SOUTH BEND — If you blinked, you might have missed it, but for a few seconds Monday night, the Saint Mary’s College Women’s Choir was in the television spotlight.

The choir was briefly featured singing “Amazing Grace” during NBC’s debut of “Clash of the Choirs,” a four-night event that has Patti LaBelle, Michael Bolton, Blake Shelton, Nick Lachey and Kelly Rowland pick singers from their hometowns to create “America’s greatest choir.”

“It was a little snippet, but it was still pretty cool,” Saint Mary’s choir director Nancy Menk said.

After seeing a call for entries on a choir listserv about the “Clash of the Choirs” holiday challenge, Menk asked her singers if they wanted to participate.

“They said, ‘Sure,’ ” Menk said. “They’re so technically adept, we just recorded a performance at the madrigal dinner and set up a rehearsal.”

Menk then entered the two videos, one of The Madrigal Singers performing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and the other of the Women’s Choir singing “Amazing Grace.”

The Women’s Choir’s video aired Monday, and there’s a chance that The Madrigal Singers may be featured in another episode.

Saint Mary’s found out late last week that both videos were semifinalists with a “good chance” that one or both could be used for promos and/or commercial bumps. Monday’s telecast confirmed that at least one of the videos made the final cut of 12.

In addition to the television appearance, the full videos of both performances have been on NBC’s Web site since last week.

“The exposure is very nice,” Menk says. “I went on their Web site and about 1,500 people had viewed it. It’s nice recognition for the choir.”

Courtesy of The South Bend Tribune