The Origin
In 2018 Chulalongkorn University Symphony Orchestra celebrated of the 101st anniversary of the university foundation day by asking alumni from any class and major to join in singing university songs with Chulalongkorn University Concert Choir. Thirty senior alumni participated in the concert that started a two-year conversation on having an alumni choir conducted by Dr. Pawasut Piriyapongrat, conductor of Chulalongkorn University Concert Choir and one of the resident conductors of Chulalongkorn University Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Piriyapongrat is the top choral conductor in the country who graduated Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Music from the University of Southern California, USA, and is well-regarded in the national and international levels.
Following the ‘People and Music’ principle of all choral initiatives and activities under Office of Art and Culture, Chulalongkorn University, Chulalongkorn University Senior Alumni Choir (CU Silver Voices) was made a reality in January 2020, during which the three-day audition for the first group of members took place during January 13th-15th. The number of alumni applied for the audition well exceeded expectation. The size of the group was expanded from the predetermined 60 voices to 85 voices to accommodate such high interest from the alumni. There were 144 singers auditioning, among which 85 passed and were designated into their appropriate parts as 30 sopranos, 33 altos, 22 baritones (12 tenors, 10 basses).
The age of members ranged from 55 to 77, and were alumni of Faculties of Arts, Commerce and Accountancy, Communication Arts, Dentistry, Economics, Education, Engineering, Political Science, and Science, which were more than half of the faculties offered during their years as students at Chulalongkorn University. Some members have been active in alumni activities, and some have never been back on campus since their graduation more than forty years ago. The members are responsible for a nominal fee of 200 Thai baht (US$6.67 at 30 baht/USD) per rehearsal.
The Purposes
Office of Art and Culture believes in the power of music in building people and bringing them together regardless of their age or walks of life, which resonates with Dr. Piriyapongrat, who oversees all choral activities and initiatives of the office. The main purposes of starting the choir, therefore, are to enhance the senior alumni’s well-being and give them a sense of purpose; reconnect and strengthen the bond between the alumni and the university, which as a result, enlarging and strengthening the university community; and build a new community of music-loving senior alumni, while providing them musical knowledge and skills with which they take away as part of their lifelong education. These purposes have been communicated with the members for everyone to understand and share common purposes.
The effort to maintain balance between “People” –building a community among the singers, and “Music” –teaching skills for choral musicians and giving them the best musical experience, guides all course of action and planning from auditioning, choosing programs, running rehearsals, performing concerts, and all other non-music activities.
The First Season (January – November 2020)
The rehearsals of the group started in the last week of January, and came to stop during March to August 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown and the uncertainty of transmission means of the Coronavirus. The rehearsal platform had been moved to online through the application Zoom, which first posed a technological challenge for the senior members, but they managed. Another challenge this group with no choral singing experience encountered, which was a greater one, was singing at home without others to listen to. The rehearsals, as a result, were then divided into three sessions with focus on soprano, alto, and baritone parts respectively, but all members were invited to stay present in the Zoom sessions to sing along while other parts were rehearsing.
As the Coronavirus transmission rate lessened, and the government restrictions were laxing around May 2020, scientific-based information on the virus transmissibility via singing in choirs was still lacking. The case of Skagit Valley Chorale in Washington, USA, was concerning, and the fact that senior citizens were prone to contracting the virus. The conductor decided that the choir stay online for the safety of the members.
However, the need for engagement with other individuals had never been more important as social and physical distancing were necessary. A virtual choir project, therefore, was carefully planned for the month of July with the safety of the members as top priority. Online rehearsals in June were dedicated to learning parts in The Beatles’ Imagine song arranged by Mac Huff. A three-day recording was done on campus with strict measures to mitigate the risk of infection. Fifteen-minute recording time for each member was separated by fifteen minutes of airing out the recording room and disinfecting recording equipment and high-touched areas. The members were required not to take public transportation. The making of the virtual choir video was all in-house with the choir manager on recording and conductor on video editing. The members were happy and proud of their first collective work.
CU Silver Voices was also invited to participate in World Virtual Choir Festival organized by Bandung Choral Society, Indonesia. The ‘Imagine’ virtual choir video was submitted as part of a non-competitive virtual concert in the senior choir category of the online festival.
The virtual choir video is listed on three YouTube channels: Chulalongkorn University Choral Activities (July 6, 2020), CU Art Culture (July 7, 2020), and Tommyanto Kandisaputra World Virtual Choir Festival 2020 (July 28, 2020), with a total of 5,500 views.
As the Covid-19 transmission rate was gradually becoming less, CU Silver Voices started to meet in person in September 2020. The three-hour rehearsal time was divided into two parts with twenty minutes break in between to air out and disinfect the room of 3,230 square feet and 26-feet high ceiling. Members in each voice part were divided into half and rehearsed only half of the rehearsal time with their masks always on and distancing between seats. The rehearsals were also on Zoom application to rehearse along online at home for those who did not have personal transportation. This setup continued for two months. The full choir met in November for four rehearsals. The choir’s ‘soft debut’ was recorded on November 5, 2020 without audience, and broadcasted on social media on November 13, 2020. The concert has a total of 5,731 views as of January 2022.
The choir is still young, but every member is enthusiastic about going forward despite the challenge from the pandemic. It has brought back a number of alumni who had lost contact and ties with the university, but now are proud members of the group. The group and its director are looking forward to going full-stream when the pandemic situation allows.
The Second Season: The Growth (November 2020 – January 2022)
Starting in November 2020, Office of Art and Culture started to collaborate with Chulalongkorn University Alumni Association in managing budget, rehearsals and concerts of Chulalongkorn University Senior Alumni Choirs, with the Office of Art and Culture providing rehearsal and concert venues, and oversees the artistic aspects by Dr. Pawasut Piriyapongrat from Music Education Division, Faculty of Education as conductor and artistic director of the choirs.
The direction of the choir was still following the principle of ‘People and Music’—bringing senior alumni together, enhancing their well-being, and reconnecting them with the university community, while giving them music knowledge and skills as part of their lifelong education.
As Covid-19 pandemic kept the choir from meeting in person for many months during the first season in 2020, it was difficult to keep all the members engaged. Some did not do well online and subsequently dropped out. The number of the voices went down from 85 to 69.
Immediately after November 13, 2020 concert, an audition day for the second season was originally scheduled for November 7th and 8th to only fill in the empty spaces, but the unexpected number of 128 applicants was so overwhelming that November 11th and 18th were added for the audition. Men who passed the audition were added to the existing female-male mixed group, new female members would be founding members of a new women’s choir, except females who passed the audition along with their partners or spouses would also join the existing mixed group. Some females from the mixed group asked to also join the women’s group so they can spend time with their friends. CU Silver Voices has then grown into two groups—Chulalongkorn University Senior Alumni Mixed and Women’s Choirs with 95 and 78 voices respectively.
The first rehearsal for the new season started in the first week of December with singers singing with their masks on. Toward the end of the year the new surge of pandemic started. The groups resorted back to half-time, half-choir rehearsal plan in a hybrid form for the safety of the members for the following two months. Distancing and face coverings were strictly observed. Those who were concerned about safety, or needed public transportation, were encouraged to rehearse from home through Zoom in real time while the rest were rehearsing on campus.
All choir members rehearsed together in March and recorded its second concert, with no audience, on March 24, 2021, ahead of schedule as the Covid-19 transmission rate had increased significantly by then, therefore a wrapping-up was needed for the safety of the members. The campus had been closed two weeks later till the end of the November. The recorded concert was broadcasted on social media on April 29, 2021. The concert has a total of 11,403 views as of January 2022.
As the choirs rehearsed on different days, it was important for the members to feel they were all part of one choir. The programs in this March/April concert, therefore, included one university song arranged for the groups singing combined so both groups had an opportunity to meet. The song was also used part of online celebration of the university founding day, March 26, 2021, bringing more visibility to the choirs. Other concert music selections for each choir were arrangements of members’ favorite songs from the 60’s to 80’s.
Chulalongkorn University Senior Alumni Choirs was becoming more known to the university community, we were unable to accept more members despite continuing inquiries to join. However, a small audition was opened only to help with the balance of the choir. Twelve members were selected from forty applicants. These new members, unfortunately, have yet to start rehearsals as the audition was conducted only before the 2021 lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic.
‘People and Music’ in the Second Season
As the choir tried their best to rehearse online during the first wave of Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, they admittedly did not enjoy, and opted for a complete pause during a lengthier lockdown during April to November 2021.
While the ‘Music’ side struggled to go forward as a choir in the pandemic situation, the conductor offered an optional online musicianship class for beginning music literacy and aural skills during the down time, which some members enrolled. The purpose was to keep the members engaged with music and equip them with skills necessary for choral singing whenever the rehearsals resume.
As for the ‘People’ side, the conductor tried to build a community among the choir through encouraging the members to post their singing favorite songs in the choir chatroom on LINE smartphone application. Members used karaoke applications, such as WeSing, Smule of Starmaker, to sing along with music, recorded, and posted the links in the chatroom. Some members with home recording experience posted files of their recordings using Garage Band. As of January 20, 2022, the time of writing this article, there have been close to 2,000 songs posted in the chatroom since May 2020. Members have been encouraging and supportive of others’ singing regardless of the quality of singing. This online activity was well-received, and as the choir members always wore masks to rehearsals and had never have other activity together, they had been in more anticipation to meet and know other members in person.
Also, an idea of going on a choir trip in May 2021 was brought about by the conductor around the time of March concert. The Covid-19 situation, however, did not allow it to happen until October, when the government restrictions started to lax as the pandemic transmission rate was improving. An outing trip to a beach town, Hua Hin, three hours drive from Bangkok, took place on November 7-9, 2021 at Seapine Recreation Centre. Various activities were organized—golfing, sightseeing, afternoon tea, and karaoke singing. The outing was a successful event. Members became closer and enjoyed their time, though only thirty members were allowed in the outing to mitigate the risk of contracting Coronavirus. Strict distancing, face coverings, and other measures were in place.
The choir’s 2022 rehearsal and concert schedule have been planned and postponed many times due to the pandemic situation.
