Lordy, Lordy - can you believe we're forty?

No matter whether you consider 40 to be old or young, everyone sees it as a milestone, and milestones invite us to pause and take stock.  So, I invite you to take stock with me!

I’m a relative newcomer to the Brazos Valley Chorale (2005/2006 was my frst season). I’m excited to share membership in the group with some who have been singing ever since the Community Singers was formed in 1969.  During this anniversary season, you’ll be learning a bit about those folks. It speaks well of the Chorale that they keep coming back –
they’ve obviously found fulfllment here.

With every new season, we welcome some new singers – over 40 of them last year!  This speaks well of the Chorale as well, because an organization needs to experience growth to stay healthy. Texans tend to be welcoming folk, and our singers are no exception. Most of those who sing with us once return for another season and another and another.

We’ve brought glorious choral music to audiences here in Bryan/College Station. Our attendance at last season’s concerts was the largest ever, despite the sagging economy. We must be fulflling a need.

The results of a recent study by Chorus America tell us what many of us have innately known.  People have a need to sing. Those who sing in a group such as the Brazos Valley Chorale fnd fulfllment in the teamwork, and they are better community members!  Choral singers volunteer more than the general population and they give more to charities than
the general population.

Does singing turn us into better people, or is it that good people sing? I don’t have the answer to that question, but I do know that people in the Brazos Valley Chorale are the kind of folks I’d like to count among my friends.

My assessment of the Brazos Valley Chorale at 40 is that we are a healthy organization that has a proud history and a bright future.  Let’s celebrate all of that this season as we look forward to another 40.

Jane Van Valkenberg, President