A few men within the ranks of the Midwest
Vocal Express chapter of the Barbershop
Harmony Society have taken it upon themselves to amplify the chapter’s
efforts to promote the purest form of barbershop singing – the quartet. After
all, the original name of the society was and continues to be SPEBSQSA – the
Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing
in America, Inc.
These men have created the Quartet Club (QC), which meets
regularly at the Harmony Inn the
Village in downtown Greendale,
WI to rehearse and perform for the patrons. The venue’s web site
includes a calendar
showing when the QC and various quartets will be performing there. Stop
in for a great meal and a few tunes and who knows what you might witness.
Here is an account from a QC leader regarding a recent
performance:
All of us
in QC on Saturday experienced the wonderful performance "moment" that
Grant, Josh and all of our leaders talk about relative to "Changing
Peoples’ Lives."
QC, as
usual, sang in both dining rooms for the guests. In the Fountain
Room, we gathered in front of a table occupied by an elderly man (even older
than me!), his wife and their daughter enjoying a great breakfast. Our
first song was "My Wild Irish Rose," during which the wife and mother
sang every word with us, all the while just beaming.
Lips did
his normal great job, asked the wife her name (she responded "Jan"),
and then we sang "Let Me Call You Sweetheart." Once again,
Jan beamed and sang along with us. We noticed that the daughter had
tears flowing, and was tenderly holding Jan's hand during the songs. We
all were touched, and fought to finish the set while keeping our composure.
It gets
better....a few of us stayed at the table to chat with the family, and that's
when the daughter briefly mentioned that her mom was struggling with late stage
Alzheimer's. The daughter was surprised that "Jan" could
remember her name!!...much less chat a bit and sing along with QC.
After we
returned to the Harmony Hall to rehearse, the daughter followed us in,
apologized for interrupting and then shared more details about her mom and how
un-responsive she had been until we had started to sing. At this
point, she was crying so hard, frustrated that words alone couldn't express her
feelings of joy for her mom as well as her thanks to us. I tell
you.... there wasn't a dry eye in the hall!
She left
after a few minutes. We all stood speechless...looking at each
other, trying to digest what had just happened. The light went
on...We had just changed someone's lives! WOW! What a
powerful gift we have that allows us to bring a person in Jan's situation back
to the present so she can not only enjoy the moment, but recognize her family
and be the mom and wife they've known and loved once again...if just for a few
moments.
That, my friends, is the power of music.
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