The legacy lives on

Apparently, a tradition I inadvertently helped to start is still going on in the Duke University Chapel Choir.For three years in the early 90's, I lived in the Durham/Chapel Hill, NC area and had the best church singing job in the region. I was a soloist and section leader in the 150-member Chapel Choir at Duke University, under the direction of Rodney Wynkoop. In addition to weekly church services, we performed Handel's Messiah every year and another oratorio in the spring. I was the soloist in pieces including Mendelssohn's Elijah and Schubert masses, and sang in the chorus of many works including Britten's spine-tingling War Requiem. When I left the area, singing at Duke was one of the things I missed the most. Rodney was a great conductor with an infectious joy for the music. He encouraged having fun, and jokes at the expense of various sections (or the conductor) were a regular part of rehearsals.Well, fast-forward to 2009. My sister, who lives in Chapel Hill, was at a party hosted by a musician friend, and Rodney Wynkoop was there, with some singers from his choir. She introduced herself and mentioned that she was my sister. "Oh, Ellen Denham." He said, turning to his choir members. "Do you know how choir members throw coins at me if I say something off-color?"As soon as she told me that, I knew what story he told them, and I had almost totally forgotten!At some point I gave a short master class for the choir on posture and breathing for singers. When discussing posture, I mentioned what one famous choral conductor called "the dime method," which consists of imagining you're squeezing a dime between the cheeks of your butt. Someone threw a coin at me. I picked it up and said, "No, this is a nickel, it won't work."From that point on, anything Rodney said that could be perceived as mildly off-color or had more than one meaning was greeted by a shower of coins. I'm not even sure which choir members started or participated in this, but apparently some of them are still there.Anyway, it was very amusing to hear that this lives on at Duke.