America’s Youth in Concert
In the state
of Idaho when I was growing up, choir students had the opportunity to audition
for All- state and All-region music festivals.
Each festival included a choir, a band, and an orchestra. Students
auditioned to participate on cassette or reel-to-reel tape. All who wished to audition signed up and were
given an audition time. You went to the
choir room and sang (or played) the proscribed music. Then the teacher mailed the tape with all of
the students’ auditions. All-state was
held every other year, with all-region (the state was divided into regions)
choir being held in the in- between years.
I was lucky in that All-state was held my sophomore and senior
year. I auditioned (by tape) for
all-state as a sophomore and made it. It
was really pretty rare for a sophomore to make it in all-state and I was so
pleased.
My junior
year, I auditioned for and got in the All-region choir. Many from my school made it into that choir,
as it just included our region. I don’t
remember where that was held, but I remember traveling there by bus. I have a very happy memory about that. About
halfway to our destination, the bus stopped at a little elementary school. The school lunch workers had stayed after
lunchtime to prepare a lunch for us. By
the time we got there, it was one or two in the afternoon, and I was
starving. They served the most delicious
macaroni and cheese I have ever tasted.
Obviously, I will never forget that creamy, delicious macaroni and
cheese. Oh my, it was good!
But, back to
the subject. Because I was in all-state
and all-region choirs, I was invited to audition for an all-nation choir called
“America’s Youth in Concert” during my junior year. It was to include students from every state
in the union and would include a band, orchestra, and choir. I sent in my audition tape and was so
surprised and pleased to get an acceptance letter. I talked about it with my parents, and they
were so pleased and willing to pay for it.
I can remember the cost was $1,050 or something like that-a steal by
today’s standards. I signed up. The trip was to originate in New Jersey.
I left a
week before we had to meet in New Jersey to spend a week in Chicago with Patty
and Hal. Hal was in dental school in
Chicago. I had such a fun week with
them. They took me to Nauvoo on the
weekend. They just had Evan then. He was the cutest little boy. It was a special time with my sister who I
love so much.
From
Chicago, I flew to Newark, New Jersey to start the tour.
Over 1,000 students convened there to rehearse
and start the tour. Besides rehearsals,
we had uniform fittings, and social experiences. After three days, we went, by bus, to New
York City and put on a concert at Carnegie Hall. It was a thrill of a lifetime to sing in the
beautiful hall. The concluding number
was The Battle Hymn of the Republic. It is hard to put into words that
spiritual, magnificent experience, singing that gorgeous ballad with the huge
choir, band, and orchestra. We then went
by bus to Washington DC and put on the same concert at the Kennedy Center. It, too, was thrilling to sing in that famous
venue.
We then were
divided into two equal groups to fly to and travel Europe. One group, my group, traveled first to
London, England, then Brussells, Belgium, then Paris, France, then Salzburg,
Austria, then Germany (by mistake- the bus got lost), then three cities in
Italy. The other group started in Italy
and met us in Salzburg for another combined concert, then they reversed our
order of cities.
I loved
visiting the sites in all of the famous cities in Europe. I wished I had spent more time preparing for
my trip- learning about what I was going to see. Also, my camera quit working, so I didn’t
have a camera for some of the trip. Then
a nice girl from New Jersey loaned me an extra camera she had. I still feel horrible guilt that I never sent
her camera back to her after we got home.
I intended to; I just didn’t ever get it done.
For the
first time in my life on this tour, I was away from conservative Idaho. I was on my own. It was 1972, a time of civil unrest. I didn’t know it when I signed up, but the
head of the whole thing- the organizer was a member of my church, a Mormon as
we were called. Rumors started to fly
that he was prejudiced against black people and that a white and black person
should not be seen together. The rumors
grew and turmoil was brewing. We were
divided into smaller groups with a couple at the head of each group. Our group leaders called us together for a
discussion. There were probably 50-60
people in this lounge area of the dormitory in which we were staying. The atmosphere was tense as they discussed the
prejudiced issue. The head of the tour
was discussed and it was mentioned that he was a Mormon. Then one of the students turned to me and
said, “Kay, you’re a Mormon. What do you
believe about the blacks?” Wow! I was on the spot. My heart started beating faster and I said a
silent prayer for help. I opened my
mouth and out came the words, “I don’t know (the leader; I can’t remember his
name now. Maybe Mr. Geddes?) and I don’t
know what he believes, but I do know that our church does not teach us to be
prejudiced. We are taught to love all
people as Jesus does.”
I have often looked back on that moment and
wish I had had more maturity and knowledge, but I do believe the Lord filled my
open mouth with words He wanted said at that moment.
I am so
grateful for the opportunity to be part of America’s Youth in Concert- to
represent my country and my religion.
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