NEHB Preparedness Assistance: Msg #4: Dreaming and other planning

Welcome to our fourth 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:

If you have sponsored someone - have you checked on their progress? If you have a sponsor, do you know who it is and have you checked in with them? These relationships will make for a more exciting and prepared rally.

We will be announcing a new policy on purchasing other-part learning tracks shortly. (After the Board meeting 12May2019.)

Reminders:

Our optional 13th challenge song is Loch Lomond. Email Will 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.

Learning Is A Philosophy

Some people are wired to always learn - I admire that passion, and try to emulate it. Some people think that learning time is later - don't be that guy. If you prepare now - you reduce your stress. Don't wait to the last minute, and come to the Rally worried. Early preparation is the best way to keep everything fun.

Prepare with a buddy - check notes, check words, talk about the music. Your sponsor (if you have one) is a great choice, but we can find you a partner if you need one.

Professionally, I am a software engineer. Any software engineer can tell you that a good start now is better than a great start later. Constant growth and improvement is a goal - often referred to as kaizen.

Give yourself the gift of kaizen - constant slow growth and improvement, predicated on making consistent early efforts.

Please Join The Preparedness Team

I've been creating notes for myself on potential trouble spots on each song. (You will see a lot of progress, because I learned the core 8 for another brigade earlier this year.)

I'd love to have a tenor, lead and baritone create a similar document that we can share, which outlines potential trouble spots for their part. Please volunteer by sending me an email.

Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel)

Words and Music by Billy Joel

Arrangement by Kirk Young

I am indebted to Rueben Barnes for his interpretation of this song as he coached my chorus (Vocal Revolution).

Lullabye is Billy Joel’s famous song for his children, a song with many layers of meaning. (Billy Joel also made a children’s book out of it) Northeast District’s own Kirk Young arranged this song, and it is immensely popular. NEHB introduced this song to Harmony Brigades at our first ever rally.

The song is not called “Lullaby”, but “Lullabye” - a portmanteau of Lullaby and Goodbye.

There are many stories about the origin of the song - but let’s go right to Billy Joel himself for the story - in this video. He had a melody, but no lyrics. One night his daughter asked “Daddy, what happens when you die?”. His answer was that when you die, you go into other people’s hearts. You go into the rest of their lives with them. But since this question was asked while Billy Joel and his wife were divorcing, so he felt the question was two-fold: she was also asking if he was going to leave her? He said never would. These are the first two layers of the song - death and divorce

One of the fascinating moments in the video is that telling the story made him too emotional to sing. The best performances I have ever done of this song were when I let my heart out - at Mixed Harmony Brigade of New England, one entire quartet began crying as we sang. It was amazing.

The lyrics are simply about putting your young child to sleep - another layer of meaning. (The song’s verses are about closing eyes, going to sleep, and dreaming.)

Most parents do the same sleepy-time pattern every night. In my house, I gave my daughter a warm bath, read her a few stories, sang a quiet song. This was a daily precious time for both of us. To prolong that moment, young children often ask questions. They talk about fears, or ask about things that matter to them. The answers are a time for comfort - you promise to never be far away. Sometimes the next room, but sometimes you promise to always be there for them. You will love them, forever.

But it is time for sleep, and so no matter what it left unsaid - you put them down to sleep, and go into the next room. If things go well, they go to sleep with a quiet mind - but it’s not unusual for you to bring your thoughts and worries with you. You think of the past, you wonder about the future. Those are deep waters indeed.

As your child lays asleep and dreaming - you also dream. You think about your dreams for your child and yourself. Someday, your child will grow up, and you will grow old, and you will die. Someday your child will be where you are now. Will they know your song? Will they sing them to your grandchildren - even if you aren’t there?

Will the things that matter most to you, become an important part of your child, and future generations?

Even if you aren’t a parent, you were once a child. Remember.

Performance note - there are a number of pickups into the next phrase (most often the bass has the pickup.). It is lovely when the other 3 parts hold over the breath before the pickup, and then breath on their own. The song is a bedtime ritual - close your eyes, go to sleep, dream.

VIDEO LINKS

The official video

Billy Joel singing this live at Shea Stadium (which I love more)

The story-video I linked to above

Gas House Gang (from a studio album)

Fireside Quartet absolutely crushing this arrangement - two of them attend NEHB....