Flash mob in the BYU library

When flash mobs go Mormon, and invade sacred spaces like libraries, in Provo, Utah . . . well, that’s pushing the boundaries a bit, and telling the aging of the ritual, too.

How many times have you sung in the atrium of a library and thought it would be a great place for a choir?

Notes from the BYU Singers at YouTube (I added links, except for the first YouTube link):

http://youtu.be/LkE_vk86fq0?t=1h7m10s is the link to hear the BYU Singers perform it in concert!

The BYU Singers appear out of the crowd to sing O Sapientia in the BYU Library. For a brief minute, the library stood still! The audience was captivated, and asked for more. We told them that it sounds better live and invited them to our concert!

And, in comments:

Thank you so much for listening to the BYU Singers! Some viewers asked for a recording of us singing “O Sapientia” by Bob Chilcott without the background noise of the library. We’ve put a link into this video’s description, as well as in an annotation during the first 10 seconds of the video. The link goes directly to us singing “O Sapientia” during a broadcast of our concert on Saturday, November 17, 2012 in the DeJong Concert Hall at BYU. Thank you again for listening!

When I attended college at Utah’s senior (and superior) educational institution (back when Dinosaur Jim Jensen was hunting them live in Central Utah), J. Willard Marriott gave $1 million to the University of Utah to finish the library, and a couple of years later gave $1 million to BYU to finish the basketball center.  We noted that Marriott was a good judge of where the priorities lay at each institution.  Since then, BYU built a new library which is, I hear, quite glorious as a study location.  Except, of course, it’s located on the campus of BYU.  If you’re studying late nights there, let’s just say you’d better have had a good night’s sleep the previous week, because caffeine is going to be hard to come by.

I think the Franklin Stewart Harris Fine Arts Center, home of the DeJong Concert Hall, is the only college building in this nation named after a relative of mine.  In the center of an academic institution that often troubled me deeply, it was the site of many a pleasant day in extension classes (here’s to you, Max Golightly), student performances, and debate headquarters.  I’ve taken solace in the building’s being dedicated to arts and performance, which transcends all the other problems I have with the school.

Those kids sing pretty well, don’t you think?

Did you also notice?  No one shushed them.  I mean, it sounded pretty noisy for a library — but it’s still a library!

Tip of the old scrub brush to Evelyn Earl Jeffries.

More:

• VIDEO: Holiday Flash Mob (smallgroupofthoughtfulpeople.com)
• BYU students aim for longest maple doughnut record (abc4.com)
• Flash mob Carmina Burana (timpanogos.wordpress.com)