This spring, 17 women will join the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and the transition will look seamless–at least as far as the wardrobe is concerned.  But it is a monumental task to dress all the women in matching outfits Sunday after Sunday, not to mention while the Choir is on tour. The Choir provides nine dresses for each woman in colors to suit the camera and styles to suit every figure.  The dresses come in fuchsia, blue, cream, raspberry, black, lilac, turquoise, rose, and aqua.  Each design is expected to last 20 years–more than a lifetime in anyone’s closet!

A staff of five volunteers–with Valorie Jensen at the helm–designs, stitches, alters, sews, presses, hems, and cleans all 200 dresses. At her side are Peggy Becker—who has served as a member of the wardrobe committee for 35 years—Joyce Kennard, Susan Newland, and Connie Warner.

When new Choir members are added, this committee tries first to fit them from the existing inventory of dresses, making adjustments as needed.  In some cases, they have to pull out the rolls of fabric in reserve to cut and sew new dresses.

When a new dress color or design is introduced, the Choir orders 2,000 yards of fabric direct from the factory. The most recent addition to the wardrobe was what they call the “rose” dress. The committee used 1,100 yards of fabric for the dresses and put the rest on the shelf for future needs.  Each woman is measured for her dress, and each pattern is adjusted for fit—neckline, sleeve, front, back, length.  Each dress is then made to fit.  The process takes about five months.

The Choir used to order dresses from manufacturers, but they broke that tradition when the fuchsia dress was introduced more than a decade ago and the committee has been “dressing” the women with their own creations ever since.  In recent years, to assure they would get just the right color of fabric, the committee has sent sequins or spools of thread to the manufacturer for an exact match. The dresses are always floor length so that the Choir does not have to provide matching shoes!

Conductor:  Mack Wilberg | Organist:  Andrew Unsworth

“Look At the World”
Composer:  John Rutter
Lyrics:  John Rutter

“Cum Sancto Spiritu,” from Petite Messe Solennelle
Composer:  Gioacchino Rossini

“Pastorale” (Organ Solo)
Composer:  Percy Whitlock

“Pavane,” Op. 50
Composer:  Gabriel Fauré
Arrangement:  Nathan Hofheins

 “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”
African-American Spiritual
Arrangement:  Mack Wilberg

Repertoire subject to change for production and timing reasons. This is the repertoire for the live broadcast. Repertoire may differ in markets where the broadcast is shown tape delayed. To listen to this repertoire, click here

"The Greater Courtesies"

Nineteenth-century American writer Christian Bovee once said, “The small courtesies sweeten life; the greater, ennoble it.” Sometimes, with the pressures and stresses of life, we might forget that in many cases, the small things are the big things. The lessons of good manners we learned as children—to say “please” and “thank you” and “excuse me”—may seem outdated in today’s demanding adult world. But politeness is never out of style, kindness is never old-fashioned, and we never outgrow courtesy.

And it goes much deeper than polite words. As one commentator noted: “Making people feel important is part of courtesy, so it’s important to remember that whether or not people remember what we say or do, they do remember how we made them feel. . . . Always be kinder than necessary because you can never be too kind.”

Helping people feel respected and loved takes more effort and, at times, more self-discipline than just remembering to say please and thank you. But it’s the mark of a great soul.

This type of courtesy focuses more on how we make people feel than just what we say to them. It springs more from sincere love for others than from a mere sense of social obligation. It measures not the size of the courteous act but the size of the heart behind it. A smile, a returned phone call, a thank-you note, a word of congratulation on a special occasion, verbal and nonverbal responses to those who need our attention—even these seemingly small things, if inspired by genuine love, can turn out to be the greater courtesies, the big things that both sweeten and ennoble the life of the giver and the receiver.