From Deseret News archives:

'The Mormon Choir Tabernacle'

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

Published: Friday, Sept. 28, 2007 4:02 p.m. MDT
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The day's outfit is posted as choir members arrive in street clothes, and sometime's there's a dressed mannequin to show just how it should look.

The men's ties are all kept in drawers; the women's jewelry hung in rows. That day's jewelry will be put on a special tree, so the women can slip one off and put it on as they leave the dressing room.

All the women's dresses are made on-site, says wardrobe mistress Valorie Jensen. The sewing is done by Peggy Becker and Margot Marler. When a new design is chosen, they make a dress in every size from 4 to 30. Then individual choir members come in for fittings. Designs are elegant, but simple, and made for easy adjustments. For example, a shift that goes under a jacket is designed so the length can be adjusted by shoulder straps rather than rehemming.

"We do a new dress for each tour and order fabric 5,000 yards at a time," says Jensen. The dresses are also constructed to minimize upkeep. Embellishments are attached with magnets, so they can be removed for dry-cleaning. "It takes a month to dry-clean one outfit," she says. "We send them out 50 at a time."

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Equally impressive are other new facilities in the basement. There's a new "horseshoe" rehearsal hall, big enough that all choir members can sit.

"This is where the old translation booths used to be. But now they can do that work anywhere," says Barrick. It doubles as storage for orchestra cases. And it can be set up with baffles for smaller recordings. "They can do all kinds of sound effects here, now," he adds, "the kind of things we used to go to the BYU movie studio for."

There's a new projection booth, where postproduction work can be done. There's a TelePrompTer room that not only controls the TelePrompTer but allows people unfamiliar with it to come and practice. Under the Assembly Hall, in what used to be called "the south pit" because it was so dark and dreary, there are now airy classrooms and rehearsal halls.

There are lifts for moving heavy set pieces. "We can now do three configurations out in the hall," says Barrick. There's the setup for the orchestra, with a huge platform. There's the "conference mode" that accommodates rows of chairs for speakers. And there's an in-between setup. "The pieces all fit together, kind of like Legos. It really maximizes what we can do."

There's also housing for all the mechanical equipment. "We couldn't actually air-condition the hall. So each seat in the choir loft has a blower under it. The air blows up, and there are intake valves at the back of the hall."

Recent comments

Back in 1988, as a recent convert to the Church in a small island...

Angel | March 5, 2008 at 6:02 a.m.

I am not really informed on the things going on in the Tabernacle...

Seanna McLouth | Nov. 14, 2007 at 5:31 p.m.

It was a hot July day in the Summer of 1944 during World War II. Our...

Michel R. Scott | Nov. 9, 2007 at 6:32 p.m.

Image

Mack Wilberg conducts a rehearsal of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for "Music and the Spoken Word" in the refurbished Tabernacle on Temple Square.

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