Musical Youth International (MYI)

A colleague of mine encouraged me to join Facebook the other day, and so I did. In exploring the different people I might know I thought I'd take a chance and enter "Musical Youth International" into the search bar. Lo and behold there was actually a group formed on Facebook for that very organization. Granted I would become only the 4th member of the group, but it did bring back some wonderful memories.

The group was formed in 1964 by Dr. Lester McCoy and his wife, Bernice. It comprised a high school and chorus, both directed by McCoy for awhile, and was based out of Saline, Michigan. MYI was part of the People to People organization started by President Eisenhour. The purpose of the ensembles was to present concerts in foreign countries to promote unity among people around the world. After Dr. McCoy passed away his wife continued in her husband's footsteps and kept the organization going, expanding to a separate chorus and band director. I do believe they traveled at least once to every major continent.

During the summer of 1974, while a senior in high school, I auditioned to become a member of the choir and was accepted. We rehearsed Sunday afternoons in Saline during the school year. Once school was completed we had a week on "intensive" rehearsals, and departed around the beginning of July for a 4 1/2 week tour of Venezuela, Belize and Mexico. During our tour we gave over 30 performances, some big and some small. On our return to the USA we gave a "post tour" concert at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, on the University of Michigan campus.

To be continued....