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AYA Contact: Information on the AYA and its programs is available by sending e-mail to aya@yale.edu, or you can write to Rose Alumni House, Box 209010, New Haven, CT 06520-9010 or phone (203) 432-2586. From time to time, we ask alumni to write articles on notable experiences of Yale after graduation. Contact Steve Victor, Associate Director, at the AYA if you would like to write for this space. This space is made available to the Association of Yale Alumni by the Yale Alumni Magazine. |
News
from Alumni House: March
2000 On the weekend of November 13, 1999, the Whiffenpoofs, the oldest collegiate a cappella singing group in the country, descended on New Haven to celebrate 90 years of musical history. Of the approximately 750 living Whiffenpoof alumni, about 350 came together on this occasion around "the tables down at Mory's" to join the celebration. Some came from extraordinary distances; one member of the Class of 1975 flew in from Moscow; Orrin "Doublejeh" Persky '70 (nearly all Whiffs have acquired nicknames, usually a pun on their last name) traveled from Israel. Stewart "Proto" Cole '60 temporarily left his work in Bosnia so that he could join his classmates in song. But by far the most dramatic appearance was made by Jon "Dingle" Ingham '65, who paused in his two-year solo around-the-world sail to attend. The alumni came for a lot of reasons: to see and hear old friends; to meet and pay tribute to many of the legendary Whiffs of yore; and to experience those wonderful sounds again. For most, the reunion started on Friday night. Trekking to the Whiffs' ancestral shrine, Mory's, 200 singers packed into that venerable saloon for an evening of good friends, good food, and good song. On Saturday afternoon, members of Whiff groups spanning seven decades attended a series of "master classes" -- rehearsals led by some of the Whiffenpoofs' most revered and accomplished pitchpipes. In each case, the class offered a master's definitive interpretation of an arrangement he had made famous. In truth, most Whiffenpoof pitchpipes have almost no knowledge of how well regarded they may or may not have become after leaving Yale. Robert "Pitchpipe" Birge '68 wrote and arranged "Time After Time" while he was an undergraduate; unknown to him, the song had become a Whiff classic, sung by every group since he graduated. When Bob showed up to lead his master class, he was met by over 200 alumni, all eager to meet him and to express their appreciation for the music he had left to them. While many Whiff groups continue to get to- gether for years after graduation, it is only at Whiffenpoof reunions that Whiffs discover what earlier and later generations of groups were like and what they sang. The master classes were followed by a lively cocktail party in the nave of Sterling Library. Examples of the 64 recordings made by Whiffenpoof groups over the years were on display, the oldest of which dates back to 1927. From this point the party -- and the music -- never stopped. Over 500 people packed into University Commons for the traditional reunion banquet. Instead of speeches, however, re-uners were treated to an extraordinary slide show that ran continuously while they supped and sang. As part of a project to assemble a visual archive of the Whiffenpoofs, Richard "Dog" Gould '68 had collected photos -- head shots -- of every person who had ever sung in the Whiffs, 1,250 in all. At dinner these head shots, starting with the first Whiffenpoofs in 1909, were projected onto a giant screen. The slide show was in itself a history of the Whiffenpoofs and of Yale, as re-uners were transported from the starchy WASPs of the early part of the century, through the chaotic late 1960s and early 1970s, to the diverse and eclectic Whiffs of the 1990s. Following dinner, re-uners assembled in Battell Chapel for a concert, the high- water mark of the weekend. The first group to sing was a quartet of Whiffs from the late 1930s called the "Below Par Quartet," a reflection of their golfing prowess, not their singing abilities. A dozen different alumni groups followed, and there were many breathtaking performances. This observer feels that the best singing was done by the Whiffs of 2000, which is fitting. But a lot of alumni groups came close. And maybe that's what holds seven decades of "gentlemen songsters" together, and why they return for their reunions in such great numbers. At the end of the concert, as is their custom, the Whiffs of 2000 invited all former Whiffs in the audience to come up and join them in the singing of the "Whiffenpoof Song." Three hundred and fifty did so. What an experience! |
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Yale
Alumni Magazine, PO Box 1905, New Haven, CT 06509-1905. USA.
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