Schoenberg Music Building resonated with the sound of singing voices and turning pages.
Soprano, alto and tenor voices bounced off the walls as the professor urged the students in his class to not face him but to stand in a circle and rely solely on each other.
“All we want is perfection,” said Donald Neuen, professor of music and director of choral activities.
This choral class of more than 100 students is just one of five classes in the UCLA choral program, which includes the Chorale, the Chorus, the Chamber Singers, the Women’s Choir and the Men’s Choir.
The Chorale meets twice a week and holds performances at the end of each quarter.
This quarter, the concert is scheduled to take place on Saturday, June 7 in Royce Hall.
Sarah van der Hal, a graduate student in music specializing in choral conducting who works with Neuen, said the group is practicing to perform Brahms’ “German Requiem,” a piece that is over 40 minutes long.
She said Brahms composed the piece in German instead of the traditional Latin so the people could understand.
“Professor Neuen feels that since we’re doing this in America, we want to do it in English so the people will understand,” she said.
Neuen said Brahms’ “German Requiem” is a funeral piece but takes an optimistic approach to death.
“(Brahms’) theological concept is that death is nothing to fear but a time of rejoicing as you step into eternity,” he said.
Caitlin Bedsworth, a second-year sociology student, said that, though the piece is long and the group will undoubtedly get tired, it is worthwhile.
“You have to press through and drink a lot of water beforehand and remember how meaningful it is to you and why you’re doing it,” she said.
More than 90 students were chosen from the UCLA Chorus and Chorale and traveled to China this spring break to perform in Beijing and Shanghai in addition to their quarterly concerts.
John Sisk, a third-year music composition student who was selected to go on the China trip, said the trip was very exhausting because the group performed almost every night instead of resting after long days of sight-seeing.
However, Sisk said he also believes the trip was very eye-opening.
“To see things like the Great Wall and the Forbidden City and the Beijing Olympic stadium and to see the differences between the cultures in Shanghai and Beijing and Los Angeles is really cool,” Sisk said.
The trip gave UCLA students the unique opportunity to interact with choir groups in China, van der Hal said.
Neuen said the selections the students performed in China included American folk songs, songs from Broadway musicals, African American spirituals, patriotic songs, jazz, classical music and Chinese folk songs.
A Chinese choir group will be traveling to the United States soon and is scheduled to perform at UCLA on May 8.
Van der Hal said the UCLA choral program is hoping to go on similar trips in the future, but it is hard to fundraise for such a large trip.
She said that, though there are not many off-campus performances, the choral groups also perform at private events, and the Chamber Singers often perform at the rotunda in Powell Library.
Van der Hal said that the majority of students in the choral classes are not music students, and both South Campus and North Campus students come together for the common purpose of singing.
Bedsworth said she enjoys singing with people who come from diverse backgrounds.
“I think it’s just fun to meet people who have far more talent than I think I do and realize that we all like the same thing,” she said.
Students with different singing experiences join the choral program at UCLA, Neuen said.
Bedsworth said she had not performed in choirs before college but had some singing experience when she was younger.
Sisk said he started singing last year at his community college and was surprised that he got into the top choral group and the Chamber Singers when he auditioned for the program after transferring to UCLA.
“It was the last thing in the world I was expecting,” he said.
Students have the option of enrolling in the UCLA Chorale for credit or participating without enrolling.
Auditions for choral classes are held during the beginning of every quarter.
Van der Hal said the choral program seeks students with a high quality of voice and who have the ability to read music.
Sisk said the choral program is very flexible for non-music students because students don’t need to practice much outside of the classroom.
“There’s not really room for nonmajors in most of the other music departments, but there is in the choir,” he said. “A non-music major isn’t going to have the time to practice six hours a day on the violin.”
Back in class, Neuen told his students to smile as they sing.
“OK, here we go, team,” he said.
Bedsworth said she believes Neuen brings a lot of life to the choir.
Neuen said he has been conducting choirs for 54 years and has been conducting choir at UCLA for 14.
He said he derives inspiration from college students and giving them the same exhilaration he feels about singing.
“The sole reason for the arts is to express inner feelings, and art enhanced by musical expression is a truly wonderful thing for the soul,” Neuen said.
Neuen said he believes music allows for camaraderie and intermingling between music programs.
“In athletics, the only way you win is if someone else loses, but the one thing about the arts is that everybody can win if they simply work hard enough,” Neuen said.