Haslett elementary music teacher Judy Connelly has lent her soprano voice to the chorale for 38 years. With a Masters in Voice from Michigan State University, Connelly says she has stuck with the chorale over the years for the musical challenge. “The people here know how to sing,” she says.

Bridging the gap between a long-standing tradition and a fresh approach to singing is the chorale's new artistic director Kevin Simons.

Simons says joining such a group is “a real treat.” “Steiner has a tradition of making music at a high caliber, and people are really excited to sing together,” he says.

At their spring concert Sunday, the chorale paid tribute to the stoic resourcefulness of the American spirit in the program “Our American Roots.” The program boasted a plethora of traditional and folk choral classics, including “Frostiana,” a collection of songs by American composer Randall Thompson that incorporates Robert Frost's poetry, as well as choruses from Aaron Copland's opera “The Tender Land.” Joining the voices were the banjo of Joel Mabus and fiddle of Brian Bishop.

It was a toe-tapping, finger-snapping, head-bobbing good time whenever Mabus and Bishop shared the stage, although it was odd to hear the banjo and fiddle sitting in the middle of a large church; that kind of music is best enjoyed dancing, preferably in a barn after drinking an alcoholic beverage. However, the packed house could not stop their extremities from moving, even if choral concert etiquette forbade them from dancing in the aisles.

Simons' greatest strength in conducting is his attention to diction and syllabic stress, for even in a highly acoustic space, every word was heard loud and clear.

“However different they may sound, America's classical and folk music are cut from the same cloth,” Simons says. “There is something very reassuring that people still want to come together to make living art and pay homage to their heritage.”

Enjoying its hard-earned reputation as a Lansing choral staple, The Steiner Chorale can only move forward and expand its musical riches. There is talk of a Faure Requiem performance at the World Expo in Shanghai, China, in 2010, but that is two years down the line and a lot can change. The bottom line is always money Simons says. Well, there is nothing more American than that.