THE EXTENT OF MY COLLEGIATE A CAPPELLA EXPERIENCE

The a cappella world (or “acaworld” – get used to that prefix) is largely, though not entirely, driven by collegiate groups. “The Sing-Off,” if you remember, had three or four of them. Many of the successful professional groups, especially the newer ones, grew from collegiate a cappella graduates (or “aca-alums”) who really wanted to keep going.

I went to BYU. I was not a member of Vocal Point, which was founded the year I returned to BYU from my mission. I didn’t even try out. And why not? Because I had this belief that Vocal Point and pretty much anything else vocal at BYU were dominated by a super-exclusive clique of highly trained singers, all members of the Men’s Chorus or Concert Choir, and all I had ever joined was the no-tryout-required University Chorale one semester of my freshman year. I may have been wrong. Looking back, that vague unease was a lousy reason to just not even try out and give it a chance.

However, one day, I got a phone call from a stranger who had heard from someone whose name I didn’t recognize that I sang bass. They were looking to start a quartet. I joined. We met, I think, weekly in the founder’s 7 square-foot dorm room in Helaman Halls. The other three members all knew each other and had a habit of talking amongst themselves as people who know each other are wont to do.

I remember one practice in particular where the three of them were discussing how to end our Calypso version of “Cupid,” since Sam Cooke ends it in a fade out. I broke in with my suggestion. They actually took the suggestions, but their approval was kind of backhanded somehow… they were either surprised I was there or surprised I had somehow managed to make contribution, musically stunted as I was, I don’t know what. It felt like the latter. In any case, I felt even more an outsider than ever, and I never went back. I decided then it was no use joining any a cappella groups / quartets again, concluding the Brethren was only so awesome because we were all best friends first and singers almost as an afterthought. Almost, but not quite – we did work hard, after all. But as far as I was concerned, if it wasn’t those four people, it wasn’t going to happen.

That's called being a wussy little baby, and it led to 20 years of not being in anything but the occasional musical. I don't endorse those excuses anymore.

GOOD INTENTIONS: DRILLS AND EXERCISES

        As you can tell from the prolonged silence, the mid-life crisis never really got off the ground, which is good, because it would have been sidelined anyway in favor of my wife’s MBA. She’s doing this in an accelerated one year program while continuing to teach four fashion courses. She keeps talking about a second job, but she has no time now. That’s spilled over into my life, because I’ve taken on a lot to allow her the time for her classes (both kinds).

        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.

A WELL PLANNED & APPROPRIATELY EXECUTED MID-LIFE CRISIS

Now, a naysayer might say, “Hey. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but you’re not that great of a singer.” To which I say, “Yep, that’s about right.” Oh, sure, I’ve garnered some accolades in the occasional church performance, and I would even say I earned them. But I’m no professional. I’m certainly aware of where I come up short of that honor, but I choose to believe that I have real potential, and that I have it within me to reach that potential.
​Shortcomings then, as follows: 1. the voice – muted, breathy, occasionally pitchy, and without question, upper-range-challenged. Solution: practice makes perfect, and I know some of what I should be doing better. To some extent, I can self-train. 2. vocal percussion – very nearly a necessity, but I know about nothing about it, and I know no one who does. Solution: Mouthdrumming, volumes one and two, by Wes Carroll ($20 each, I think). 3. songwriting/arranging skills – simply not present. Solution: learn guitar and piano, gather information from CASA.org, library books written as songwriting courses, and listen to way more music, especially a cappella music
To some extent, this should all be taken care of before I start recruiting. I can’t recruit until I have a vision and I can’t have a clear and compelling vision until I’m a legitimate musician. Right now, though, in the interest of beginning with the end in mind, I will measure the success of this enterprise by the “legitimacy” of the album produced at the end. It all comes down, for me, to making a killer CD. Or two. Live performance, Contemporary A Cappella League membership, competitions would all be neat to aspire to as well, but for some reason, they don’t drive me like producing quality recorded music.
And as I wrote all this down, I also wrote down that I wanted to learn to cook. Completely unrelated, I know. But I want to, so now that’s part of it. And once I wrote that down, I decided I might as well write down my other two aspirations, writing and movie making. So I did. And you know what else? I want to get back in touch with ALL of my old friends (which I’ve done before) and STAY in touch (which I haven’t).
And that’s it. The whole goal/dream I’m calling my mid-life crisis. All on a budget of … well, just very little. And with the following major caveat: big rocks first.
If you’re into the 7 Habits, you know exactly what I mean. For everyone else, I simply mean that unlike the typical mid-life crisis, this cannot be allowed to eclipse the things that are truly important in my life. My role as husband and father comes before this, my job comes before this, my church callings come before this, finances, care of the home, my health all come before this.
So the major doubt, even after all the other obstacles, is simply this: with all these big rocks, when is this going to happen?

THE iPOD, THE MID-LIFE CRISIS, AND EVERYTHING

            I’ve chosen my mid-life crisis.

            This has been a long time coming. I remember when the true concept of a mid-life crisis was brought to my attention, maybe 10 or 12 years ago. The wife of a twice-over Harley Davidson owner and Mormon bishop was asked how she let him get away with it. She said that as long as his mid-life crisis wasn’t another woman, she was okay with it.

            I want you to know that the ramifications of this profound statement were not lost on me. The effect on my imagination was immediate. Carte blanche, the blank check! Imagine – automatic spousal approval of ANYTHING that isn’t another woman, regardless of the cost (almost). My mind raced – this is a once-in-a-lifetime shot, so what do I really, REALLY want? A den? I’ve SO been wanting a den for so very long, but no, because then we move and my mid-life crisis is over and I don’t get a new den in the new house. Family annual passports to Disneyland? What could be more ME? But again, so very, very temporary.

            After that, I was drawing a blank. See, I was already entering that stage of life where you forget what your hobbies and interests are because there’s just no time for that silly childishness. The idea sat on the back burner for a decade, as I knew that I had some time to plan. Then I turned 40.

Still no ideas, but I did get an iPod Touch for my birthday. My first iPod, in fact, and it was something of an awakening. Music, internet, game machine, social networking optimizer and PDA in one extremely comfortable package. I had also long been curious about this “podcast” concept and I began listening to a few on a regular basis. Disneyland podcasts (of course), Harry Potter podcasts, humor podcasts, self-improvement podcasts, none of which was entirely satisfactory. But I did actually know one podcast celebrity, admittedly not extremely well and only from my deep past, my best friend’s younger brother, Dave. So I listened to “Mouth Off” with Dave Brown and Christopher Diaz.

Besides being dynamically produced and mighty funny, “Mouth Off” resonated with me, stirring up memories long since set aside. I had a quartet in high school called “The Brethren.” It’s tough to say, but that may have been the best part of my high school experience. Tough because there are major contenders for the title; high school went really well for me and many of my experiences there were nothing short of amazing. But the Brethren was, well, a real brotherhood for me, and I still get excited about that feeling of the perfectly blended chord, but especially of being part of it. It seriously transports you. It wouldn’t make a good basis for a religion, but there is something spiritual in it.

I took a look at the stuff I do when I’m unfocussed. I realized, as though I was noticing something over the shoulder of another person, that I actually have been keeping a written list of songs I wanted to arrange for a reunion of the Brethren that will NEVER HAPPEN. For starters, its other members live in Boise, Dallas, and Washington DC (actually, suburbs of these, in every case) and I’m here in Las Vegas. Beyond that, based on subsequent conversations, I don’t think the others miss it quite the way I do. Well, anyway, it’s time I either delete that list or sing those songs some other way.

            A Cappella. It really fits as a mid-life crisis, doesn’t it? Something that if a 40 year-old puts a great deal of time and effort into, everyone around him thinks it’s kind of stupid, and he’s more or less the only one impressed with whatever he accomplishes (see Andy Bernard – there, I said it first, so if you have an Andy Bernard reference brewing, it’s too late and you may now shut up). Yes, that’s just the thing, I think.

            And then it grew.

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See the following anthems for additional reference:

   • Good Old A Cappella – The Nylons

   • Chordbusters March – Blue Grass Student Union

   • I Never Walk Alone – Huey Lewis and the News