“The University Church just begs to be sung in,” says Lindsay Armstrong, junior vocal performance major. “But the echoes we hear while we’re singing in that acoustically amazing space wouldn't be nearly as satisfying if we weren't able to freely sing about what is literally the greatest phenomenon in this world: that an uncontainable God wants a relationship with each of us.”
Armstrong is in her third year as a member of both the University Singers and the select choir, I Cantori. She is learning musical techniques such as sight-reading, intervals, using her voice to blend with a group rather than stand out, reading other languages, and analyzing the meanings of text. More than that, she says, she is learning life skills such as how to get along with different types of people, how to admit when you’re wrong and how to listen to other people.
“The most important thing I've learned, however, is that vulnerability is what marks a great performer or performance. People respond to authenticity in performances. You have to do the hard work," she says. "You have to know your pieces so well that you can then go and perform and focus on the personal meaning to you. That's when the magic happens. That's when people are drawn closer to God because we are simply showing them what God means to us.”
