“Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand”. These lyrics from Sir Duke, a song in our choir’s repertoire, could not have been more accurate than when they rang out during the several friendship concerts in which I participated as a member of the BHS Choir that traveled to Italy for an international choir festival and competition this past spring. During this trip, we performed in many friendship concerts with other choirs from Italy. During these concerts, I had a chance to not only experience a different dialect of music, but the traditions of the Italian people. I will never forget that long bus ride all the way up the winding mountain to the small village in which we performed our first friendship concert. The entire ride, I could feel the excitement in the air. Upon arrival, we were greeted with friendly smiles from the other choirs and each of the singers was eager to introduce him or herself with a giant hug. For us, this was strange: hugging people we did not know, especially since they were soon to be our competition. However, after we all sang our separate repertoires, and we sang Modonella and Irish Blessing together, as one choir, it was as though we were one, big family. The language barrier and cultural differences did not matter; we were all there to sing, and because of that, we understood each other perfectly. Another of my favorite concerts in Italy was the one after which the Italian choir made us homemade gnocchi. The men were dressed in their Alpine uniforms and served each of us a generous helping. It gave me a great sense of home in a completely strange land. I would not expect to have this feeling in a different town here in the United States, let alone another country. This was a great gesture of hospitality and showed how accepting the Italians were to other cultures. Even though we did not speak the same language (although we did try) music created a bond between the choirs that could not have been created in any other way. The best example of such a bonding experience was during the closing ceremony of the festival. As the master of ceremonies stood in front of us all, he began to hum Amazing Grace. The theater was soon filled with a harmony of voices that could not be found elsewhere. It was absolutely amazing how hundreds of people were able to produce the same song without even speaking the same language; but in actuality, we did all speak the same language: music. People always claim that Americans stick out in a crowd of Europeans, but when the Americans are singing, they do not stand out. They are able to blend in and be one with those of a different culture, even only for a moment, creating a lasting bond across different lifestyles and traditions.
