Between 1930 and 2200 hours Monday through Friday, Benjamin Wiggins, 19, of El Dorado, can be found studying in his gray bedroom with an open door on the sixth floor, more than likely listening to film scores.
“It’s pretty bleak,” Wiggins said over the phone as he described his room at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. “And it gets a little loud with the door open, so music helps.”
His favorite composer, Hans Zimmer, known for film scores ranging from Inception (2010) to The Lion King (1994), as well as works by Mozart and Beethoven, are shuffled through his study playlist not just to block out the distractions from the hallways. He has to be familiar with classical choral arrangements because he’s a member of the West Point Glee Club, a nationwide touring choral group.
Since 1903, the glee club has been the U.S. Military Academy’s most visible cadet organization, performing in recent years at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Grand Ole Opry and Ground Zero on the first anniversary of the World Trade Center tragedy. Also, the company has performed for televised events, CD recordings and movies, including “Mansions of the Lord,” featured at the end credits of Mel Gibson’s We Were Soldiers (2002).
From a young age, music has been Wiggins’ love. He started taking piano lessons when he was 5 and organ lessons when he was 7, but until he joined the academy’s glee club, he had never performed in a choir before.
“I knew my dad had done it back in the day,” Wiggins said. “He always said it was a nice escape from everything.”
On his busiest days, Wiggins' regimented schedule begins at 0530 hours and ends at 2200 hours with few breaks in between. With classes from 0730 to 1230, lunch from 1250 to 1355, a military training brief from 1400 to 1600 hours, glee club practice from 1625 to 1800 hours, optional dinner, and study hours from 1930 to 2200, glee club is a nice break, he said.
His first day at the academy in August, he said he remembered filling out the glee club tryout form and didn’t really know what to put down for prior experience. “I had none,” Wiggins said. “I saw other people saying they had four years at a conservatory or six years at a church choir, so I was about to put ‘not applicable’ or something like that. Instead I said that I had 13 years of piano, which I think helped.”
Shortly after vocal tryouts, he found out that he made it as a baritone for the glee club and the Knight Caps, an all-male choral ensemble.
A typical choir practice consists of warm-ups, group rehearsal, sectional rehearsal and a final group rehearsal. Choral members learn new songs weekly and perform at different venues regularly.
“It was a wonderful time to get away from the academy and act like a normal person for a while,” said Scott Wiggins, his father and former West Point Glee Club baritone.
At performance events, the glee club has its “bread and butter” songs it’s traditionally known for like the academy’s “Alma Mater,” “The National Anthem,” “The Corps” and “Mansions of the Lord.” Lately, the choir has worked on Lacrimosa from Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and an arrangement of “My Shot” from Hamilton: An American Musical.
His most memorable performance with the glee club was at the Kennedy Performing Arts Center in Washington, D.C., at the opening ceremony for the National Museum of African American History & Culture on Sept. 23. Tom Hanks hosted the televised ABC event with guest speakers including Will Smith, Chris Tucker, Oprah Winfrey, Janelle Monae and more.
“Afterwards I got to shake Dave Chappelle’s hand, it was so cool,” Wiggins said.
The opportunity has been surreal for him, but a year ago Wiggins said he was unsure about attending the military academy.
“Music has always been his love,” said Beth Wiggins, his mother. “Honestly, we thought he’d pursue it for college, he applied at different universities like Belmont, but in the end he decided to go with West Point.”
In spite of the extensive paper work, Scott Wiggins encouraged his three sons to apply for the national military, navy and air force academies.
“The application process was rigorous,” Wiggins said. “My dad said he was going to make us apply to all three academies, but at the end of the day it was up to us if we wanted to go there.”
Both of his older brothers, Walker, 28, and Andrew, 23, are West Point alumni and currently pursuing the other half of the academy agreement. Military Academy cadets have their four-year education paid for, then they’re bound to a five-year active duty committment with the army and two years with the U.S. Army Reserve or National Guard.
Summers at the academy are for extensive military training so students are well adapted for combative environments. The academy environment and the six-week summer program train cadets to live by military standards, educating them on a strategic, physical and ethical level. The first summer is essentially basic training, and after that the programs become more intense with some cadets temporarily assigned to units around the world.
Eventually, after all of the training and responsibilities, Wiggins said he would like to score a film, like Zimmer. When he has spare time he composes his own arrangements, which has been a hobby of his since he first learned how to play piano.
Before he was accepted at West Point, he applied for a summer internship in Santa Monica, California, with Zimmer’s company, Remote Control Productions.
“I applied and didn’t quite have the experience they were looking for, but they put me on the docket for this summer, maybe next.”
Until then, Wiggins continues his studies, trains for the military, tours with the West Point Glee Club and composes in his spare time, living by the alma mater: “Guide us, thine own, aright, Teach us by day, by night, To keep thine honor bright…”
Nathan Owens can be reached by phone or email: [email protected]. For news updates follow him on Facebook or Twitter: nowensednt.