Althouse: "When most people check into a hotel and realize a large group of high school students are there, there is a hesitation as to if you really want to be checked into that hotel."

February 21, 2014

"When most people check into a hotel and realize a large group of high school students are there, there is a hesitation as to if you really want to be checked into that hotel."

"Thankfully, the guests at one Kentucky hotel stuck around, even though 1,000 high school students were there. The Kentucky State Choir conference meets at the Louisville Hyatt every year. It is a tradition that every night of the conference, at 11 p.m., the students come out onto the balconies to sing the National Anthem."

34 comments:

tim maguire said...: And security received 500 calls from the 500 other guests. Sounds like a nightmare.; 2/21/14, 12:00 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: They sound fantastic.

However, 11PM?! Some people have young children. They will probably not be impressed.; 2/21/14, 12:05 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: "We were singing something wholesome, so you can't complain about the rudeness of waking everyone up."; 2/21/14, 12:07 PM
Scott said...: And for this we can thank John Portman, the architect who is usually credited for inventing the hotel built around a grand atrium.; 2/21/14, 12:14 PM
YoungHegelian said...: I've been in a hotel with a bazillion teenagers/young adults before. No matter how sweet & lovable they may be (big "may be" there), there is always one big problem: they saturate the hotel's wireless network to the point that it's unusable for business. Kidz today, I tell ya, not only a laptop, but an iPad, and a phone all that they'll dump onto the wireless network.

I ask now, and if there's a large crew of any sort that might be hogging the network, I stay elsewhere.; 2/21/14, 12:16 PM
Scott said...: @YoungHegelian: The higher end hotels I've stayed at usually offer in-room wired internet access also. Some companies prohibit VPN access over wifi.; 2/21/14, 12:21 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @Scott,

Even if LAN access is wired, which I much prefer, a gaggle of "Yuts" can still saturate the T-1/cable/FIOS WAN connection with ease. Your traffic's only as fast as its slowest link, after all.

And, yes, I've noticed how Marriot's firewall settings break my SonicWall VPN.; 2/21/14, 12:29 PM
Gahrie said...: I love the sound of large groups of people singing together.

I would love for someone to create an album of crowds at concerts singing the artists' songs back to them.; 2/21/14, 12:31 PM
The Drill SGT said...: saw this a week or so ago over at B5. There are a couple of honest sopranos in that crew. Note the upper register coloring at the end....; 2/21/14, 12:53 PM
TosaGuy said...: Pretty cool. You won't see that happen in Wisconsin, which is disappointing.; 2/21/14, 1:24 PM
SteveR said...: Solidarity Singers?; 2/21/14, 1:32 PM
Wince said...: Where was the conductor?; 2/21/14, 1:37 PM
jacksonjay said...: Wow, a thousand American Idol wannabes, I mean gonnabes!; 2/21/14, 1:42 PM
D. B. Light said...: Something similar happened to me in Shanghai a few years ago when the University of Delaware Chorale gave an impromptu concert in the atrium of the History Museum. I was absorbed in an exhibit of ancient coinage when I heard the sound of "Oh Shenandoah" being sung. I hurried out [as did dozens of guards] to see what was going on, and was treated to about fifteen minutes of glorious song. It was wonderful!; 2/21/14, 2:13 PM
khesanh0802 said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/21/14, 2:24 PM
khesanh0802 said...: @ Freeman Hunt
What a grump! I don't think it would hurt one kid in a million to hear that version of the Star Spangled Banner at 11pm or 3am. It would certainly set a standard far higher than most performances they hear.; 2/21/14, 2:26 PM
MadisonMan said...: I don't think it would hurt one kid in a million to hear that version of the Star Spangled Banner at 11pm or 3am

I agree with Freeman. Children should learn that their charmingness is curtailed very very severely after 9 PM. I don't care what they're singing.; 2/21/14, 2:31 PM
David said...: I stayed on after the anthem and there was an amazing clip of a avalanche. Check it out!

They have some voices in those choirs. Bad judgment about timing but great voices.

They can wake me up any time for that but I'm sure it's not a universal opinion.

Thank God they didn't sing a hymn. That would have really stirred things up.; 2/21/14, 2:33 PM
khesanh0802 said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/21/14, 2:48 PM
khesanh0802 said...: @Madison Man

and you're a grump too! Do they sing the National Anthem in Madison at any time of day or night or just something like "workers of the world unite" kind of stuff?; 2/21/14, 2:49 PM
Bob said...: I see a post (on an earlier version of this)from an employee at the hotel that says the song is sung at 8 p.m.; 2/21/14, 2:51 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: They really need to concentrate on their consonants, especially plosives. And the gratuitous high B-flats from the sopranos are irritating.; 2/21/14, 4:44 PM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: Thank you, Althouse.
Hanky time. Beautiful; 2/21/14, 4:46 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: "When most people check into a hotel and realize a large group of high school students are there, there is a hesitation as to if you really want to be checked into that hotel."

You'd be surprised. When San Domenico School sent its orchestra to Reno and to Albuquerque and to Santa Clara, no one was the least discomfited. Of course that might be because they won national championships all three times, or because they were all girls.; 2/21/14, 4:50 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Bob, if they do it at 8PM, that sounds nice.

8PM: "How neat! I love it! We are so lucky to being staying here with them!"

11PM: "What the hell is that? Where are the adults to tell them to be quiet! I'm never staying at this hotel again!"; 2/21/14, 5:16 PM
Siduri said...: I never made it past Districts, but there is nothing in this world better than singing with 199 other voices that match yours in age and ability. The parts are all evenly matched in numbers of voices, and there are eight parts. It's something that is so amazing.

Francis Scott Key wrote a hymn that we sang in church just this past Sunday. I love the imagery of fire and light.

Lord, with glowing heart I’d praise Thee,
For the bliss Thy love bestows,
For the pardoning grace that saves me,
And the peace that from it flows:
Help, O God, my weak endeavor;
This dull soul to rapture raise:
Thou must light the flame, or never
Can my love be warmed to praise.

Praise, my soul, the God that sought thee,
Wretched wanderer, far astray;
Found thee lost, and kindly brought thee
From the paths of death away;
Praise, with love’s devoutest feeling,
Him Who saw thy guilt-born fear,
And the light of hope revealing,
Bade the blood-stained cross appear.

Praise thy Savior God that drew thee
To that cross, new life to give,
Held a blood sealed pardon to thee,
Bade thee look to Him and live.
Praise the grace whose threats alarmed thee,
Roused thee from thy fatal ease;
Praise the grace whose promise warmed thee,
Praise the grace that whispered peace.

Lord, this bosom’s ardent feeling
Vainly would my lips express.
Low before Thy footstool kneeling,
Deign Thy suppliant’s prayer to bless:
Let Thy grace, my soul’s chief treasure,
Love’s pure flame within me raise;
And, since words can never measure,
Let my life show forth Thy praise.; 2/21/14, 6:24 PM
MadisonMan said...: Do they sing the National Anthem in Madison at any time of day or night or just something like "workers of the world unite" kind of stuff?

Well, I'm watching the D2 Swim Championship (swum at the Nat on the UW Campus) on-line, and some kid just sang it, beautifully at the start. (The National Anthem, that is); 2/21/14, 7:10 PM
Gahrie said...: It might be a matter of time zones...8:00 PM Eastern is 11:00 PM Western.; 2/21/14, 9:12 PM
George Leroy Tirebiter said...: I love this site but what a bunch of grumps on this one! I'm 58, a transactional lawyer, travel a lot, have fitful sleep the night before lots of negotiations, seek quiet, and have changed hotels when a group of teens shows up so I can go to bed at night early and sleep well. Having said that, if I had been awakened at 11PM for this, I would have looked out, overcome my annoyance in seconds, smiled, opened the door, cheered at the end, and either gone back to sleep happy that kids this age were engaged in this activity, or stayed up late and gone into negotiations with less sleep but feeling better because there is hope for the future. I could question the timing too, but a gift is a gift. This is a lovely gift and I hope everyone can lighten up a little.; 2/22/14, 6:13 AM
tim maguire said...: Khesan, you need to slow down a bit and get perspective. It is not communist to need a decent night's sleep before your early meeting. And it's not ok to disrespect hundreds of people in the name of The Star Spangled Banner.; 2/22/14, 6:15 AM
tim maguire said...: Same for you, George. So you'd be ok with it. Bully for you. You have no more right than these kids to insist that because you are ok with it, everyone must be ok with it.

Unless you're god. But i doubt you are.; 2/22/14, 6:18 AM
George Leroy Tirebiter said...: Tim, I didn't demand a damned thing. I said "I hope" people can lighten up and left the choice to you. You choose to stay cranky, fine. I'll have a happier day thinking about you, emotionally constipated and fuming over a nice gesture from a bunch of wholesome teens that might have been timed better but is still a nice gesture.; 2/22/14, 7:13 AM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: Geez louise, it's one night out of your Extremely Important Life of Sleeping. Lighten up, people!

Freeman-yeah, so it might wake the kids up, but a little sparkle, a little joie de vivre, a little something out of the ordinary is not worth it? I love it when my kids get to enjoy Spontaneous Art. I would think as a homeschooler you would see the value in that as well.

What a bunch of tightasses around here.; 2/23/14, 10:38 AM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: If only those teenagers were hunched over their iPads, quietly chortling over YouTube videos of people running into walls.

That would be much better.; 2/23/14, 10:39 AM