All previous updates can be found at https://nehbprepare.blogspot.com
Useful info and links at the bottom of the page.
Important News
We are still recruiting singers
You probably saw the email Daniel sent earlier this week - while we have enough singers for a solid rally, we certainly have capacity for more people, especially in that higher-sounding clef I hear so much about. :-)
Please publicize NEHB to friends, fellow singers, people you admire. For those worried about the cost, remind them that we have scholarships available.
More singers = more fun!
Planning your learning process
We need to learn a little more than a song every 2 weeks to be successful, and most people aim for a slightly quicker pace than that. I, personally, have aimed for at least a song a week. If the week ends and I'm not done, I still start the next song.
Doing so dovetails nicely with our run-through schedules:
- May = songs 1-4
- June = songs 5-8 (and some 1-4)
- July = songs 9-12 plus challenge
- August = everything
- September = rally
Need Help?
Singing is a together-activity, and so is preparing for a rally.
If you are a first-time brigade person, you have been assigned a sponsor. Sponsors and their sponsored singers should be communicating at least once a week on progress, and offering help and suggestions. If your sponsor isn't responsive - we can get you a new one. If your sponsored person isn't responsive - please let us know so we can provide more help.
If anyone (new or old) needs help, or suggestions - please reach out to the VP of Music, or me, or anyone at all. We will get you the help you need. Many of these songs are of high complexity - but we will help.
Run-throughs are far more helpful than you think. If you can't make it to run-throughs, we can find you a partner to video-chat with and sing for, or to whom you can send audio recordings for evaluation.
Your success is as important to all of us at the rally as it is to you.
This will be my 8th rally - I would never be properly ready for a rally without singing with others and getting feedback.
Between You And The Birds And The Bees And Cupid
Words and Music by Pee Wee King and Redd Stewart
Arrangement by Aaron Dale
I would bet that OC Times has had more of their songs sung at Brigades than any other quartet. The next best thing to an OC Times song with Sean Devine on lead, is a Throwback song with Sean Devine on lead.
Sean and his quartets have a fine ear for country songs that make fun barbershop arrangements. This song is a classic from Pee Wee King - a famous arranger of old fashioned country classics in the 40s and 50s. Honored with many lifetime achievement awards, Pee Wee (born Julius Frank Anthony Kuczynski) wrote Tennessee Waltz and other famous tunes. In this song he partnered with a frequent collaborator, Redd Stewart.
In the classic tradition of “we can’t talk about it, but we can allude to it”, this song is about having fallen deeply in love. Cupid was not always the floating cherub with the arrows that we see today - he was originally the god of erotic love and desire. While Cupid originally had two types of arrows (gold=desire, lead=fear and fleeing), we tend to focus on just the arrows of desire today.
The Birds and the Bees - well, you don’t expect me to explain those to you, do you now? :-) Besides, in previous years we’ve sung “Let’s Do It” (“Birds do it, Bees do it, even educated fleas do it. Let’s do it, let’s fall in love.”) Such imagery goes back to the Romans and through the Middle Ages. You understand how our melodeer got in this position. At least he seems happy about it.
Aaron Dale produced this arrangement. It’s in a classic barbershop style of basic repetition, simple key changes, and a bit of variety in the lyrics and rhythms to keep the audience awake and alive. Avoid the temptation to sing too bouncy - keep some smoothness to the lines as you go.
Sometimes I'll insert some advice into the song description of the week, aimed at my fellow basses. I'll be calling that the Bass Note.
Sometimes I'll insert some advice into the song description of the week, aimed at my fellow basses. I'll be calling that the Bass Note.
Bass Note:there are pickups you sing, and pickups you don't. Be careful. The most common pickup basses miss is "a-well now". The most common one we sing when we shouldn't is "Between".
VIDEO LINKS
Pee Wee King his own self - fascinating differences in timing and emphasis
Chorus 52eighty (youth) - a faster pace and interesting interpretation
Boom Town - why should Throwback have all the fun?