'The Mormon Choir Tabernacle'

Upgrades in the Temple Square venue have helped with efficiency and acoustics

The call comes at 9:29: one minute.

Then ...45 seconds

At 30 seconds, the choir stands.

Twenty seconds, 15 ... 10 ... five seconds. ...

Mack Wilberg, who will be conducting the first number raises his baton.

Four ... three ... two ... one ...

And the music begins: "Gently raise the sacred strain. ... "

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir begins its 4,072th "Music and the Spoken Word" broadcast, continuing its 79th year. And for the next 30 minutes, choir members will sing with their hearts and their voices — as they did last week and the week before. As they will next week and the week after.

They make it look easy ... smooth ... flawless. And yet, this precise moment in time is the culmination of not only countless minutes, hours, years of preparation, but also the unending efforts of a tireless, behind-the-scenes support staff that works cameras, production booths, libraries, wardrobe rooms and more — many of whom are, like the choir members, volunteers.

The number of people it takes to put together the weekly performance is impressive: 360 choir members, two conductors, three full-time and two part-time organists. And when the Orchestra at Temple Square is there, it adds another 110 people. Plus, there's the bell choir.

Then there's the support staff: the choir administration and secretaries, four full-time choral librarians, plus two music-handlers for each section, making 20 in all, plus four orchestra librarians, three full-time wardrobe workers for the women and two for the men, a stage crew of about 20 people for set-up and take-down, as well as other work.

And five couples are full-time service missionaries, dealing with such things as contracts, copyrights, budget, auditions and library work.

In all, says conductor Craig Jessop, about 500-550 people belong to the choir organization. And that doesn't count the people from Bonneville Communications, who do the technical work for the broadcast — the sound, the lighting, the cameras, or the groups from church hosting who help with the audience.

That's more people than there are in his Cache Valley hometown of Millville, jokes Jessop. "It's great that we all get along. This is a fantastic place and a fantastic team, and they all work together. Probably our greatest blessing is that (LDS) President (Gordon B.) Hinckley serves as our adviser. He's had that job since the death of Richard L. Evans, and he retains it to this day."

It is definitely a multilayered organization, says Jessop, and what makes it succeed is that "everyone here comes with a common purpose. They are united by two things — their faith, which provides discipline and is a unifier, and their love of music, which gives them extraordinary focus. They are a dedicated group."

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