Well, that’s our official title, today anyway. We’re the 2006 Barbershop Harmony Society Land O’ Lakes District Packerland Division Novice Quartet Champions. Not bad. After 5½ years, we’ve finally entered the world of competion.

We competed today in the Packerland Division contest. We entered with basically four goals. We’re pretty pumped, because we succeeded in three of the four:

1. Win the division quartet championship. Well, this one was tough, and we didn’t make it; we took third place. But this was really the only goal we had that wasn’t completely in our own hands. We competed against other quartets like Choices, Perfect Timing, Hot Dog Pop and Two Small Frys, The Cheery-O’s and Bag of Tricks. Choices has been the champion for several years running now, and they earned the crown again today. Our hats off to them. It’s truly and honor to share the stage with a quartet like Choices; Joel, Colin, Smyte and Patrick are great guys and truly great musicians.

2. Win the novice quartet championship. We did this. But we were the only novice quartet competing, so it wasn’t too difficult. That said, it is still truly an honor and a thrill to hear our name called and to get up on stage to accept the award.

3. Score enough points to qualify to advance to the Land O’ Lakes District competition in Rochester, MN in October. All quartets who score at least 780 points advance. We scored 780. We just had to make it interesting. We’re very excited about this accomplishment and we look forward to our first trip to the district stage.

4. Have fun. This, we absolutely accomplished. We shared the stage with some great quartets. We had the opportunity to get some great feedback from three of the six judges after the contest. And the four of us enjoyed making great harmony together yet again.

So, overall, we’re a pretty happy quartet today. We’re enjoying the success and the fun we had. Monday night is our next rehearsal, and we’ll be back at work, preparing for upcoming gigs, and figuring out what we’ll sing on the district stage.