I’m talking more to my younger audience and those that watch the television program Glee. Believe it or not, the concept of having a school organized singing group is nothing new. As a matter of fact, Glee Clubs go w-a-a-a-y back to the 1700′s (that’s a long time ago). Kinda makes you wonder what took the television network executives so long to come up with a show.

When I was going to high school in the ’70s, they didn’t have what they called a Glee Club, but they had a Madrigals group, which I am thinking might be close to the same thing. I never participated in our schools Madrigals group, and for good reason, we normally would like students to stay on campus and not fleeing from school in a flurry, shielding their ears.

Glee clubs are comprised primarily of men, but they could be all women too or a mix of both men and women. Founded in March 1858, the Glee Club at Harvard University is an all male group and is the oldest college group in the United States.

So maybe the next time you flip on the tube (that’s television for you young ones) to watch Glee, you’ll realize that this show would not even exist if it wasn’t for the Glee Clubs of yesteryear.

Glee Club information on wikipedia.com:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glee_club

Harvard University Glee Club History:
http://www.harvardgleeclub.org/info/history

Cornell University Glee Club History:
http://www.gleeclub.com/history.html