3CVJE and the Jazz Pop Choir, Columbia College Chicago

As someone who had never been to a Columbia College musical event until the other night, I was amazed by the 3CVJE and Jazz Pop Choir performances that took place in The Concert Hall of Columbia’s Music Center on April 20, 2009.

Before entering the hall, I picked up a program, and read that the Jazz Pop Choir is a one-credit course that meets two times per week, and is open for anyone to join. The other ensemble, 3CVJE is, however, by audition only, and rehearses three times each week.

Taking my seat in the still brightly lit room, I noticed the red, blue, green, and red shirts sitting in the back row. Members of the Jazz Pop Choir sat giggling, chatting, and anxiously waiting to take the blue-spotlighted stage.

Shortly, the lights dimmed and the 3CVJE members (six girls, four boys) appeared on stage from behind the curtains. While each singer clutched their own mic, clear, upbeat, perfected vocals exploded from the speakers. During all of their songs, in which there always seemed to be a cute, flirty dialogue apparent in the men’s and women’s lyrics, the singers smiled, laughed, winked, snapped their fingers and swayed to the beat for the audience as the choir director bopped around in the aisle and the stage, beaming from ear to ear. The entertaining solos and animated gestures that were sprinkled throughout each song made this performance anything but a dull choir concert.

After a few full-length solo songs sung by “stand out” members from the groups, the Jazz Pop Choir swarmed the stage to impress me further. While clearly not as polished, or vocally stunning as 3CVJE (the group as a whole looked much younger than the 3CVJE), the Jazz Pop Choir belted out songs like “We All Need Saving” (originally recorded by popular pop singer Jon McLaughlin), and “Swingin with the Saints,” a contemporary, playful take on the children’s song.

The singers were obviously the stars of the show, but one of my favorite performances that night was by the groups’ director. An exceedingly happy woman in a black pant suit that danced and joked around with her students on stage (once pretending to hide a mic from a boy about to do a solo), reminded the soloists to “Take a bow!” mid-song, and gushed about her singers and instrumentalists during every break. She was so proud of her students, and by the end of the show, so was the audience. She also took a few moments to pitch the groups, and encourage anyone in the audience to see her after the show about joining next semester. “We’re looking for new folks,” she explained, “men, especially.”

I clapped loudly song after song – and I’m not normally a passionate clapper. I expected to be dying to leave the one and a half hour concert early, and I ended up reluctantly exiting the hall, wishing the show hadn’t been over so soon. Walking home, I realized that I now wanted to be every girl that performed, and I had a crush on each boy that had sung.

Like Columbia College, the concert offered a quirky, non-traditional, and inspiring take on the arts. Both groups will be performing at Columbia's Manifest this May.