\'Rolling Requiem\' crosses campus

Sept. 11, 2001, was equivalent to memories of Pearl Harbor and memories of the assassination of JFK. It was the MTV generation's shocking awakening to the world.\nIn the year since the occurrence of Sept. 11, an event unmistakably scarring the minds and hearts of people around the world, several songs have become anthems capturing the emotions describing what we saw, as a collective mind, first hand. \nThose in the area saw American Flight 11 crash into the North Tower. Then on national television America watched in disbelief and horror when United Flight 175 hit the South Tower at 9:03 am.\nOne song asks where we were when the world stopped turning. Another tells of a loving wife who, unbeknownst to her, kissed her husband goodbye and said he no longer needs a pair of wings to fly.\nBut with the help of the IU Choral Department, Mozart's "Requiem" will perhaps become yet another anthem.\nWritten in 1791, the piece was left unfinished because of the artist's death. "Requiem" is a setting of church music and a Mass for the dead. But it isn't a mass that sends them off tearfully and regretfully. It is a piece that sends those who have gone before us away celebrating their lives on Earth and celebrating their entry into the mysterious hereafter.\nThe Choral Department, part of the School of Music, follows the lead of the Seattle Symphonic Chorus. At a performance of the same "Requiem," an unidentified woman reportedly had a vision of all the great choruses joining hands and singing as they surrounded Ground Zero.\nBut the idea, with the help of the Seattle Symphonic Chorus, quickly grew to what is now known as the "Rolling Requiem."\nIn each of the world's 24 time zones, when 8:46 a.m. -- the chronographic mark of an airliner laden with humanity becoming a missile colliding with the first of the Twin Towers -- rolled around, there was a chorus somewhere singing "Requiem." It was in remembrance of the passing of those who fell as a result of unharnessed evil.\nThe Bloomington effort took place in Recital Hall in Merrill Hall. The singers who attended arrived at about 8:15 a.m. with their own copies of the music. \nOver 15,000 volunteers in over 190 performances in 26 countries sang for those who will sing no more on Sept. 11.\nOne member of the IU Choral Department who sang with the choir was Galen Baughman, a sophomore majoring in vocal performance.\nBaughman's permanent home is in Washington, D.C., and his former high school sweetheart's home near the Pentagon shook when the airliner crashed there.\n"'Rolling Requiem' will be one of the most remembered settings of the piece. I think it will help the community as it will strengthen the bond by showing their support for the victims of 9/11," Baughman said.\nBaughman was on campus Sept. 11, and as a fluke had his dorm room radio tuned in to NPR and this was how he was alerted of the events in New York and in his home town.\nBaughman said while his family was stuck in the middle of a disaster, they reported to Baughman via telephone that they were safe. Baughman said he was "stuck in the middle of a f-ing cornfield safe … I just felt like I had a duty to be there."\nBaughman is working towards becoming a professional singer, and most notably sang with the choir at the National Cathedral in tribute to the late Katherine Graham, former owner of The Washington Post, who some would say was the 20th century's first lady of American Journalism.\nWhen asked if he felt performing at this event would be good for his resume, Baughman said "It's just another school of music event…it's obligatory because I need to be seen by others and my professors at the event. I won't be directly penalized if I don't show up, but its kudos if I do."\nBrent Gutmann is an IU sophomore majoring in Philosophy. He was born in New York City and spent a great deal of his childhood there. His earliest memories involve the now absent towers.\nGutmann defined the spirit of America as having two levels; "the kind of excessive need people feel they need to show their patriotism. But I feel proud of the camaraderie it has brought about."\nThe American people have become very aware of how Sept. 11 was the result of religious beliefs. And Gutmann is also aware, he continued, that his faith in Judaism "instills in you a supreme value of human life over all other things." \n"I feel an anguish for those who died as it was a senseless loss from my perspective," he said.\nFort Wayne native Captain David Phillips is a 30-year veteran of the FWFD and now serves the department in its Fire Code Enforcement Division. Phillips has engine house experience and said of the 343 firemen who died, "They gave their all to save the people in those buildings. There's nothing more you can do for a person than give them your life. A firefighter doesn't think about his life in that situation. They knew they had to try everything to save those people. They died as heroes doing their duty. Hopefully, I would have done the same."\nThe death of these fallen heroes and of those who gave up their lives trying to save the lives of others unequivocally demonstrated the role of a hero. Mozart's "Requiem" was sung in tribute to that demonstration.