A Gregorian chant echoed through the Administration Building Auditorium, sung by the Vandaleer Concert Choir. All voices sang loud and with passion — except for one. One voice couldn’t be heard through the tears and heartache.
George Wood Jr. | Blot| The Vandaleers perform at UI President Chuck Staben’s Inauguration in September.
Michael Murphy, choir director, suddenly asked them all to stop singing, and asked the voiceless girl, Madison Teuscher, to come forward. The other choral members formed a circle around her as they restarted the song.
There wasn’t a person in the circle that wasn’t in tears by the end of the song, Teuscher said.
When her father’s health worsened during her freshman year, Teuscher said her Vandaleer family was there to support and love her. She said the Vandaleers are like a family to her, especially in times of heartache.
“There aren’t many other places on campus that can make experiences like that,” Teuscher said, who is now a sophomore vocal performance major. “We spend so much time together, it would be hard not to get close.”
The Vandaleer Concert Choir has serenaded the University of Idaho community since its first conductor, Glen Lockery, founded the group in November 1930. Alumni have said some of their fondest memories at UI have been with the choir.
Erica Griffiths, a fifth-year Vandaleer, said she understands the long-standing tradition of the audition-only group. Her father was in the Vandaleers during his time at UI in the early ’70s, as a baritone. After hearing her dad talk about the group, Griffiths said she always strived to be a part of the Vandaleers.
“There’s a certain aspect of the Vandaleers you just can’t get anywhere else,” she said. “It is a really special thing.”
Griffiths said she and her father share many of the same memories of bonding with fellow vocalists and traveling to perform outside of Moscow.
But decades apart can leave room for some change.
She said the number of people in the choir is one of the biggest differences between her experience and her father’s. Griffiths said her dad remembers 70 to 80 members during his time, while Griffiths estimates there are usually 25 to 30 members now. Murphy wants to raise those numbers.
George Wood Jr. | Blot | Natalie Wren and Erica Griffiths practice with the Vandaleers in the Administration Building foyer, filling up the chamber with echoes of vocal harmonies.
Murphy said that since Lockery’s retirement in 1971, there hasn’t been much stability for the Vandaleer Choir, but he hopes to continue to improve the numbers.
“I was drawn to the job here at UI by the long tradition of the Vandaleers and the great possibility to build something here on that longstanding tradition,” Murphy said.
Since becoming the director, Murphy has set a goal to improve the prominence of the choir.
Murphy said the group now sings at many important campus events like Spring and Fall Commencement, Homecoming football games and Chuck Staben’s Presidential Inauguration.
“The Vandaleers are special because they represent generations of UI’s best voices,” Murphy said. “It is a tradition of not only beautiful voices, but good citizens and people.”
Griffiths said she admires and appreciates how well the choir works together. She said, to make the music the composers have envisioned, there must be many people working together and with the same passion.
“Music is such a bonding thing,” Griffiths said. “That’s why I love the choir so much — you can bond so many people together just by one song and one experience that you remember the rest of your life. That’s what the Vandaleers is.”