Music-makers hit right note for a century

A good pair of lungs is required to sing for a century, and the UNM Choral program has 400 of them.

It started in 1910 with 26 men and women and grew to 400 members. Initially, so few people signed up that the program included community members, professors and students.

Now a professional choral conductor, Andrew Megill was a UNM choir member in the late 80s. He said the choir’s centennial is a noteworthy accomplishment.

“It’s worth celebrating anything at 100 years old that has brought so much beauty into the world,” he said.

Bradley Ellingboe, director of choral activities for 25 years, said he’s read about the history of music and found that it’s been around since the beginning of time.

“Why would I make music myself when I can go on iTunes and download the very best people?” he said. “Because it’s really part of being a human being. … It doesn’t really matter how good you are. You doing it for yourself is just a way of mixing in society. It’s like speaking to people.”

Ildy Rolfs, a 28-year member of the University chorus, said she learns more about technique at every rehearsal, and she takes in the historical context of each piece they perform.

“The music and the way it’s composed and performed is indicative of the way life was back then,” she said. “In my mind, I always go back to that time frame. … You get to relive what (composers) lived.”

As the world becomes more competitive, individual concerns become priority over working together as a community, Ellingboe said. But he said chorus members must work together to produce seamless musical work.

After his experience in the choir program, Megill said he learned important life lessons from working together.

“For me, it really taught me a lot of things about what it means to live. Period,” he said. “It taught me really simple things like balancing individual desires with community desires for something. That’s something that good choral music is — it’s a way to completely satisfy every individual, but at the same time, working toward a common goal.”

Megill said being interconnected is central to the human experience and perhaps the reason people are compelled to create music en masse.

“It’s like having a conversation with some of the greatest thinkers in human history, but thinkers who express themselves in nonverbal ways,” he said. “It teaches us that, as human beings, we have incredibly unique characteristics, but it also teaches us that’s not enough.”