Musical activities collection

Musical activities have been an important part of campus life at the University of Rochester since at least the 1870s, when groups included a glee club and a chapel choir. An orchestra and a banjo club were also performing in the late 1800s; and in the early 1900s, the glee club often performed with a mandolin club. The ensemble that came to be known as the Men’s Glee Club was joined in 1911 by its counterpart from the College for Women, the Women’s Glee Club. These groups sometimes sang together--including a performance over NBC Radio from New York City in 1939 and a joint Christmas concert in 1949--even before they shared a campus. (University of Rochester women lived on the Prince Street Campus until 1955, when the River Campus became coed.) The Marching Band, which played at football and basketball games, was another feature of musical life at the University.

In 1954, through cooperative efforts by students and administration, Ward Woodbury Jr. ‘54E (PhD) was appointed director of music for the River Campus. Soon after his arrival, several new performing groups were organized, including the All-University Symphony Orchestra, the Concert Band, and the YellowJackets, all of which are still active today. (The All-University Symphony Orchestra is now called the Symphony Orchestra, and the Concert Band is now the Wind Symphony.) The YellowJackets were established in 1956, and during their early years the group’s members were selected from the ranks of the Men’s Glee Club. The group consisted of thirteen members, twelve vocalists and one accompanist.

The musical groups performed regularly on the University of Rochester campuses, including giving annual concerts at Christmas (when concerts were followed by a holiday dance) and in the spring. Reviews of musical performances appeared promptly in the Campus Times (or its forerunners the Campus and the Tower Times), as newspaper clippings in this collection reveal. Both the men’s and women’s glee clubs often toured and performed with other groups. For example, the Women’s Glee Club traveled to Dartmouth College and to Princeton University to perform with the men’s glee clubs at those schools, hosting their counterparts for reciprocal concerts in Rochester. The Men’s Glee Club conducted similar exchanges with the University of Toronto, both visiting and hosting its Hart House Choir. Woodbury toured extensively with the Men’s Glee Club and the YellowJackets, visiting Florida, Chicago, and Europe, for example. The Men’s Glee Club even performed nationally on the Ed Sullivan Show under his guidance. On their European tour in summer 1963, the YellowJackets performed for members of the United States military and their families.

Woodbury left the University in 1966, and Taavo Virkhaus became the next director of music. Robert Allen, who had joined the River Campus in 1965 as assistant director of music, led the men’s and women’s glee clubs, among other vocal groups.

New musical groups continued to appear on the River Campus, including the Women’s Ensemble, started in 1969. This group was formed in a similar manner to the YellowJackets, with members selected from the Women’s Glee Club. In 1975, the group’s name changed to Vocal Point; and while it originally used instrumental accompaniment, it had become an a capella performing group by the early 1980s. After Hours and the Midnight Ramblers, also capella groups, started performing in 1998.

In the early 1980s, the YellowJackets began to shift toward an a cappella approach, and in the late 1980s they added vocal percussion, creating the style and sound they are presently known for. Until 1958, the YellowJackets wore blue blazers paired with red and black ties. From 1958 on, they have worn their familiar yellow blazers with the exception of several years in the 1980s. In 2000, the YellowJackets officially separated from the River Campus Music Department and became a student-run organization recognized by the University’s Students’ Association. The group competed in the third season of NBC’s The Sing-Off in 2011