Choral Concert in Jacksonville

Last Friday I drove to Jacksonville to attend a concert in which my son was singing. It was the 14th Annual Intercollegiate Choral Festival, presented by Jacksonville University and held on its campus at Terry Hall. Featured were choirs from three Jacksonville colleges: Florida State College at Jacksonville, the University of North Florida, and of course Jacksonville University.

Each college had a section of the show in which it presented its own choir and selected pieces. I was impressed with all three, especially considering the relatively short span of a few weeks that they had to prepare for this concert. The conductors for Florida State College, UNF, and Jacksonville University were R. Wayne Bailey, Dr. Cara Tasher, and Dr. Jon O. Carlson, respectively.

Since the presentation was considered to be part of the students' classes, those not onstage sat in the audience to learn from the other performances. But for the parents and friends of the singers, this presented a problem because of the few empty seats left over in the hall. Although I was near the concert hall door when general seating opened, I was barely able to find a seat. And many people were left standing on the side.

Before the concert, I walked around the Jacksonville University campus, which lies on the eastern shores of the St. Johns River. First I tried out their library, which closed at 6 pm on Fridays. That should have given me a clue about the size of JU. I then walked around their campus, and its smallness was instilled within me. Oh well, I just sat around and waited for the 7:30 concert.

And it was worth waiting for.

P.S., during the concert I was treated to a delightful happily and loudly babbling baby three seats down from me, accompanied by scornful reactions from some of those seated nearby. Yippee!