EMHS Touring Choir History

Early Beginnings: 1917-1948

1917: Noah D. Showalter, a native of the Shenandoah Valley, is hired to teach vocal music courses for the inaugural school year..

1918: Elizabeth Horsch and Henry B. Keener are hired as music faculty, and the first chorus class is offered. In 1921, Keener directs the first public presentation of David, the Shepherd Boy at commencement, a tradition that continues until 1973.

1922: Music faculty member Chester K. Lehman begins the tradition of singing The Holy City, by Alfred Gaul at EMS.

1930: EMS earns status as a Junior College, but high school and college voices continue to intermingle in choirs.

1937: Lehman takes 23 students to sing in Mennonite churches in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

1938: J. Mark Stauffer is hired as music teacher and choir director.

1940: Stauffer forms a Junior Chorus of 90 voices of mostly high school students. Stauffer takes increasing numbers of students to other locations for programs, always with the goal of contributing to church worship and developing students’ skills.

1947: EMS becomes Eastern Mennonite College with accreditation approval to offer a four-year degree; high school remains under college administration. In the spring, 24 choir members present programs in New York, Pennsylvania, and Canada. By that fall, touring becomes an annual tradition with a 10-day tour of western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, and Michigan. For the first time, the ensemble is referred to as “Touring Chorus.”

New Directions: 1948-1966

1948: Due to increasing music curriculum for both high school and college classes, Earl M. Maust is hired.

1949 and ‘50: Men’s Chorus tours during Christmas break and again in the spring as far north as Ontario, Canada.

1955: Audrey B. Shank is hired and launches a new “High School Chorus” that becomes “Vesper Chorus” in 1959 when membership is restricted exclusively to high school students. As a result, the high school music department becomes responsible for the annual David, the Shepherd Boy tradition.

1956:  Jay B. Landis, high school English faculty with choral experience, leads additional high school choral opportunities.

Spring 1959: Shank travels with the Girls’ Octet and Landis with the Boys Octet to sing in churches in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Ohio (girls) and Canada (boys). These tours marked the first time in the school’s history that exclusively high school choral ensembles go on tour.

1962: Shank takes the high school Vesper Chorus to Belleville, Pennsylvania, for the inaugural Mennonite High School Music Festival with Belleville, Christopher Dock, Johnstown, and Central Christian schools.

1964: The high school moves into its new building at 800 Parkwood Drive. Annetta Wenger Miller organizes the first Touring Chorus to participate in the Mennonite High School Music Festival at Christopher Dock High School. Touring Chorus: sang during the new Senior Parent Weekend, which was especially for parents of boarding students.
participated in the District V Music Festival and received the highest rating of “1.”
performed two selections for the first high school Baccalaureate program, part of Commencement Weekend.

1965-66: Reuben Yoder is head of the music department. Touring Chorus performs in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan en route to and from the Mennonite High School Music Festival at Goshen (Indiana) College. Use of instrumental music to accompany singing and the commencement processional and recessional is approved.

Establishing Traditions: 1966 to 1981

1966 to 1981: Marvin Miller serves as music department chair and director of the Touring Chorus/Choir. Louis Lehman covers a 1975-76 sabbatical.

Touring Choir appearances increase from eight per year in 1967 to over 30 annually by 1975. Performances include concerts at Homecoming, Senior Parent Weekend, and Commencement weekend, and at Mennonite churches along the way to the music festival each year. These traditions last into the 2020s.

1967: EMHS hosts the Mennonite High School Music Festival at Eastern Mennonite College for the first time.  Mary K. Oyer is the guest conductor.

1971: Touring Choir records their first album after their spring tour.

1973: The Fine Arts wing addition to the northeast side of the building opens. Miller is key in designing and advocating for the addition. Students and alumni raise half of the proposed $80,000 necessary to begin construction.

1975: Touring Choir sings at Disney World after submitting an audition tape.

1978: For the first time, the tour program bulletin listed “Touring Choir” instead of “Touring Chorus.”

Touring Choir: 1981 to 2016

1981 to 2016: Jay Hartzler is music department chair and Touring Choir director. Thomas Fitch covers a 1989-90 sabbatical, and Jared Stutzman covers a 2012-13 sabbatical.

Hartzler notes that early in his tenure, he could pick virtually any song from the Mennonite Hymnal for Chapel and a critical mass of students would sing, even sight reading a new tune. As the years passed, it grew harder to lead unfamiliar songs. Hartzler attributes the change to decreasing Mennonite student enrollment, as well as Mennonite churches changing their singing practices.

1991: Biannual summer international choir trips begin and take place every other year except for 1997 and 2020.

1996: Touring Choir wins the top award at the Montreal International Music Competition.

1997:Touring Choir is the first high school choir from Virginia to sing at the Southern Division of the American Choral Directors Association convention.

1990s – Touring Choir is selected to sing for the National Kodaly Conference.

2000: Arts wing and Auditorium addition on the southeast side of the building are dedicated. The addition is designed by architect Lori Snyder ‘79 Gant.

Touring Choir: 2016 - present

2016 to present: Jared Stutzman leads the music department and Touring Choir. He, too, observes  decreasing interest and comfort in four-part a capella singing in Chapel.

2017: EMS hosts the Mennonite High School Choral Festival at Eastern Mennonite University to help celebrate the school’s centennial year. ?? is guest conductor.

2020: Touring Choir spring programs, Mennonite School Choral Festival and summer tour in Europe are canceled due to Covid-19.

2020-21: EMS remains open with in-person school; students sing outside, masked, at a distance, using megaphones, and in separate rooms.

2021: School leadership makes a strategic decision to expand the middle school music curriculum to focus time on teaching four part a capella singing. Stutzman begins to see renewed comfort with Chapel singing.

2022: A spring Touring Choir trip to Puerto Rico signals the beginning of return to normalcy.

2023: Touring Choir travels to Europe again.