As a small business owner, Dick Trump works long hours every week. But for the past 27 years, he has set aside Sunday evenings for just one thing: practicing with the Des Moines Choral Society.   

“I find it hard to imagine not singing,” said Trump, who became one of the original chorus members at the invitation of Marion Hall, the choral group’s founder and original music director. Originally organized to accompany the Des Moines Symphony for the dedication of the newly built Civic Center of Greater Des Moines in 1979, it soon became apparent that the group should continue on as the Des Moines Choral Society.   

Joining the choral society “was a natural,” said Trump, who as an Iowa State University student was active in choral activities. After moving to Des Moines to start a business, “I was looking for an outlet; I wanted to stay active in choral singing.”   

Music has always been interwoven into Trump’s life, from the recording studio and audiovisual business he co-founded, to his wife of 31 years, Patricia, who is also an original Choral Society member.   

“We certainly met because of music,” said Patricia Trump, who has spent the past 31 years teaching music to elementary school students. She and Dick met while they were both involved with the Summer Operetta Workshop.   

“He had been (singing) in a past show and was hanging around doing some technical (sound work) for the group,” she said. “I had a part in the newer show. So he was a past singer and I was a current singer, and that’s how we met.”   

Not long after they were married, Hall, a close friend and choir director at First Baptist Church of Des Moines, asked the Trumps, who both sang in the church choir, if they would like to sing Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” with the symphony for the Civic Center’s dedication.   

“We loved singing for Marion,” said Patricia. “We’ve had three conductors since Marion’s death; they’ve all been extraordinarily talented. (Hall) was a wonderful music professor; he had been my professor at Drake; he was head of the voice department at Drake for many years. So we kind of knew him from two places.”  

For Trump, music is truly a creative process.   

“There’s a certain joy in singing with other people, in creating something that is beautiful,” he said. “(You’re) starting out from the raw sound of individual voices and combining them into something that’s a unified sound. When the group sings as one, it’s very satisfying.”   

Though the Choral Society rarely travels outside Greater Des Moines, let alone Iowa, for performances, it has twice performed at Carnegie Hall, in 1995 and again in 2001.The Trumps participated in the first trip.   

Iowa composer Ben Allaway was commissioned to write “Tallgrass Canticles,” a cantata focusing on the settling of the wilderness of Iowa. Under the direction of Robert Molison, it was premiered in Des Moines and performed again at Carnegie Hall. It was also recorded by Iowa Public Television for broadcast during the Iowa Sesquicentennial celebration.

Performing with the Des Moines Symphony definitely provides a fuller sound than singing a cappella, “but I can’t say it’s more fulfilling than a cappella singing,” he said. “It’s just different. There’s orchestral accompaniment, and sometimes we’re the accompaniment to the orchestra, depending on the piece being performed. There are some pieces where there are no words, just vocalizing.”   

Baroque choral music, one of the most intricate styles, is his favorite.   

“I can’t say that there’s any kind of choral music that I don’t end up enjoying once I get to know it,” he said. “There are contemporary pieces that we’ve done that are just as strong as anything that we’ve sung. Getting to know the music, getting inside the music, is really an achievement that a choral group strives for, and once they get there, it’s fulfilling.”  

Each concert tends to be a mix of pieces that appeal to both the singers and the audience, Trump said.   

“There are pieces that are more satisfying because they’re familiar not only to the chorus but to the audience, and you know the audience is responding to it,” he said. “There are pieces that are most fulfilling to the chorus because of the work we’ve put into it. We tend to have some of both in every concert, and some concerts tend to shift one way or the other. We need some concerts that are crowd pleasers, and we need some concerts that satisfy the singers.”

For Patricia, a music teacher at Monroe Elementary School, choral music provides an outlet as well.

“I do music all day long, but it’s different to do music just for me,” she said. “It’s a great way to meet people and to serve the community but it’s also a great way to meet the need we both have to make music.”

The Choral Society continues to attract talented singers, Dick said. “People who are seeking out a place to sing often find us. We know there are qualified, talented singers out there. Eventually we’ll find enough where I won’t be needed.”   

So, he’s thought about the day when he’ll no longer head off to practice?   

“I’ve considered it,” he said. “I assume there will be a day when my voice is no longer needed or up to the quality of the group. I find it hard to imagine not singing, though. Certainly the time commitment through the years has been significant enough. There have been times for my business when it may have been better working on the business instead of singing.   

“But there’s a release in it. Everybody needs some outlet, something besides what they do during the week, to provide for some other avenue for expression. For me, it’s choral singing. I have Sunday evenings, and those stay pretty special to me.”