The Ohio State University Men's Glee Club
| The Ohio State University Men's Glee Club | |
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The OSUMGC Crest
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Columbus, Ohio, US |
| Website | mgc |
The Ohio State University Men's Glee Club is an all-male choral ensemble at The Ohio State University. Officially founded in 1875, the Men's Glee Club is one of the oldest student organizations on Ohio State's campus and is the 12th oldest collegiate glee club in the United States. The group has garnered many accolades, most notably winning Choir of the World 1990 from the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod. They were the first all-male choir and the first choir from the United States to do so since modern competition began in 1987.
Membership consists of approximately 75 singers auditioned from all academic colleges within the university. A smaller a cappella group, The Statesmen, is auditioned from within the group. Their repertoire consists of lighter, contemporary fare, which complements the Men’s Glee Club’s more classical selections. The current director is Robert J. Ward, who is also the Director of Choral Activities at Ohio State. He has held the position since 2004, before which he was a member of the music faculty at Oklahoma State University for sixteen years.
The informal beginnings of the Men’s Glee Club date back to 1873, the first year the university was open to students. At the time, the group was little more than a social club, but by 1875, with the opening of the North Dorms, Ohio State’s student newspaper, The Lantern, began making significant references to an organized chorus operating within the dorms. Since the dorms would have been occupied solely by men, it is likely that the membership of this chorus significantly overlapped with the Glee Club. Although dates listed on early recorded albums corroborate the Men’s Glee Club’s founding date of 1873, the official date is listed as 1875 due to the foundation of the North Dorms chorus. Thus, the Men’s Glee Club is the second-oldest currently active student organization on Ohio State’s campus, the oldest being the Agricultural Education Society.
Throughout the 1880s, the Glee Club failed to reorganize many times due to apathy from the student body, despite the popular sentiment that a Glee Club was one of the most important aspects of collegiate social life. However, the arrival of football on Ohio State’s campus revitalized interest in the choral arts as a means of raising school spirit at sporting events. Specifically, the growing collection of school songs and yells demanded a Glee Club to sing them. By 1890, the Glee Club was reorganized and began writing and performing many school songs, including the oldest college yell still in use at Ohio State:
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