While the rest of the student body was celebrating the end of finals on Dec. 10, campus musical and a cappella groups were preparing for a whole new set of stressful performances -- their annual winter tours. Traveling throughout the northeast, Texas and Europe, and encountering everything from vicious snowstorms to a boogie-ing Condolezza Rice, Dartmouth's musically inclined used the opportunity to fundraise, assimilate new members and above all, have a good time on the road.
The Dartmouth College Gospel Choir, under the direction of Walter Cunningham, went on their first international tour to Switzerland and Italy, from Dec. 10-31. The opportunity for such an extensive tour arose when a tour organizer heard Dartmouth's Gospel Choir singing with Cunningham's other gospel group in Chicago and invited them to join a college gospel tour in Italy. The Switzerland portion of the tour, from the 11-16, was added later when the gospel choir was invited to represent the United States in the annual Venit international Christmas music festival in Lucerne.
The performances were intense, said Gospel Choir leadership committee member Louisa Thompson '08, as there were often two and sometimes three shows in one day. Many were outside in cold weather.
The trip to Switzerland also included performances at restaurants, a gospel brunch and an excursion to Mt. Pilatus, where the choir sang on top of the mountain. Overall, Thompson said, the best thing about the Switzerland tour was the people, Thompson said.
In Italy the choir sang in many Roman cathedrals, which, with their high ceilings and stone foundations, were "acoustically not ideal," acknowledged Michele Smith '08, a member of the Gospel Choir leadership committee.
Still, the choir performed many a cappella selections. Their repertoire included classic spirituals like "Go Tell It On the Mountain" and "Oh Happy Day;" modern gospel such as Kirk Franklin songs; Christmas carols; and more traditional religious music.
One impromptu performance took place just after the induction ceremony of a cardinal, which offered an interesting exploration of the juxtaposition of traditional solemn Roman Catholicism with energetic American gospel music
"One of the cardinals told me that it was so different to hear us because in Rome worship is somber and solemn and for us it's joyous," she said. "He said it was a nice change."
The singers of the Subtleties traded in snowy white Hanover for a trip to the White House on their tour to Washington, D.C., Dec. 12-17. The all-female a cappella group was invited to sing at a White House press party, with the organizational help of choreographer Alex Correia '09's mother Barbara Harrison, a Washington D.C. news reporter. After the performance, the students were given a special tour of the East Wing and ate dinner with television news reporters, President Bush and the first lady, Laura Bush.
"They shook everyone's hand, and said we sounded great," said Subtleties president Emma Baumgartner '08. According to Baumgartner, Bush (himself a Yale graduate) quipped: "Dartmouth must be a hard school."
The Subtleties also performed at Italian restaurants, children's hospitals and the State Department, where Condolezza Rice talked with them about her previous ambition to become a concert pianist and grooved to their rendition of "Let It Snow.
Other a capella groups were also on tour during winter break.
The Dodecaphonics toured for a week in Dallas, Texas, which was selected for its large alumni population and warm weather, according to tour manager Allison Miller '10.
While the Dartmouth Aires, Dartmouth Cords, and Rockapellas all toured along the East Coast.
The Rockapellas and Cords shared a unique experience performing in the same Greenwich, Conn., middle school.
We took all the girls, and the Cords took all the guys, and we taught them 'My Girl,'" Hannah Rossman '08, Rockapellas director, said.
