Wildcats sing from the heart

Weber State University offers concert and chamber choir classes, taught and conducted by Dr. Mark Henderson, for students every semester.
Henderson taught choir at the University of Utah for one year before coming to WSU. He has been conducting choir here for the past 24 years.
Henderson said his favorite part of teaching choir is “probably the part of me working myself out of a job to gradually turn it over to them to make the music. Then I enjoy seeing what they do with it as well.”
Henderson said he always wanted to teach choir. He has been singing since the age of two. He also sung in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at age 16 for three years.  He has a bachelor’s and master’s in music and his doctorate in musical arts.
“Every fall when I come back, I notice kind of a sonic experience when I haven’t heard any choral music in quite a while and suddenly we fill up the room with this sound,” he said. “It’s an actual physical sensation.”
Henderson said his students struggle with solos the most. He said they struggle with solos more in front of their peers than an audience because they are invested in their relationship with their peers.
“I probably like conducting because it’s a total-person, full-brain, and full-person experience,” Henderson said. “You have to pay such careful attention to so many things at once. It’s analytical, it’s creative, and you have to shift so quickly on the fly from one thing to another. It’s a blast.”
Concert choir is open enrollment and a large class, with over 70 students. Chamber choir is much smaller, audition only, allowing for 20 to  25 students.
Karen Williams, a freshman majoring in musical theater, is a first soprano in the concert choir.
“Joining choir is a lot of fun,” Williams said. “It gives you something to do and you have a social group of friends where you all have something in common. It brings a lot of people together who normally wouldn’t even talk to each other. We aren’t just blowing it off because we’re actually serious about the work, and it’s really friendly and fun.”
Megan Jones, a freshman majoring in vocal pedagogy, has been in choir since seventh grade.
“You have to come to class every single day, and you have to pay attention or you’re not going to know what to do,” Jones said. “Putting a lot of feeling into singing is the most important part so it has some emotion to it.”
The choir has its own Web site, weberstatechoirs.com, which students can visit for more information. The site includes links to practice music, times of upcoming events and downloadable audio from old concerts.
Brett Cragun, a sophomore majoring in psychology, sings baritone in the chamber choir.
“In our chamber choir it has sort of a family kind of appeal,” Cragun said.  “It’s like your family on campus, and you have a closer relationship with your professor.”
The choir performs at WSU, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and other places where they are invited. The Christmas concert this year will be held on Dec. 6th at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church.
“Turning the music over to them gradually” is the most rewarding part of teaching, according to Henderson. “To watch them grab a hold, take off and transform. I like watching the students transform. Growing, changing and stretching not just in music, but all kinds of different ways as well.”