Ball State University’s Vox Anima ensemble, an all-female choir, took center stage at Sursa Performance Hall delivering ‘Women of Song.’ This annual concert aims to promote women musicians and lyricists during Ball State’s Women’s Week throughout Women’s History Month.

 The ensemble was joined by White River Sound, a female acapella chorus group with barbershop harmony. 

On March 19, both groups sang songs combining different genres with White River Sound opening the night.  The concert ended with a collaborative performance between both chorus groups with J. David Moore’s song, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” 

First-year vocal performance major Colleen Tiernan said some of the songs performed had lyrics or compositions written by women. As a woman in the choir, she was empowered to sing tracks with influences from women, which is something she said she doesn’t do as often with Vox Anima.

“At least in my field, it still is very male-dominated when it comes to what composers we are singing and the conductors we have,” Tiernan said. “It’s been really wonderful to get to sing stuff that has a particularly female influence.” 

Tiernan appreciates the camaraderie the performers of Vox Anima have with one another, which she said separates them from all other ensembles at Ball State.

“We’re all very much on the same page as our goals, and when we're singing, we can really feel each other and we share a lot of the same love for music, which I think really puts us on the same page,” Tiernan said.

Second-year jazz studies major Griffin McAtee came to the concert that night to support his girlfriend in Vox Anima. He liked the song “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning” played at the show.

“That’s a really popular jazz tune, so it’s cool to see the differences in arrangements for a choral setting versus a jazz setting,” McAtee said.

As someone who enjoys concerts and hearing a variety of different genres played, he appreciated the diverse styles utilized during Women of Song by both choir groups. The song “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” reminded McAtee of when he sang during high school.

First-year vocal performance major Alana Willenson said she felt empowerment through singing with others in a form of music she loves in the choir.

“Getting together with people and women who share the same passion and love that I do I think is super powerful because we sing about universal experiences," Willenson said. “We sang different genres of music that we all love, and I think getting together and just being able to do that and present that and just be a part of such a powerful art form is in itself, very empowering.”

Having done choir since she was 4 years old, she said enjoying herself in the current moment is something she’s struggled with and had to learn not to focus so much on her performance.

“I can be happy, live in the moment, and focus on the people that I'm singing with instead of every note,” Willenson said. “But as a singer, I'd say there's always room for growth, and as a person, enjoy the moment, enjoy the people around you, and enjoy the end goal.”

Vox Anima’s next choral concert is their 60th Annual Spectacular with University Singers, which is at 7:00 pm at Emens Auditorium on Saturday, April 13.

Contact Zach Gonzalez with comments via email at zachary.gonzalez@bsu.edu 

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