Eastern Arizona College will present the Fall Sing: 'Our Song Will Live' this week in the Fine Arts Auditorium. Performances are Thursday and Friday, Oct. 29-30, 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, Oct. 31, 2 p.m. All tickets are $5 and can be purchased at EAC's Ticket Office.

This is the Fall Sing's 30th anniversary celebration. The date was Oct. 29, 1980. The time was 7:30 p.m., and the place was the EAC Fine Arts Auditorium stage. David Lunt was in his first year as choral director at Eastern Arizona College as a new tradition began in the Gila Valley. With nearly 90 voices in the Concert Choir, Dr. Lunt presented the first EAC Fall Sing: "Something Old, Something New."

In a recent EAC interview, Lunt said, "We had just moved from Prescott," where he had built a significant choir program in Prescott High School. "I arrived with big dreams for EAC. They had 86 signed up for Concert Choir, and we auditioned and created Choraleers, a women's Beautyshoppe Quartette and two men's quartets that year. With strong talent, the kids were eager to build and share. Bill Purdy had already established a fine chorale program, which made the transition smooth."

The choirs of Eastern Arizona College invite all to experience the music, the sound, the passion as they present "Our Song Will Live," the 30th Fall Sing on Oct. 29, 30 and 31. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at EAC's Ticket Office. Contributed photo

Fall Sing was a new tradition begun by Lunt in 1980. The chorale group performed one show for about 600 people. The tradition grew and crowds came. Over the next three decades, the Eastern Arizona College Fall Sing would become the premier fall cultural event in the Gila Valley, requiring three performances to accommodate the growing audience.

In the cast of the first Fall Sing was a local musician — not then a student — who was enlisted by Dr. Lunt to play in a bluegrass combo for the show. That musician, Mike Crockett, is now one of the deans at EAC. "I brought my banjo and signed up," Dr. Crockett said. "Through the concert I met Kim Caufield, who was one of the 'hee-haw girls' in the bluegrass set. She eventually became my wife. The experience of singing together brought all of us closer than we had thought possible. The audiences seemed to be almost electrified by it as well." Crockett credits Lunt's invitation as the catalyst that got him back into the academic environment.

The EAC choral program has grown and remained vibrant over the years. It is one of the stronger collegiate choir programs in Arizona. Dr. Lunt said, "We changed the name of Concert Choir to Symphonic Choir, and when we peaked out at 150 singers, we divided the groups and created A Cappella choir with 60 singers."

Trish Jordahl, who had been teaching at Thatcher High School, was hired to augment the music staff and direct the Women's Chorale. The program peaked with 300 singers in seven vocal ensembles in 2001. In 2005, a Men's Chorus was added to the program, and the Men's Quartet has become GuyZ, a seven-man a cappella group. The name of Choraleers was changed to Company as the group evolved into a musical theater troupe.

During the past three decades, literally thousands of students have sung in the choirs at EAC under the direction of Lunt, Jordahl and Bruce Bishop. The 2009 30th anniversary celebration performance of Fall Sing will find nearly 200 students performing a mix of musical styles and genres to delight the musical tastes of the audience.

The choirs of Eastern Arizona College invite all to experience the music, the sound, the passion as they present "Our Song Will Live," the 30th Fall Sing, this week.