Not that there aren’t components of the original idea alive and well. Physical improvement – lost 55 pounds and now maintaining target weight at or around 190. The new goal is to gain 10 pounds of muscle with total target weight of 195. That’s lead to quite a lot of cooking on my part, so that’s two goals. Singing and performance – I’m in a redux of the Elkhorn Springs Stake Broadway revue “W Go Together,” which I was in three years ago, but this time taking a much larger role. Not just Rapunzel’s Prince from “Into the Woods” as before, but this time Bert from “Mary Poppins” and a brother in “Joseph…” for two numbers. I’m also singing and dancing (yes, dancing) in large group numbers from “Beauty and the Beast” and “Grease.”
By the way, the mid-life crisis made it onto Mouth Off! The 5.29.11 show featured a letter from yours truly asking for advice of how to revive your musicality and build skills enough on your own to eventually get back into a cappella. Dave Brown acknowledged remembering me from the brethren, whom he idolized as a youngster (J), then Christopher Diaz (THE Christopher Diaz) responded to the letter with the following:
Listen to a cappella music (and listen and listen) and sign with it. Find the hardest parts and try to sing along and get the notions into your head.
- Look at other charts – ask arrangers to send you a .pdf of their stuff (they’ll send it if they know you aren’t going to steal it) and look at good arranging like Kirby Shaw and see what it looks like.
- Just start recording stuff. Get Audacity installed (done!) and plug in a cheap mike and go.
- Go on YouTube and watch groups you like and see what they do.
- Read the amazing arranging articles on Casa.org.
(I’ll have to add that last to my RSS blog feed.)
Dave then added that it’s worth it, if only just to make you do it, to get out there and sing with a group. Perform, put some pressure on, and develop your musical ear.
I floated the idea of a barbershop quartet past Rob Rovere, who I happened to see at church last night, even though he’s in the Cedar Springs Ward now. His response was an enthusiastic “WHEN?” So there’s that. Two numbers I would especially love to do (which fit the genre) are “The Chordbuster’s March” and “Magic Kingdom in the Sky.” It would be amazing if I could find written arrangements without having to pick them out from the recordings.
In addition to implementing Christopher and Dave’s genius advice, I did already have a few drills lined up for myself, regarding which I am slacking due to the current overwhelm of working the physical goals, supporting my wife, being in this stake play, and an unusually time-intensive calling as Elders Quorum secretary, all new since my last post. But I don’t know; maybe that’s all still just excuses. Anyway, here are the drills.
The guitar drills: Switch from C to D to G and back (and forth) over and over – learn to strum while hitting only the strings you want. Practice assigning a right finger to a string, thumb takes the top two, and drill on fingerpicking with the same chords (aka: friend-who-plays-guitar and overall spiritual hero, Milas Howe, came over and gave me homework)
The vocal percussion drills: Do, Ka, Do-Ka, Do, Ka-Do, Do-Ka etc, to a metronome, on my own, and/or while listening to the radio (aka: Wes Carroll’s “Mouthrdrumming” lesson one. It was $15, not $20, on AcaTunes, as previously posted).
Finally, I’m feeling some urgency to act first and foremost on another unbegun good intention, namely regarding mine and my family’s spiritual health. More on that later.
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