One of the coolest things about being a member of GQ4 is the fact that we start preparing for the Christmas season in September. At our last rehearsal, we sang about a half-dozen Christmas songs. Though it’s been a while, our memories were quite good and we nailed some really nice chords. It seems a shame that without the quartet, I’d only be “singing” these songs for a couple of weeks in December.

We’re adding “Let It Snow” to our repertoire this year. I love the snow, and I like it when the weather outside is frightful. Some folks here in Wisconsin don’t agree with me though. It seems that the TV weather people are always referring to cold temperatures and snow as “bad weather”. What’s up with that?

I was born and raised here in northeast Wisconsin. As a young adult, I lived in southern California for 12 years. That weather is boring. Sure, the sun is nice, don’t get me wrong. But a change of seasons keeps life interesting.

The fall colors are upon us now. The third week in October (when the colors are the most vibrant) is just around the corner.

Bring it on! Let it snow!

Many folks don’t realize that the four of us are always working to perfect our craft. Our specialty of course is 4 part a cappella harmony. We learn music on our own and we rehearse together every Monday night. But in addition to the typical regular rehearsing that you would expect of any musician, we also schedule several sessions every year with various coaches who help us identify ways to make our performance better.

Today was such a day. Our first coaching sessions of 2007 were in Stevens Point today. Three well-respected musicians in the barbershop world made themselves available to four of us quartets from various parts of Wisconsin.

Our coaching concept is quite simple. We take in all kinds of feedback from any coaches we can. We take notes and make audio recordings of the sessions. When we get back to our next regular rehearsal, we pick through all of the feedback and decide what suggestions we’ll use to improve our performance. The instruction from today’s coaches made the 186 mile round trip well worth it.

Gary Thiel worked with us on “I’ll Fly Away” and “Turn Your Radio On”. Gary is the director of the Northern Gateway Chorus in Stevens Point, and was the tenor in Command Performance, the 1980 LOL District Champion Quartet. Dan Heike worked with us on “Circus Clown” and “Frog Kissin’”. Dan is a singing judge candidate and was the lead of Midnite Watchmen, the 2002 LOL District Champions. Bob Haase worked with us on “My Wild Irish Rose”. Bob is the baritone of Perfect Timing, the 2006 LOL District Senior Quartet Champions, and was also the bass in Badg-aires, the 1962 LOL District Champions. We can’t thank these three guys enough for giving us their time and sharing their talents and expertise with us. We also appreciate the efforts of Jack Edgerton who organized the day and arranged for these coaches to be there.

Our performance will soon reflect the great work of these fine gentlemen.

We’ve been working on our Christmas repertoire for a few weeks now. We’ve got our first Christmas gig this Saturday. I love pulling out the old favorites and bringing them to life with some great harmony!

One of these years, we gotta learn my favorite, Oh Holy Night. I’ve got an arrangement, just gotta do it.

Merry Christmas!

If you wanna feel those good vibrations comin’ from the joy that His love will bring, get in touch with God.

Yep, we’re learning a new song. Turn Your Radio On is a peppy gospel song that Kelly brought in. He knows it pretty well, so Brian and Chris and I are trying to catch up. It’s 72 measures, so it’s not too bad.

When I need to get up to speed quick on a song, I like to notate the sheet music on my computer. Then I can selectively play any or all of the four voice parts and rehearse it on my own time without the other guys around. I use Print Music for notation; it works very nicely for barbershop arrangements. Brian then takes the notated document and creates MP3s to help him rehearse. You know, we’re an old fashioned quartet…I’m sure this is how they did it 50 years ago.

We plan to debut the song at the Meyer Theatre on Feb 20 when we perform at the Allouez Village Band’s monthly concert.