Bisonettes

The Bisonettes, OBU’s Women’s Glee Club, was founded in 1954 by Warren M. Angell, former dean of the College of Fine Arts. Membership in the group is by annual audition; this year’s membership includes students from Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas, Arizona, Kansas, Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois. While music majors comprise a majority of the singers, the group is represented by a wide group of non-music majors, including nursing, graphic design, biblical languages, psychology, biology, and English.

The group performs at a wide range of campus events and off-campus concerts, including an annual tour of churches and schools. The repertoire of the group represents a wide range of compositional styles in both sacred and secular musical formats as well as showcasing choral standards, traditional numbers, and contemporary compositions. The Spring 2011 repertoire list is shown below.

In his first year of directing the group, James Vernon, professor of music, has emphasized variety and contemporary compositional styles in the selection of repertoire. After a very successful tour to Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma, the spring concert featured the performance of the Jackson Berkey South Dakota Shadows Suite for choir, strings, and piano, as well as works such as the Eric Whitacre She Weeps Over Rahoon and the Edwin Fissinger The Lamb. Vernon, who teaches music theory, composition, and fine arts classes at OBU, has previously directed other campus choral groups and is a frequently-performed composer, arranger, and orchestrator.

Additional information about The Bisonettes, including audition information, concert bookings, and repertoire, can be obtained by visiting the OBU Choral Music blog or by contacting the director by e-mail at , or by calling 405-878-2317.

Spring 2011 Repertoire

Title Composer/Arranger

  • Ain’t-a-That Good News - Dawson
  • At the River - Copland
  • E’en So, Lord Jesus - Manz
  • Echo - Daley
  • Gabi, Gabi - arranged
  • Have Thine Own Way, Lord - Bass
  • Jabberwocky - Jeffers
  • The Lamb - Fissinger
  • Lift Your Light - McDonald
  • The Master’s Touch - Cox
  • Rise Up, Ye Saints - Pearson
  • Set Me As a Seal Upon Thine Heart - Nance
  • She Weeps over Rahoon - Whitacre
  • South Dakota Shadows Suite - Berkley
  • Ubi Caritas - Daley
  • What a Wonderful World - Arr. Snyder
  • Zion’s Walls - Copland