Vocal Point members tour Wat Phra Kaew in Bangkok, Thailand.
Following the BYU Spectacular in China, Vocal Point traveled to Thailand on its first international solo tour. Vocal Point was excited for this monumental tour—and so were the diverse audience members. The a cappella group performed sold-out shows to audiences that contained Thai dignitaries, refugees, people with disabilities, and orphans. These audiences all responded the same: with joy.
In Vocal Point’s 28 years, 130 group members have spent countless hours creating, building, and sharing positive music with as many people as possible. “Vocal Point is all about creating connections and helping people see that we’re all more alike than we are different,” says Vocal Point artistic director McKay Crockett.
On the tour, Vocal Point helped at an outreach at the Good Shepherd Sisters of Bangkok, a school for refugees and orphans. Sister Louise, known as the Mother Teresa of Thailand, said of the visit, “The children haven’t smiled like this in a long time.”
Children at the Father Ray Foundation in Pattaya, which runs a center for children and adults with disabilities, even took turns performing with Vocal Point. David Steele, a Vocal Point baritone, was especially touched when he interacted with an audience member with a disability. “I bent down to take a selfie with him and he got the biggest smile,” says Steele. “It just touched me to know that we were doing something unique with them.”
“The singers spent more time posing for photos and signing their name than they did singing,” says Father Ray Foundation photographer Derek Franklin.
After a special sold-out charity gala hosted by Lady MR Benchapa Krairiksh, Lady Benchapa took pictures with Vocal Point and asked the group to sing her a song. They sang “My Girl,” and during the song, Lady Benchapa and her sister both spontaneously started singing with Vocal Point.
“The jam session with a princess of Thailand! Unreal,” says Vocal Point baritone Yaphet Bustos. “Check that off my bucket list.”
From an impromptu jam session with a Thai princess to making countless faces smile, the tour to Thailand became a special mile marker in Vocal Point’s history.
“Every single place that we traveled to, there was an immediate and special connection with these amazing people,” says Crockett. “What people really remember is the way you made them feel and the connections you have with them.”
