The Symbolism of Singing

Being a singer myself, one of the most enjoyable parts of Conclave, for me, has been the performances of the SigEp Chorus. Some would say that the chorus is a fun little addition to the Conclave, and not particularly important or even pertinent. I, however, disagree. There is a huge amount of symbolism in any choral singing, and in this group in particular, that is absolutely relevant to the mission of SigEp.

First of all, any chorus is a bringing together of different voices. Variety is a necessity. If there is uniformity, there is also limitation. The music is only complete if some voices take the high part, others the middle, and still others the low. It doesn't matter that the high voices can't reach the low notes, because the lower voices can, and vice versa. Each voice fills in a piece of the overall picture that others cannot. Only when different kinds of voices are brought together can the full range of the music be expressed.

Second, balance is crucial. If one voice is too strong and another is too weak, the harmony is lost. Each voice needs to listen to the other voices and adjust itself so each of the parts complements the others. Everyone has to be aware of those around them. Sometimes that means fading into the background, sometimes it means taking a more prominent role. But always, it means being aware of the strengths and weaknesses of those around, and either helping or compensating for them. 

Third, everyone has to pay attention to the leader. There are times when members can - and should - make suggestions, and every member makes a contribution. But unless there is a single leader taking those suggestions into account and making a final decision, the voices pull apart and confusion reigns. The beauty is drawn forth when there is a single leader setting the pace and establishing unity. 

And finally, an aspect that is somewhat unique to the SigEp Chorus: these voices take what they have learned and practiced with other groups and other singers, and learn to apply it in this group. The songs they perform here, each has performed in other places, amidst other voices. But no two groups perform any piece exactly the same way. They must adapt their usual styles to find a common style that works for everyone. They must let go of the familiar and be open-minded enough to try a different way of doing things. They bring their different experiences together and form a unified whole by choosing the best parts of each contributor and finding what works best in this unique circumstance.

There have been scientific studies showing that choral singing creates a physical unity among the singers: they breathe in rhythm, even their hearts begin to beat in a single rhythm (The Scientist, July 2013). Anyone who has sung in a chorus - particularly a very good chorus - knows that mystical feeling when everyone seems to be in perfect sync, as if they are reading each other's minds. They are perfectly attuned to each other singer and to the leader, and they work together as a single, unified whole.

So what better analogy of the workings of an organization like SigEp than that of members of a chorus working together? Brothers come from many geographic locations and walks of life. They each bring their own unique set of skills and experiences. All brothers need to contribute, and if some do all the work and others just coast, there is no balance, and the chapter - or the national fraternity - suffers. Yet if they work together, the strengths of one member can offset - or better yet, teach - the weaknesses of another. Although there are many voices, there needs to be a single point of leadership, whether it be an individual or a small group, or consensus will never be reached. The leader must take input from the membership, but must then make a decisive choice.

At the national level, SigEp takes the unique styles and experiences of each chapter, all with a common mission yet with their own methods of achieving that mission, and melds them into a single, cohesive whole, weighing the different variations and choosing the best combination of all the varied experiences and practices of the member chapters. There are many individual SigEp brothers, many individual SigEp chapters, many individual SigEp regions, but when they combine as a national whole, their hearts beat as one.

SigEp Style

One of my favorite quotes from the Harry Potter books is from the scene in The Order of the Phoenix where Dumbledore is about to be seized by the Ministry of Magic and thrown in Azkaban, the wizarding prison, and he escapes by grabbing the tail of his phoenix and vanishing into thin air. One of the portraits on the wall comments, "You know, Minister, I disagree with Dumbledore on several points, but you can't deny he's got style."

After attending yesterday evening's "Balanced Man Celebration" at the Grand Ole Opry, I have to say the same about SigEp: You may disagree with them on some points, but you can't deny they've got style.

The Celebration was, in a word, slick. Not in an officious, snake-oil-salesman kind of way, but in a highly produced, cutting edge kind of way. The evening began with the roughly 1600-strong crowd gathering outside the host resort, where a marching band in full regalia was waiting to lead them down the street to the Grand Ole Opry itself.

The crowd looks sparse in this photo, but there was a huge throng right behind us!

A few of the younger brothers wrapped themselves in SigEp and chapter flags; everyone was dressed to the nines in suits and ties, the few ladies in the crowd (myself included) wearing cocktail dresses and heels. As soon as we entered the lobby of the Opry, we found the SigEp Chorus gathered on a staircase, singing traditional a cappella songs, which were piped into the auditorium itself as the crowd filtered in.

There was time to sit and take in the historic surroundings before the show started. I admired the huge venue, the rich red curtain, the warm wood of the pew-style seating, and the impressive scaffolding supporting what was obviously millions of dollars worth of high-tech sound and lighting equipment.

Amidst everything, there was a good deal of haze and fog billowing from the edges of the stage, filling the auditorium. I wondered if there had been some pyrotechnic display before we came in. But as the house lights darkened, the curtain rose, and a deep, booming voice welcomed us all to Conclave, the reason for the smoke was made clear: an impressive laser light display accompanied the disembodied voice. Beams of light in every color of the rainbow shot across the room, creating starbursts and cascades and waterfalls of color and light. The beams spun, twisted, and chased each other, converging and breaking apart again. After several minutes, the colorful beams vanished.

The music became deeper and images appeared on a large screen on the stage as a yet deeper and even more booming voice took up the narrative. Flashes of historic documents were interspersed with shots of well-dressed, enthusiastic-looking young men; glimpses of Conclaves past and their associated banners shot past, a dizzyingly fast succession of images of the men of SigEp being successful in various way. I found it a bit disconcerting, like the jump-cut images in an old black-and-white movie that are meant to show that a character is going insane or having a breakdown. I'm not sure I liked it, but it definitely had a certain style. And it definitely appealed to the up-and-coming, young graduate demographic. It was modern, it was eye-popping, it was slick.

As the final words of the video echoes through the hall, there were a few moments of hushed anticipation, and then we heard the distant sound of bagpipes droning.From the rear of the auditorium, still in near-complete darkness, a bagpipe band in kilts, sporrans, and everything in between proceeded down the aisles, the drummers bringing up the rear, spinning their drumsticks in the shadows.

When their last note had faded away, the lights were raised just the slightest bit and the procession of flags began: flagbearers bearing the official state flag of all fifty United States marched down the aisle, swinging their flags in giant figure eights, ascending the stairs onto the stage, and crossing each other to place each flag prominently in a rack on either side of the front of the stage.

The flag display from the 2009 Conclave.

When the state flags had all been placed, another procession of SigEp flags, each bearing a single Greek letter (as used to denote each chapter's order of founding within their state), from alpha to omega, finally culminating in a large SigEp flag edged in gold fringe, which was brought to the stage to the sound of loud clapping and cheering.

It was an impressive introduction to the evening's program, and whatever you may think about the message SigEp was trying to bring across, you have to admit that they were bringing it across with style. And that's not a bad thing. Style catches people's eyes. Style calls attention to itself. Style proclaims that it has it all together. Style implies success. So showing that you've got style really isn't a bad way at all to declare yourself competent, contemporary, and relevant.

SigEp: They've got style.

A Woman in a Man's World

I am spending this week completely immersed in a man's world. I am spending the next five days surrounded by frat boys, current and former (although, truthfully, there's no such thing as a "former frat boy"). I am attending the biennial "Grand Chapter Conclave" of my husband's college fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon, more commonly referred to affectionately as merely "SigEp." I am a woman in a man's world.

I will freely admit, however, that being a woman here does not make me feel like an outsider. In fact, being a woman makes me feel like I'm being especially welcomed and treated extra graciously. Maybe it's because this year's conclave is being held in Nashville, Tennessee, so I'm surrounded by traditional Southern manners, but I feel like I'm being treated, not as a woman, but as a lady.

I like it.

But what I like most about it is that it represents the respect that these young men are showing, not only to me, as a woman, but also to the older alumni and national fraternity staffers, as SigEp brethren.

Let me back up a bit and confess that when my husband introduced me to SigEp eight years ago, I was not a fan of fraternities. The college I attended didn't have fraternities or sororities, so I didn't have much firsthand experience with them. Most of my knowledge was through news stories (rarely favorable) and movies (never favorable). To me, belonging to a fraternity was an excuse to binge drink without having to get yourself home afterwards. However, once my husband joined the Alumni Volunteer Corporation (AVC) of SigEp New Hampshire Alpha (his alma mater, Dartmouth College, "the fount of knowledge, where young men go to drink"), and later became the AVC President, I got to know some fraternity members (both alumni and undergrads) firsthand, and I changed my tune.

Certainly, there are plenty of young men in SigEp and many other fraternities who spend more time drinking than they should. Which admittedly is not that different than young men NOT in fraternities who spend more time drinking than they should. But the people who changed my opinion on fraternities were not so much the "current frat boys," but rather the "former frat boys," the older men - some just a few years out of college, some a few decades, and some more than a few decades - who had taken on the roles of mentoring their younger brethren. In these men, I could see their youthful fraternity experiences - the non-drinking kind - come to fruition. These were men who had become solid family men, successful businessmen, community activists, philanthropists, and just generally nice people. These men were the kind of men I want my son to grow up to be.

And here at conclave, I can see the younger men also wanting to grow up to be like these older men. I can see the common thread of SigEp brotherhood bridging the generation gap and providing a measure of trust and respect that allows the undergrads to grudgingly admit that maybe these old guys have something valuable to share with them. And I can see that same thread of brotherhood allowing these old guys to see past the youthful wildness and recognize the enormous potential inside every one of these young brothers. The reason it works is that the respect goes both ways. The young men respect the alumni's knowledge and wisdom and experience; the alumni respect the young men's enthusiasm and energy and potential. Being a SigEp automatically creates a peer relationship between two men. My 50-something husband often notices a stranger wearing a SigEp insignia and introduces himself as a friend whether the brother is 20 or 80. The SigEp connection is clearly one that transcends age and social and financial status. If you're a SigEp, you're a brother, and that's all there is to it.

The mentorship of alumni is a crucial part of the fraternity experience and, in my opinion, it is the reason that many SigEps turn out to be the kind of successful adults that they do. SigEp obviously has succeeded mightily with its mission of mentoring undergraduate members.

And so, when a young SigEp brother stands as I enter the room, or politely holds the door for me, it makes me feel good, not just because I enjoy being treated like a lady, but because I know he treats his SigEp brethren with that same respect.

Although I suspect he doesn't call any of them "ma'am."