Full of Glee

Jan. 18, 2006

U-M singers bring TC ringers
Nick Olson knew he wanted to join the University of Michigan Glee Club when he was still a 13-year-old junior high student. “There was a concert in Traverse City and one of the members of the Glee Club stayed at our house as a guest,” he recalls. “I remember looking up to these college guys and being impressed that they were still singing. That’s what got me interested in joining the club.”
Today, Nick is wrapping up his major in English at U-M and looking back at years of singing, fun and travel with the university’s Glee Club. He’s one of seven former Traverse City Central High School students who are returning to their hometown this Saturday, Jan. 21 to knock the socks off their audience at Lars Hockstad Auditorium.
They’ll have plenty of help: the U-M Glee Club is 95 singers strong and has won the appellation of “best choir in the world” four times in an international competition.
But the concert in Traverse City is especially poignant because no other town has contributed so many members.
“We boast more members from Traverse City than from any other individual city, which I think clearly speaks to Traverse City’s excellent high school music program,” Olson says.

LOOKING BACK
Jim Walter concurs. A 30-year area resident who’s made a career of the travel business, Walter first learned of Traverse City many years ago as a U-M Glee Club singer who performed in town.
“I fell in love with Traverse City more than 30 years ago as a student performing here in 1973,” Walter remembers. “That was the weekend I decided where I wanted to live the rest of my life.”
A member of the Glee Club from 1971-’74, today Walter runs an Ann Arbor based travel consulting firm called Crossing Boundaries. He’s also a key player with the local U-M Club which has as many as 250 active members and a mailing list of 2,000. It also has a new name, by the way: the U-M Grand Traverse Area Spirit Club.
Walter notes that the Glee Club is coming up on its 150th anniversary and is in fact the oldest student organization on campus, having gotten its wings back in 1859. It’s also a student-funded organization which relies on concerts and the assistance of alumni in groups such as the local Spirit Club. “Because it’s all student-funded the Glee Club really teaches the members a lot about how to run an organization,” he notes.

GOOD TIMES
Like Walter, many Glee Club members have a long-term bond forged by cameraderie. Olson, who sang in the choir in junior high and high school, says he joined the Glee Club as a freshman at U-M and became best friends with a number of members.
“For most of us, it’s the biggest highlight of our college years,” Olson says.
That highlight is brightened by the choir’s 16-day concert tour each spring: Olson has sung with the choir in Ireland, Britain, San Francisco and the East Coast and is looking forward to touring the Pacific Northwest this year. Venues may include ancient, awe-inspiring churches and cathedrals, as was the case in their tour of the British Isles.
Then too, there are spinoffs such as the 30-40 members who will sing at the upcoming Super Bowl pre-game show. There are also numerous concerts through the year such as the upcoming show in Traverse City which raises funds for the Club’s big spring tour.
“It’s pretty amazing to be able to travel like this,” Olson says. “We’re gone for 16 days at a very reasonable cost. No other organization in college does things like this.”
So, is being a member of the Glee Club like being in musical boot camp? Not at all: the members practice twice a week from 7:30-9 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. on Sunday.
“After the rehearsals most of us head over to a pizza place bar and sing old songs,” Olson says. “We have our own little room upstairs, but the people down below love to hear us sing.”
As for the upcoming show, it will include some Christmas songs the choir has been practicing, along with classical, gospel and pop selections. “A huge variety of songs,” Olson promises.

The U-M Glee Club performs Saturday, Jan. 21 at 8 p.m. at Lars Hockstad Auditorium in TC with tickets at $5 students and $10 general admission.

-- by Robert Downes
Who’s Who in the U-M Glee Club from TC:
Nick Olson – Tenor 1 – TC Central High School ‘02
English Major
Men of Note, Chorale, Choralaires in HS
Track and Soccer in HS

Adam Johnson – Baritone – TC Central High School ‘01
Brain, Behavior, and Cognitive Science
Men of Note, Chorale, Choralaires, numerous
musicals Track and XC Skiing in HS

Baylee Miller – Tenor 1 – TC Central High School ‘03
Industrial and Operations Engineering
Men of Note, Chorale, Choralaires, and numerous
musicals in HS

Scott Grost – Tenor 2 – TC Central High School ‘04
Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering
Men of Note, Chorale, Choralaires in HS, Soccer in HS


Tony Rinehart – Baritone – TC Central High School ‘05
Vocal Performance
Men of Note, Chorale, and numerous Musicals in HS Also in Marching Band, Symphony Band, and
Symphony Orchestra in HS

Dominic Merica – Bass – TC Central High School ‘05
Undecided Major
Men of Note and Chorale in HS
Track and Cross-Country

Sam Maxbauer – Baritone – West High School ‘05
Performing Arts Technology
Westmen, Chorale, Choralaires, and numerous
musicals in HS