By Scott Creer
Amusement parks have the tunnel of love. BYU has the tunnel of song.
Each Sunday at 10 p.m., students, mostly freshmen, gather in the tunnel due south of the Marriott Center to sing hymns.
It all started in 1989 on a double date. Brian Jensen and friend Ian Lewis were walking back from the Provo Temple with Marianne Dahl and Joyce Bergshoeff when they stopped at the tunnel. Ian suggested Brian join him in singing a song for the girls. The boys sand 'Somebody' by Depeche Mode. The following Sunday, the group returned to the tunnel to sing hymns with Jensen on Bass, Lewis on Tenor, Dahl on Soprano, and Bergshoeff on Alto. The next week more students joined, and the rest was history.
Jason Hochstrasser, a junior from Tacoma, Wash., majoring in microbiology, is the current song leader for tunnel singing. He took over the position at the start of the winter semester.
'It''s a lot of fun to do,' Hochstrasser said.
Hochstrasser got the job after the previous leader decided to step down. He has not decided how long he plans on holding the position, Hochstrasser said.
Hochstrasser brings a list of songs he plans on singing with the group each week, but the majority of the songs are personal requests.
'It''s almost all requests,' Hochstrasser said. 'I try and keep it in control this way.'
But it''s not all about singing. There must be more than just good music in a tunnel to draw hundreds of students to the event even in the cold winter weather.
'It''s spending time with special people on a special day,' said Barbie Ahlstrom, a freshman from Fairborn, Ohio, majoring in home and family life.
Ahlstrom and friends come every week to sing and feel it is a good way to end their observance of the Sabbath.
'The spirit is always here,' said Aaron Anderson, a freshman from Hong Kong, majoring in history teaching.
Along with singing hymns, the group celebrates recent mission calls together. Each prospective missionary stands and announces his/her call to the group.
The missionary segment ends with a stirring rendition of 'Called to Serve.'
The tunnel singing fever hasn''t quite infected everyone at BYU. Some students have never attended the weekly night of song, and don''t plan on ever going.
Aaron Welling, 22, from Orem, majoring in English, said he doesn''t understand what is so special about tunnel singing.
'You''re singing in a tunnel,' Welling said. 'I just don''t get it.'
Despite Welling and other naysayers, BYU students will continue to gather in the tunnel to sing hymns every Sunday.
As the weather gets warmer, Hochstrasser expects the weekly attendance to increase as well.
First-time singers are always welcome and as long as the tunnel sticks around, so will tunnel singing.