Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Msg #16 (7 weeks to go) Ways you can help, or get help

Welcome to our sixteenth preparedness update.All previous updates can be found at https://nehbprepare.blogspot.com 
Useful info and links at the bottom of this update..

 Overall, things are looking great for this rally - people are singing, working on preparation, holding run-throughs, singing together whenever they meet.  This weekend is Harmony College Northeast - if you are attending, see if you can find some fellow Brigade singers (NEHB or not) and sing with them!

I remain here to help - ask for advice, ask for information, correct my errors. NEHB is a collaborative effort.

Important Reminders:

  • You can still register for Rides To The Rally, Rides Home From The Rally.
  • Bills for the balance of the rally are coming shortly.
  • If you missed it, checking is different this year and there will be no formal checking process on arrival.

Be A Part Of The Magic

I have been on the Board of NEHB for the 2018 and 2019 rally (at large, and this year Secretary), and I have also been a staff member (Preparation, and Travel).

It is honestly fun to be helping to put this rally together, and I have made even closer friendships this way.

I mention it because, every fall, we appoint a "new" Board, and find new staff - many people continue their service, but new positions do become available.  Please consider volunteering. I can promise a great group of volunteers, and a lot of appreciation.

If you might consider either a staff or Board position (or wonder how you can help best, or help an existing Board or Staff person) please reach out to Daniel Schwartz.  I'm also happy to answer questions.

Useful Info And Links



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Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Msg #15 (8 weeks to go) Go to a run-through if you can!

Welcome to our fifteenth preparedness update.All previous updates can be found at https://nehbprepare.blogspot.com 
Useful info and links below.

If there is anything that the Rally and Brigade can do for you, to help with your preparation - please ask.

 If you have questions, ASK ME QUESTIONS. I will get you answers, and share the answers with everyone where possible.  If you don't know, other people may not either.

Important News:

  • CLARIFICATION: This year's rally is on the usual 3rd weekend of September, 20-22, 2019.  The 2020 rally (next year) will be one week earlier (September 11-13, 2020).  We will return to the third weekend in 2021.  (hat tip: Jonathan Taylor)
  • Run-throughs have begun, and are exciting.  There were TWO local to Boston this weekend - I attended one, and it was awesome. There is no better way to prepare than to attend a run-through. Please continue to think of them as mini-rallies.

  • Reminders:
    • Additional part learning tracks are available for your personal use only.  $20 per part, contact our Treasurer to purchase.

What's Happening Now

Now that we have finished our overviews for all 12 songs and the Challenge song, I'll be switching to sharing important information.

I keep a chart of my progress, with notes on my status.  I update it, and print to keep in my music book.  I find it incredibly useful, and even when the rally is over, the recorded trouble spots help me strengthen my memory.

Since I sing bass, mine is mostly for basses.  If a tenor, lead and baritone want to make one and share it, I will link to it in future posts.

Upcoming Information over the next few weeks:
  • There will be a rooming form where you can specify preferences.
  • Discussion of why you should become a member
    • And how to become a member
    • And calls for motions for the annual meeting of members
  • Overview of the weekend schedule
  • Overview of the quartet competition
  • Reminder of uniform requirements
  • Call for new Board Members
  • Call for volunteers for next year's rally

Useful Info And Links



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Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Msg #14 (9 weeks to go) Say lake while clearing your throat = loch

Welcome to our fourteenth preparedness update.All previous updates can be found at https://nehbprepare.blogspot.com 
Useful info and links below.

If there is anything that the Rally and Brigade can do for you, to help with your preparation - please ask.

Mea Culpa: in all previous emails, my countdown was miscalculated.  This email has fixed it.  No, I did not use a time machine to give you more preparation time. :-)

Important News:

  • By now you should have at least a singable grasp on all 12 songs.  Not perfect, but perfectible and something you can sing at a run-through.
  • Run-throughs have been a little light this year.  Please host, please attend.  Not only are they fun mini-brigade-rallies in their own right, but they are the best way possible to improve your preparation.
  • One of our attendees has asked us to remind you that there are alternate lyrics for Grow Old With You, if you don't want to sing about drinking too much.  From the end-note on the sheet music: "[T]he arranger has provided alternate lyrics for the Tenor in measures 27-28: "I could be handy, honey, what do you think?"

  • Reminders:
    • The 2020 Rally will be one week earlier in the calendar than in previous years - to accommodate the Jewish holidays. If your calendar-system always blocks the 3rd weekend, remember to shift it to the 2nd weekend for 2020.  We will revert to the 3rd weekend for 2021.
    • Additional part learning tracks are available for your personal use only.  $20 per part, contact our Treasurer to purchase.


I've put the song discussion at the end this week - it's a little long. Not only will you learn about the song, you get a little English-Scottish history and some insight into the Scottish language.


Useful Info And Links



Challenge Song - The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond

Words and Music - Traditional Scottish
Arrangement - Jonathan Quick

Loch (Lake) Lomond is Scotland’s largest natural lake, part of the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park in Scotland which also contains the famous hill, Ben Lomond, and is known for the beautiful purple blooms of heather in the spring. About 30 minutes north of Glasgow. It is a major tourist attraction for water sports, golf, hiking, biking, fishing. It’s known for its distilleries (legal and formerly illegal). This song isn’t really about the Loch.

There is a famous index of English speaking folk tunes, called the Roud Folk Song Index - which tracks multiple traditional references to the song Loch Lomond. The Roud Folk Song Index traces songs back as far as the Middle Ages.  This song isn’t about the Index.

What is this song about?  No one knows for sure, but theories beckon. :-)

What we now know as the United Kingdom (which includes Britain, Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland).  While a great and peaceful nation now, and one of the largest national economies in the world, it has a very long and tumultuous history of world-wide conquest, colonization and war.

It has an equally long history of internal strife and religious conflict.  Some of that goes back centuries - some as recently as 1998 and the Irish Troubles.  This song relates to one of those internal struggles. It’s important to realize that while the theories about the meaning are about cruel treatment of men, the song became popular long after the uprising, and so the stories were considered more about romantic love, than violent death.

King James II was deposed by Parliament in 1688.  His removal changed the line of succession, and also had a repressive religious dimension.  For almost 100 years afterwards, there were a series of armed revolts called the Jacobite Rebellions.  (Latin for James is Jacobus.) The final internal-struggle was in 1745, by descendants of the Jacobian line attempting to return Bonny Prince Charles to the throne. It’s hard to believe how vicious and ugly the uprising and its suppression were. 

The song lends itself to a few interpretations, many of which trace to the treatment of Jacobite prisoners and references to the King’s Road (the High Road) and the locals and peasants using other roads (The Low Road).

One interpretation is that the song is sung by a wife or lover left home in Scotland, whose man was killed in the rebellion and his head paraded on a pike along the High Road. Another references the victorious sides “game”: pairing two captured soldiers and requiring that they choose which was to die, and which was to be released.  The dead soldier would be paraded on the High Road.

It may also simply be that, since the forces arrayed against the Crown were drawn from both lowland and highland areas of Scotland, that these are the high and low roads.  Nevertheless, the song is about a keening sense of loss. The word “Bonny” (beautiful) are somewhat ironic.

In our arrangement, the end of the song is lyrically modified to be a bit more uplifting - but I’m including both the original lyrics and a loose American translation.

Lyrics
Translation
By yon bonnie banks, 
And by yon bonnie braes, 
Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond, 
Where me and my true love 
Were ever want to gae, 
On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond. 

Oh! ye'll take the high road and I'll take the low road, 
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye; 
But me and my true love 
Will never meet again 
On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.

'Twas then that we parted In yon shady glen, 
On the steep, steep side of Ben Lomond, 
Where in purple hue 
The Highland hills we view, 
And the moon coming out in the gloaming. 

Oh! ye'll take the high road and I'll take the low road, 
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye; 
But me and my true love 
Will never meet again 
On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond. 

The wee birdie sang 
And the wild flowers spring,
And in sunshine the waters are sleeping,
But the broken heart it kens 
Nae second Spring again, 
Tho' the waeful may cease frae their greeting.
By the beautiful banks
And by the beautiful hillside
Where the sun shines bright on Lake Lomond
Where me, and my true love
Were always wanting to go
On the beautiful, beautiful banks of Lake Lomond

Oh, you’ll take the King’s Road, and I’ll take the old road.
And I’ll be in Scotland before you;
But me and my true love
Will never meet again
On the beautiful, beautiful banks of Lake Lomond


Was then, that we parted in that shady glen
On the steep steep side of Mount Lomond
Where in purple hue, the Highland hills we view,
And the moon comes out in the twilight.

Oh, you’ll take the King’s Road, and I’ll take the old road.
And I’ll be in Scotland before you;
But me and my true love
Will never meet again
On the beautiful, beautiful banks of Lake Lomond

The small birdy sang
And the wild flowers bloomed
And in sunshine the waters are sleeping
But the broken heart, it knows
No second spring, ever
Though the woeful may cease from their greeting.


VIDEO LINKS
Benny Goodman - pretty upbeat, isn’t it?
Chanticleer - because any great a capella will do
Runrig - a Scottish Rock Band, known for using this as a closer for their shows
Realtime - Barbershop
Moonstruck - Barbershop

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Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Msg #13 (6 weeks to go) Ride The Chariot

Welcome to our thirteenth preparedness update.All previous updates can be found at https://nehbprepare.blogspot.com 
Useful info and links at the bottom of the page

If there is anything that the Rally and Brigade can do for you, to help with your preparation - please ask.

NB: Of all the musical essays I've written for this year, this one's my favorite piece of research.

Important News:

  • Big Congratulations to our Judging Quartet Rooftop Records, taking Fourth Place with a stunning 90.7 score, in one of the highest scoring Internationals in history.

  • Volunteers for running the Rally are always needed, at check in time, during riser setup and tear-down, and other important tasks.  Please volunteer to anyone, especially our President.

  • After attendance at 2 consecutive NEHB rallies, and with the passing of an audition, you can become a Member of NEHB.  Membership is free, provided you attend at least one rally every 2 years.  Members are guaranteed early admission, and can vote on important measures that affect the future of the rally.

  • Speaking of which - MEMBERS: please consider if you have any formal motions to make for consideration at the Members meeting at this year's rally.  Any member can introduce a motion, as long as sufficient notice is given.  Please allow any Board Member to help you formulate and submit a motion.  Passed-motions are legally binding on the Board. Non-members can always ask a member to make the motion, but you will not be allowed to attend the member meeting to speak for it.

  • Reminders:
    • The 2020 Rally will be one week earlier in the calendar than in previous years - to accommodate the Jewish holidays. If your calendar-system always blocks the 3rd weekend, remember to shift it to the 2nd weekend for 2020.  We will revert to the 3rd weekend for 2021.
    • Additional part learning tracks are available for your personal use only.  $20 per part, contact our Treasurer to purchase.

Ride The Chariot

Traditional Gospel number
Arrangement owned by the Barbershop Harmony Society, possibly by Earl Moon

One of the ways that barbershop signals its debt to its African American roots, is when it sings a great traditional gospel song with respect and admiration. The style of music we sing would not exist had it not been created and elevated by the African American community.

The chariot is a symbol frequently used in both the New and Old Testaments. As a real object they transported important figures and were used as early cavalry weapons.  As figurative symbols they carried those who represented God - either prophets or angels. In the arts, the chariot symbolizes a journey of great importance, or an endeavor of value.

In the American Spiritual oral tradition, it was both a reference to rising up to heaven in joy, and a subtle reference to the Underground Railroad that might spirit one away to freedom.  In either case, it was an end to suffering and the beginning of a new or better life. Frederick Douglass (himself a former slave) once wrote:

“I did not, when a slave, understand the deep meanings of those rude, and apparently incoherent songs. I was myself within the circle, so that I neither saw or heard as those without might see and hear. They told a tale which was then altogether beyond my feeble comprehension; they were tones, loud, long and deep, breathing the prayer and complaint of souls boiling over with the bitterest anguish. Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains.”

Sterling Allen Brown, who interviewed many former slaves, wrote this in 1953:
“Ex-slaves, of course, inform us differently. The spirituals speak up strongly for freedom not only from sin (dear as that freedom was to the true believer) but from physical bondage.”

The American Gullah/Geechee culture of the Carolinas is proudly reclaiming and teaching their contribution to these musical traditions, which they trace back to Africa.  Many of the songs we now call “Traditional Spirituals” or “Traditional Jubilee Songs” (Including Swing Low Sweet Chariot) were first sung for the public by the Jubilee Singers from the Historically Black College Fisk University - founded to educate freed Black Americans immediately following the US Civil War. Many such colleges produced traveling choruses to hold concerts, and the profits were used for scholarships.

Most arrangements of Ride The Chariot owe themselves to William Henry Smith, who arranged it for TTBB while he was a professor at the historically black Wiley College in Texas, back in 1939. (Mr. Smith  is credited in the original copyright). It is frequently sung both at UVA by their Glee Club, and by many a cappella groups at Yale.

While this song is simple, and the arrangement is modern barbershop, let’s sing this to honor our barbershop roots, and roots deeper than our own.

VIDEO LINKS

Useful Info And Links

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Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Msg #12: (7 weeks to go) Making Change

Welcome to our twelfth preparedness update.All previous updates can be found at https://nehbprepare.blogspot.com 
Useful info and links at the bottom of the page

 If there is anything that the Rally and Brigade can do for you, to help with your preparation - please ask.

Important News:

  • I hope you enjoying International - either in person, or via the webcast.
  • Cheer on Rooftop Records at International - they will be singing late in the quartet program on July 3rd, in the third round.

  • If you are attending International or Harmony University this summer, look for opportunities to sing the core 8 from this year or previous years with other brigade singers.  There may be brigade reunion rooms as well - a fast way to make friends is to sing a song together.

  • We want to help you be ready, and will do what we can. But if you feel you must withdraw from NEHB, the form is here.

  • Reminders:
    • The 2020 Rally will be one week earlier in the calendar than in previous years - to accommodate the Jewish holidays. If your calendar-system always blocks the 3rd weekend, remember to shift it to the 2nd weekend for 2020.  We will revert to the 3rd weekend for 2021.

    • Additional part learning tracks are available for your personal use only.  $20 per part, contact our Treasurer to purchase.
    • Current members - a reminder that to retain your membership you must have a current BHS membership and you must also attend at least every other year.  Memberships expire after the second consecutive failure to attend.  Future members - if this is your second consecutive NEHB you can apply for membership during the rally via a recorded audition.  More details coming down the road.

Change The World

Words and music by Tommy Sims, Gordon Kennedy and Wayne Kirkpatrick
Arrangement by Deke Sharon and David Wright

Barberpop - yes, that’s what Deke Sharon and David Wright call it, so why can’t we?

If you have the time, there is a wonderful half-an-hour video interview of Deke and David talking about their barberpop collaborations, and this song.  Why it’s structured as it is, who wrote what parts, why it’s faster than the original. Everything you want to know and more.

But first, let’s talk about the song - written a bit at a time over the course of a year as the three composers shared a melody, an idea, and the song and lyrics slowly came together. The recording process was similar, with many people having a hand in it.

The end result, made famous by Eric Clapton pairing with Babyface - is a great performance, production and a great recording of a basically mediocre song.  The lyrics have no hook, the melody has a sameness - and it’s sung in a simple blues style. It is, basically, a song about a loser. If things were different, I’d have you - but they aren’t so I don’t. :-)  (Bernie Taupin, the lyricist who works with Elton John, uses this song as an example of a terrible lyric.)

It was marvelously successful.  It won many awards, and was nominated for more, and was used in the movie “Phenomenon”  But: since then, it has dropped out of the music world.

Sharon and Wright have resurrected it, and created a fun but truly challenging song to sing. You may not see a lot of professional quartets singing this on YouTube....  Basses know why.

Let me talk to my brother basses - this song is very hard.  There are no written breaths for basses until measure 33. The rhythm is tricky and doesn’t always follow the structure of each measure. I recommend the following steps:

  1. Learn the rhythm without singing.  Really learn the rhythm.
  2. Find the spots for catch breaths, and take frequent tiny breaths
  3. Print the music, find the places where we sing quarter notes on the first and second beats, and mark them.
  4. Watch the eighth+quarter durations at the end of the scales

It can be done, and it’s great when you can finally do it.

VIDEO LINKS
Eric Clapton, with clips from the movie
Wynonna Judd a very different instrumental background

Useful Info And Links

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