays no part in the pride I feel in this super-talented guy from Memphis......yeah, right.)

The final piece of the concert was included for several reasons, chief among them being the historical connection to the BGC and Warren Angell. Famed arranger for Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians, Roy Ringwald, arranged Battle Hymn of the Republic for the Waring group. It was to become one of their signature concert pieces, very popular. Even though Ringwald eventually would adapt this arrangement for two commercial versions --one for men's choir and one for mixed voices-- neither one used the special voicing as sung by Waring. And with good reason---some of the chords on the last two pages have 10 or 11 notes!

Fast-forward to about 1954 when Waring's group came to Shawnee to visit Dean Angell, himself an alumni of the Pennsylvanians, and to present a concert. Waring asked Dean if he'd like to conduct the group that night ("Sure!") and what number would he like to conduct (Battle Hymn!). This is why, for the reunion concert, we leased from the Fred Waring archives at Penn State University the actual Waring arrangement as sung by his group, including that night under Angell's baton. As best we could, we recreated that historical occasion.

Accompanying us was snare, trumpets, piccolo, piano and organ. And a whole bunch of adrenaline, growing as sure as those watchfires soloist Glenn Boyd sang about! As those final two pages came into view, as the "glory, glory hallelujah’s" charged around the final turn heading for the finish, I just know that our beloved Dean's countenance brightened even more. He would have emphasized that God's truth does indeed go marching on. And on. And on! As the final notes rang out, the audience erupted into applause. Some had even risen for the last few measures, unable to stay seated for such a moment. They were joined by their audience mates who saluted a hundred different things in a final, sustained, exuberant standing ovation.

What a finish! And we had obeyed the adage Dean liked often to mention: we had left them --and us-- wanting more!

After a word from yours truly, Jim Brown led the entire room in a final rendition of Alma Mater. Gotta be one of the most beautiful alma maters any school has. And if heaven worked the way I would write it for at least that night, the angels and a million other celestial inhabitants walked out of the Touch of Heaven Performance Hall and slapped Warren Angell's back as they walked by, saying, "Good job, Warren. Good, good job."

To be sure, the succeeding directors added their own wonderful invigorations, but on this night we jointly celebrated Warren Angell's life and the glee club he founded. I think we did it honorably, a fitting tribute to a man and an organization that had changed all our lives to the good.

And if I can take my fantasy one step further, I picture Dean as the last one to leave, pausing again to look over that celestial railing and saying to us....

"...OK, pretty good, let's try it again!"

END