Last Sunday I was lounging in a restaurant 10 feet from the Caribbean Sea, sipping something with rum in it and talking with some friends I had flown down to visit. They asked me about my latest recording project and, as I told them about the studio where I’ve been spending all my time, I noticed that the young man at the table next to us, a Habitat for Humanity volunteer, I guessed, was listening intently. He finally spoke up and told us that he was a musician as well. We got to talking, and one thing led to another, and I brought up the fact that I also arrange a cappella music.
Here’s the part that struck me – not only was this random stranger in the Virgin Islands familiar with the a cappella scene (which is something I generally have to explain, or at least mention “Carmen Sandiego”), he actually owns CDs featuring my old college group and, when I told him my name, he knew which songs had been my solos. A bona fide a cappella fan, drinking a rum runner at the table next to me in St. Croix. Two weeks earlier, I’d produced an event in Michigan and met two students who had performed versions of one of my original arrangements when they were in high school (making me feel a trifle old, I confess, but encouraging nonetheless).
Back in Milwaukee, I contemplated the lengths to which a cappella can take us. Personally, it has introduced me to incredibly talented singers and innovative producers, given me the opportunity to both travel and work from home or on the road, educated me in the arts of arranging (which I have applied to every album I’ve recorded), and when I’m actually in a group, allowed me to experience the thrill of producing phenomenal music with my friends. One girl I performed with for some time later spent 6 months living in Japan singing in a group at Disney Tokyo; a man from my college group auditioned for Rockapella, was courted by the Blue Man Group, and finally settled on a lead role in the touring company of Rent; yet another is singing in Barry Manilow’s “Music and Passion” in Las Vegas. The connections we all made with one another through the a cappella community, locally and abroad, opened up windows to the performance careers we were all after.
As I take over these monthly installments on the wonderful world of a cappella arranging, it’s nice to look back on all the fantastic experiences that the years thus far have provided. The pictures on my walls, the CDs on my shelves, even the recording session I’m off to this afternoon for my solo album – a hefty portion of my world is rooted deeply in a cappella. And even if your world is not quite so interwoven with zhm-bops and doh dohs as mine, I’m willing to bet that next time you’re sitting in a bar in the Caribbean, you’ll be able to find someone who has sung a little a cappella themselves. Maybe even one of your songs. Add as favorites (83) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 3711
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