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[billhare]

[ELandau]

[jesset]

Elie's post reminded me of something...memory lane time...

When I was eleven years old, I joined a community boys choir, which was part of a larger choral organization that included an extremely skilled high school men's choir called the Young Men's Ensemble. An off-shoot of this choir was a five-man group called The Classics, and at the first winter concert of my 6th grade year, they became my first exposure to any kind of a cappella. They sang all the traditional cheesy tunes like I Can See Clearly Now, It's Alright, Change In My Life, etc., and I was completely and utterly blown away. So were the rest of us disgruntled pimple-faced middle school boys, most of whom had been forced to be in this choir by our well-meaning parents, and wanted to go home and play video games. Four of those same boys are now in On The Rocks, another I co-founded Dulcet with, and yet another I am starting a group in Portland with this fall.

Point being? Point is, one of the best parts about a cappella is that anyone who can sing can do this. By default, the genre lends itself to a strong Do-It-Yourself ethic. I know me and so many of my singing friends were inspired to be involved in a cappella because we saw groups and said, "That'll be me! Someday that's going to be me! I can sound like that too! My voice has that power! Not crazy expensive instruments, not sophisticated technology, my voice."

Will the overrun of studio technology tricks take away from that inspiration and ethic that I believe is so unique in a cappella? Maybe not. But it's something to to think about.

[sizzles]

[dherriges]

[billhare]

[jrhailey]

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[jrhailey]

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[dekesharon]