Msg #3: Be a follower, not a leader

Welcome to our third preparedness update.All previous updates can be found at https://nehbprepare.blogspot.com 

Useful info and links at the bottom of the page

Important News

• Will Johnson is still looking for people interested in the challenge song Loch Lomond. Our challenge song program is an optional 13th song from the list of songs submitted for our rally. Email him to express interest or to get additional information.

• We are still seeking and accepting singers, especially in the higher parts.  Please: promote us to your quartet, chorus or other talented sing friends.  Scholarships are available, if needed.  Have them apply.

• We are beginning to plan run-throughts - please attend or host.  May is songs 1-4.  To schedule a run-through, email Rob Sheridan.  You can access the calendar on the web, add it to your own online calendar or find it on the NEHB web site.

Useful Music Learning Tips

I'll be adding one or two ideas on learning music, on occasion.

There are a number of useful tips and techniques for software tools on the NEHB website that you can use to manipulate your learning tracks.  Audacity (on laptops) can be used to slow songs, record you singing against the other parts (for later analysis) and so forth.  Phone apps can do some of those things as well - explore what your phone can do!

As you learn your words and notes, it is absolutely vital to learn the planned breathing spots in each song.  In songs this challenging, a missed breath can really hurt your singing!  It's not unusual for songs this challenging to require additional breaths.  (For example, the bass part at the beginning of Change The World, or various posts.)  Planning your own personal breathes is an important part of preparation.

Come Follow The Band

Music Cy Coleman, Lyrics Michael Stewart

Arrangement by Steve Tramack

It’s all about the circus - the roar of the greasepaint, the smell of the crowd. :-)

Back in the 1800s, a famous son of Connecticut, a local mayor and businessman got into show business - Phineas Taylor Barnum.  His fascination with hoaxes, freaks and oddities (and his willingness to huckster people into paying to see them) created one of America’s most famous traveling circuses.

He was a famous promoter and showman. He was both a great and terrible man - a slave owner who became a voice against slavery in the Civil War, a huckster and humbug who was a dutiful politician and mayor. Promoter of theater and music, creator of frauds and outrageous promotions. You may think you know of him from his most famous creation - the Barnum and Bailey Circus. But there was much more to him than that.

Quite the American character.  So much so that a musical named Barnum was written about his life - although it is only loosely based upon the facts.

Come Follow The Band is a rousing march from the show, sung when he goes on tour with his paramour and they are greeted in a wild and self-promotional fashion.  The song opens the second act of the play. It’s big, it’s loud, it’s jump out of your seat. All the razzamatazz, all of the oompapa!

Arranged by New England’s own Steve Tramack - he boils down an entire marching band with dozens of instruments to only four parts.  It’ll keep you busy, but it’s worth it. When singing the part of a musical instrument, embrace the instrument completely. Sing it well, but sing it silly - it’ll repay you.

Bass Notes - this song is tough.  It has five repetitions of the chorus, none are the same.  It has two repetitions of the interlude - with little in common.  And it has almost no words to hang it all on, but the various “noises” are critical.  I found it easiest to break it down, and learn each chorus individually (1-5) until I could sing any of them as individual songs in any order.  After that the interludes are relatively easy to learn.

Once learned, it is superb to sing.  You will be rewarded for your efforts.

VIDEO LINKS

The soundtrack from the Broadway performance.

A reprise of the original show, in London, featuring Jim Dale in the role (CHOREOGRAPHY!)

A performance from Australia - you can see how important it is to commit to the song fully

Useful Info And Links

• The Preparedness Blog
• The New England Harmony Brigade Home Page
• The NEHB Application Page
• A Video Retrospective of the 2018 Rally (credit Jim Schumacher)
• Run-throughs
• Volunteer by sending email to Rob Sheridan
• See the calendar on the NEHB web site
• Add the calendar to your own.
• Challenge song - Loch Lomond.  Write to Will Johnson if interested.