Day 5 – The Way Home!

On Monday morning, Dr. Doerries monitored the early morning breakfast crowd because the boys had been waking up at 6:45am for the 7:00am breakfast…but, only 4 people showed up! Everyone else slept in! After everyone flew through a late breakfast, we loaded all our bags back onto the bus and headed to Saint Meinrad for our last recording session. We had three psalms to record, one hymn, and few odds and ends.

(Aside: Each day on the bus, a mug with a note telling the story of the ‘Muggins’ appeared in Dr. Doerries bus seat (several with different had writing). At first, Dr. Doerries thought he just forgot to bring the initial mug inside the hotel each, but on Sunday night while he was packing he noticed that the mugs had multiplied and that he had a set of four on his dresser! Now he thinks a few of the singers were playing a joke on him!)

After the rollercoasters the previous night at Holiday World, our voices were a little scratchy and there were several singers drinking hot tea with honey. But, we got through our music and headed to lunch. We had fish sandwiches, salad, fruit, and chocolate cake and then boarded the bus to the gift shop of Saint Meinrad. Before getting on the bus we assembled for a group picture with Ms. Abby as this was her last event with the choir. We gave her a big group hug after we posed politely for the picture!

At the gift shop, after we explored the casket shop (the monks are known for making simple, yet beautiful caskets) we each picked out a few presents for family and friends and boarded the bus. We also got cards for two of our choir family members who got sick and had to return home a day early. We sent them get-well-soon cards as well as a few gifts from the shop! (They are already feeling better as of this posting.)

The drive on the bus was just under six hours. We watched Disney’s Tangled and sang along to the songs. After a quick bathroom stop in Westfield, IN we had dinner on the bus and started our final leg home. We had a few people to recognize for reaching the five-year-mark as members of the Notre Dame Children’s Choir; a huge accomplishment and we are very proud of all our recipients! Then we held an extended evening prayer where were reflected upon the entire trip. There were lots of tears when Ms. Abby closed evening prayer with kind words to our singers and thankfulness for having had the opportunity to spend the past two years working them. We hope she finds a job near South Bend and comes to visit often!

With tears in our eyes as we said our goodbyes to old and new friends, we exited the bus into the embrace of our families.

It was an extraordinarily moving experience to spend five days with such kind-hearted singers, incredible musicians, spiritual monks, and dedicated parents and staff. The Notre Dame Children’s choir is our family away from home!

Thank you to all the parents, chaperones, staff, directors, Monks, audio producers and engineers, and new friends we made along the way for making our trip a success. Stay tuned for next year’s trips to Los Angeles, England, and Texas!

Day 4 – Praying, Singing, and Rollercoasters!

On Sunday, some of our singers visited Christ Lutheran Church of Jasper while others attended mass with the Monk of Saint Meinrad. We sang I Will Lift Mine Eyes for the Monks and Peace Before Us at the Lutheran Church. We all regrouped and relaxed at the Abbey after mass and service and played card games, knitted, and changed for our trip to Holiday World later that afternoon. Dr. Doerries even joined in a game of cards!

After a delicious lunch of meatloaf, salad, fruit, and home-made cakes, we made our way back to the sanctuary for our recording session. We tackled two of our most difficult a cappella pieces from Vespers for our Lady, the ‘Ave Maris Stella’ and ‘O Crux.’ The text of ‘O Crux’ is the motto of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, the founding order of Notre Dame: O hail the cross our only hope in this passiontide grant increase of grace to believers and remove the sins of the guilty. We also recorded the Lesser Litany from our Evensong, which included beautifully sung solos by Caitlin, Maria, and Flannery!

We finished recording a little early, which allowed us to race to the bus and head over to Holiday World. The excitement increased as we saw the arches of the four rollercoasters on the horizon. After a group picture at the entranceway and safety instruction from Dr. Doerries and Mrs. Villano, we explored the amusement park. While some singers ate dinner first, others went straight for the tallest coaster in the Park. Dr. Doerries, Mr. Clayton, and Mr. Judge tackled the Voyage roller coaster! Take a look at the post-ride picture, they were whipped out!

Unfortunately, after a few hours in the park, the rain clouds rolled in and inundated us. While the chaperones stayed dry in Kris Kringles’ restaurant, the singers played in the rain until the bus came to take us back to the hotel.

That evening we held evening prayer in the lobby of the hotel, where we shared moments of joy, sadness, and the kindness of strangers. Despite all our fun in the rain, we were exhausted and sleep came quickly Sunday night.

We are excited to record our final music on Monday and then head home to our families!

Love to all!

After devouring all the food in the hotel (Eggs, sausage, Waffles, fruit, yogurt, cereal, and juice), we piled on the bus and headed to Saint Meinrad for our next recording session. We recorded the first part of Vespers for Our Lady. A few of our singers and chaperones attended noon-prayer while the remainder of us were starving and chowed down on chicken and shrimp gumbo. The workers at the Abbey prepare all their food from scratch to create delicious meals for the monks and the guests. The Abbey is known for their bread, which they sell locally to the region.

After lunch, we rested a little before Br. Maurus took us on a walking tour of the Abbey, Seminary, and Chapels. St. Meinrad is full of beautiful religious paintings and sculptures as well as exhibits on race and the Catholic Church in the United States. We learned all about monastic life at the Abbey; there are about 90 monks who continuously abide at the Abbey with a dedicated wing for the elderly with round-the-clock care. Despite the heat, we toured the Abbey’s prayer garden, which was filled with flowing water, abundant flowers, and places to stop and pray in silence. It was our first awe inspiring nature moment of the day, but it would not be out last.

After the tour, we were exhausted!! We are sleeping, we promise, but Dr. Doerries works us hard! We rested for a little while playing catchphrase and slapjack while other read and knitted. After we recovered, we recorded for an hour the Magnificat from the Vespers and then boarded the bus for Marengo Caves. (Congratulations to our soloists for the day, Marcella, Maria, and Flannery, who stayed a little later to perfect their music!)

Marengo Caves gave us a private, mile-long tour of the three levels of caverns that make up the US National Landmark. We saw stalactites, stalagmites, underground rivers, and the total darkness of cave life. We were moved by the natural beauty of the rock formations and the serenity of rooms that could fit two-story houses. We sang a few of our songs in Callers’ Canyon, where in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries local residents held concerts and square dances. Because the caves stay at approximately 52 degrees year-round, in the 1920s a local Brethren church held Sunday services in the cave rather than in the heat of their church.

After a quick trip to the gift shop and dinner at the caves we boarded the bus, full of new experiences, and headed back to our hotel. We held a short evening prayer and then made our way to bed. We also celebrated Marie’s 13^th birthday!

We were tired and instead of staying up late into the evening chatting and giggling, we passed out asleep. Even the chaperones looked pooped! In the morning when Dr. Doerries asked us how much sleep we got the previous night, we reported record numbers of hours!

We are headed to Sunday services and mass this morning, before having lunch at the Abbey and our afternoon recording session. Tonight, we are excited to visit Holiday World amusement park!

Love to Mom, Dad, Grandmother and Grandfather, all our siblings, and pets!

We arrived at Saint Meinrad Friday morning ready to record, but first we had to take in the beauty of the Abbey and the vast acoustic of the Sanctuary, which has a seven-second echo! We spent the morning recording sections of our Evensong taking water and snack breaks to keep ourselves refreshed. Friday was the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and a few choristers and chaperones attended the 11am Mass followed by the noon-time prayer service. The Monks have been chanting mass and prayer services for over 150 years at Saint Meinrad Archabbey.

For lunch we ate thin crust pizzas, ruffage from a plentiful salad bar, optional bagels, and possibly more than one rice-krispey treat for dessert. We had time after lunch to relax so a few singers took a hike of the massive grounds of the Abbey, while the rest of us stayed indoors (it was 93 degrees yesterday!) and played catchphrase, read books, or played go-fish.

In the afternoon, we recorded the rest of our Evensong with beautiful solos by Samuel, Caitlin, and Marcella. The entire choir went to Vespers before dinner and our host, Br. John Mark, gave us a short talk about the way the Monks chant Vespers. It was a little confusing, but we picked up the idea as the service unfolded. It was a serene prayer service of Gregorian chant, prayer, and a reading.

Dinner included fish, peas, pasta, salad, and an assortment of cakes (Lemon, Chocolate, Carrot, and Red Velvet!). After our short bus-ride back to the hotel, we took turns visiting the salt-water pool and spa, as well as relaxing in our rooms before evening prayer.

Evening prayer is always a special time for our choir as we get to process as a group the day’s activities from singing, and prayer services, to the food, and new friendships we are making. Tonight, we prayed for our families at home, brothers and sisters who are graduating, moving, or getting married, and for the continued safety and health of our singers and chaperones. We are grateful to our vigilant chaperones and staff who, with level heads and calm demeanors, soothe and console singer’s angst, as well as share in the joys of our singers’ accomplishments.

As we ride back to Saint Meinrad Saturday morning, we slept between six and nine hours last night. We are a little more rested for Saturday’s adventures, which include visiting and Marengo Caves! We remain in good spirits; a few cuts and bruises cannot keep us down!

Love to our Parents, Grandparents, friends, and pets!

On Friday we slept in a little and took advantage of our Marriott hotel! We boarded the bus at 10am and ate bagels and cream cheese from a local bakery as well as yogurt, clementines, and grapes. We drove to Milwaukee for an Evensong service at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, and stopped at Bradford Beach along the way to dip our toes into Lake Michigan.

It was a sunny day for a trip to beach, but the water was extremely cold; there was not a single person in the water when we arrived. We walked along the shore collecting shells and smooth sea glass and then took part in a massive volleyball game (Flannery helped some of our less experienced players perfect their serving technique). Clayton and Anthony tossed the football while others took turns seeing how long they could stand in the cold water!

The choir discovered that Dr. Doerries did not bring a single short-sleeve shirt, so they bought him one! Do you like it?!

After an hour at the beach we brushed as much sand off as possible and headed to St. Mark’s for dinner. Thanks to generous parishioners, we had a delightful meal of taco salad, salad, and fruit. The church had a bright acoustic and the choir sounded beautiful in the warm-up. As the congregation filled the church, we became excited to sing and worship with them. Maria served as cantor for this service and did a beautiful job leading us all.

After the service, the church held a reception for us before we headed to our hotel. Our first event on Saturday was not until our concert at 1pm, so we slept in and took advantage of the hotel’s late breakfast. We departed for the National Shrine around 11am and began a short warm-up. The sanctuary of the Shrine was a bright and warm acoustic. We sang everything from memory and several pieces we sang in the round surrounding the altar.

After our concert, we walked to the Lincoln Park Zoo for a late lunch. We had just enough time to visit the lion, seal, and rhino exhibits before heading back to the Shrine for Mass.

At Saturday’s Mass we celebrated the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. Our music was a perfect fit and included Panis Angelicus and Ave Verum Corpus (Elgar). There was a ton of incense! After Mass we walked to an Irish restaurant and had salad, shepherd pie, fish, and more for dinner. Then we said goodbye to a few singers’ whose parents met them in Chicago, boarded the bus, and left for South bend. We sang all the songs from our tour as well as some from the past few years, and our new setting of the NDCC Covenant by Victoria Fraser. We also had a few parting words for each other and promised to see each other in the fall.

When we arrived in South Bend, our families were waiting for us at the steps of Sunnyside Presbyterian Church with open arms to welcome us home. We were exhausted, but fulfilled; vocally tired, but emotionally and spiritually energized. There were talks of the next tour adventure, to which Dr. Doerries told us that everyone person on the tour would have a place in the NDCC next year and beyond (but first he need to get some sleep before thinking about the NEXT tour!).

All the NDCC Directors and Staff could not be more proud of these singers, who performed beautifully and took care of each other throughout the trip. We are blessed by the dedication of our parent chaperones who kept a close eye on our singers to make sure they were happy and healthy.

We are grateful to all the churches that welcomed us into their community, fed us, and galvanized their congregations to come to our concerts and services. Thank you to all the singers, parents, chaperones, and staff who made this extraordinary tour possible.

Our apologies for the delay in getting out blog out, we had technical difficulties!

On Wednesday we traveled from Atchison, KS to the Mall of America in Minneapolis, MN. After scarfing down hamburgers we were excited to visit Nickelodeon Universe, the amusement park inside the mall. Jam packed with rides from rollercoasters to the log flume and an assortment of flying, tumbling, and spinning machines, Dr. Doerries and a few of the girls decided to warm up to the larger rides by starting with the Carousel (unfortunately, Dr. Doerries was too big to ride the horses!).

The boys (and lots of the girls) rode the roller coasters for hours only stopping for the occasional water and ice cream break. A few of our singers lost their dinners on the roller coasters (we all learned a lessons, just like swimming – wait 30 minutes after eating before riding summer-saulting roller coasters!). Nonetheless, we all got back on the bus exhilarated and ready for bed.

Unfortunately, our accommodations Wednesday night were not what we were promised. We arrived to hot rooms without air conditioning and the occasional bug wandering the hallway. Dr. Doerries and Mrs. Villano stayed up late to secure us a four-star Marriott hotel in downtown Minneapolis for the next night. We opened our windows and did our best to encourage ventilation, but it was not out best night’s sleep.

Despite the dorms being less than we expected, the morning’s breakfast was college-cafeteria style with almost anything you could image made on the spot by the chefs. Thursday was Gwyneth’s birthday (she turned 14) and her father made a surprise visit to see her in Minneapolis and celebrated by bringing donuts for the entire choir! Happy Birthday, Gwyneth and Thanks Mr. Landau!

After breakfast we took the bus to the Basilica and had a breathing and light stretching session with Krista Costin, a professional singer and friend of Dr. and Mrs. Doerries. We learned all about posture and intercostal muscles for breathing.

After warming up our bodies, we proceeded into the Basilica to sing for Mass. The choir stalls are in the apse of the church, a very steep set of seats configured around the organ. The Basilica was built in 1907 and was clearly designed for singing. The curved ceiling of the apse thrust the choir’s sound 500 feet forward into the congregation with crystal clear acoustics. By singing for Mass, we participated in the 1000 year old tradition of young people leading worship.

After Mass the Notre Dame Alumni Club of Minneapolis threw us a HUGE lunch of pasta and salad from Bucco di Beppo! Then we checked into our new swanky hotel. Plush beds, large windows with views of the city, and massive bathrooms and showers were a hit with the choir! We rested for a few hours before dinner and then headed back to the Basilica for our performance.

Instead of singing entirely from the front of the church, we decided to alternate between singing near the altar (visible to the audience) and from the apse where the sound was idyllic (not visible to the audience). Ms. Abby led the choir in the best performance yet of In Living Green AND we performed almost everything from MEMORY! The irony, it was out best sounding performance of the tour, but we were the most tired of the tour.

After the performance we went to the hotel and had evening prayer with out choir families and then went to bed (although we know a few of the rooms stayed up, unable to resist the big screen TVs in the room).

This morning we slept in and had breakfast and morning prayer on the bus as we drive to Milwaukee. We are hoping the weather will be pleasant so we can dip our feet in Lake Michigan before our Evensong service tonight.

Love to our families!

On Tuesday we began our journey to Atchison, KS to sing for the Summer Sounds Concert Series at St. Benedict’s Abbey. After a five-hour bus ride, we crossed over the Missouri river, which took us from Missouri to Kansas. We stayed in Guadalupe Hall at Benedictine College, a beautiful campus of almost 2000 students. We were greeted by Abbot James from the Abbey who helped us get settled and escorted us to Vespers.

The brothers of the Abbey welcomed us to Vespers where they made us feel at home. We even recognized one of the monks, Fr. Jeremy King was visiting from St. Meinrad Archabbey; Fr. King was instrumental in the recording of our album O Day of Peace. We sang Vespers with the monks who have been continuously celebrating the tradition for over 160 years. It was a beautiful, calming, and serene service; many of our singers recognized and sang the hymns and concluding Salve Regina chant.

After Vespers, the monks escorted us to dinner, which was a feast of grilled chicken, pasta, salad, and cupcakes. The brothers farm their land, which produces some of the food they eat each evening. The monks began dinner with a reading from the Rule of St. Benedict and we concluded the dinner by singing Bless, O Lord, Us Thy Servants.

We warmed up for our Summer Sounds concert in the Abbey, which was a stretched setup with the organ at one end of the sanctuary, the audience at the other, and the choir in the middle. Our voices carried throughout the room to our appreciative and largest audience of our tour so far. Atchison is the birthplace of one of our singers and was a homecoming for her; many of her family and friends turned out for the performance.

We had a few stomachaches, backaches, and weak spells, but all our singers finished the performance together. Needless to say the singers were exhausted after the performance. Day four is always our low-energy day, but everyone rallied to support each other.

We had a cathartic evening prayer where singers voiced the joys and sorrows of the day. We were delighted to be joined by Sacred Music at Notre Dame alum Michael Duryea who is working at a Catholic Church in Emporia, KS.

The boys kicked the ball around outside until dusk while the girls prepared for bed. We all went to bed early and slept hard last night and woke up refreshed. We are now on the road to Minneapolis and the Mall of America!

Love to all our families!

After a good sleep in our new retreat center (Our Lady of Snows) and a strong concert with the Masterworks Chorale, we set off Monday morning to explore St. Louis. Our first stop was the St. Louis Gateway Arch, also known as the Jefferson Memorial Expansion Monument. We stopped for pictures beneath the arch and to imagine the architects and workers who constructed it.

The National Park includes a film about the creation of the arch between 1962-64 and how the structure had to support the weight of the cranes that built it as it curved inward. It remains the largest freestanding steel structure in the world! And not a single worker’s life was lost in the Monument’s construction.

Brave members of the choir piled into tiny tramcars five at a time (the cars were the size of a large cloths dryer). The tram took four minutes to rise to the top, but swayed as it traversed the arch at an angle. The top of the arch held clear views of the city of St. Louis and the Mississippi River.

After visiting the Gateway Arch we went to lunch at Central Table, a very friendly sandwich and salad restaurant on St. Louis’ west side near the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis. We had burgers, macaroni and cheese, salads, and more!

After lunch we walked to the Basilica and learned that it was constructed between 1907-1914 and holds the largest collection of mosaics in the world! The space was jaw-droppingly beautiful and our singers were awe struck by its majesty.

We returned to the retreat center after visiting the Basilica to rest and dress for our trip to the MUNY theater to see Jesus Christ Superstar. The MUNY is the country’s oldest continuously operating outdoor theater and seats over 11,000 people for each performance. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical (he is also known for Phantom of the Opera, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat) was a dramatization of the passion of Christ set to rock music (of the 1970s, lots of disco music). We danced in our seats to the music and we loved the amazing voices of the lead signers; our singers remarked that the men could sing as high as our sopranos!

After the show, we boarded the bus only to sit in the traffic of all 11,000 people departing the theater. We held our evening prayer on the bus so that we could head right to sleep. We were weary, but our hearts were full of great music and exciting adventures from our day in St. Louis. Tomorrow we are off to Atchison, KS to sing at St. Benedict’s Abbey.

We still miss our family and friends, but we are having a great time!

Sunday morning began with an early breakfast (7:15-8:00) at our retreat center and then services at the Chapel at the retreat center and First Methodist Church in Bloomington. Singers who attended mass at the chapel, which sang the mass parts in Latin (our singers knew the words because of our choral music!), also performed the Ave Maria and Panis Angelicus for the parishioners. Many of the sisters were moved to tears and grateful for the choir’s music and presence.

After church, we packed the bus and headed to Olney, IL for lunch at Pizza Fast! Olney is known as the home of the white squirrel and is where Dr. Doerries and Mrs. Doerries formerly taught (Olney College). We did not see any live white squirrels, but we posed with the statue in the park.

From Olney we traveled to Belleville, IL to St. Paul’s United Church of Christ to join the Masterwork’s Chorale Children’s Choir under the director of Dr. Stephen Mager (you may remember him from last year’s Winter Concert where he composed music for us and then broke his arm during a group picture!). We rehearsed with an instrumental ensemble led by Ms. Erin and conducted by Dr. Mager and then had a wonderful pasta and salad dinner where the choirs became great friends. Amazingly, in three hours, lasting relationships were formed!

The performance was a huge success with beautiful music and a warm and appreciative audience. We performed In Living Green better than we ever imagined! The masterwork’s Chorale threw us a huge reception of cakes and cookies (and fruit and cheese) after the concert and we got to spend a few more moments with our new inter-choir friends.

We took a short bus ride to our new retreat center (Our Lady of Snows), which has spacious rooms, and held our evening payer service. A few of us are home sick, but we all agreed that we will be okay thanks to the support of our friends in the choir and our family at home. We have been singing for four days straight! Monday is a tourism day in St. Louis. We will visit the Gateway Arch in the morning, the Cathedral-Basilica in the afternoon, and the MUNY theater’s production of Jesus Christ Superstar in the evening.

Send us cool thoughts! The temperature today in St. Louis is 93 degrees.

Love to all our family, friends, and pets!