Story of the week.
I can't vent on Facebook. Too many barbershoppers there.
So here's the story of the week:
Last Wednesday, I get on a conference call with my quartet, Lucky Day. We had just finished 21st in the world at contest with a score that would have put us in the top 20 pretty much any other year. I was pretty happy with the way things turned out. So the call comes and I get the run-around that "with [my] new commitments with a new school and soon to be with AOH (Ambassadors of Harmony) and with [my] finances, we feel that it would be in the best interest of the quartet and [me] that the three of us move on with another bass singer." My tenor had been paying for my flights to rehearsal. In April, he said he would no longer be able to afford it after contest. The man brings in a substantial six figure income, and just built a half million dollar house in a brand new subdivision in the suburbs of Orlando. He gave himself an oddly convenient reason to kick me out. This whole thing was planned. What did I do, you may ask? (and Katelyn, you really did ask lol) First, let me explain the makeup of the quartet:
Roger (tenor): International Champion, former Presentation Judge
Eric (lead): Competed at International 6 or 7 times over the last 10 years
Paul (baritone): 2-time International Champion
Me (bass): Music Judge Candidate, never been to International, never finished higher than 8th at a District contest
To say the least, I was the least experienced of the foursome (bow chicka wow wow, jk). But that doesn't mean I don't have musical ideas, not at all. I felt like nearly all of my ideas were being brushed off because I wasn't experienced. Probably 90% of what I said, I would suggest it, Eric would think about it for a minute, and say "nope, I don't feel it that way". He wouldn't even try it in context. But the first thing Roger says, we adopt without question. It's enough to piss off the pope several times over. The fact that I dared to express a musical opinion without being the lead or a gold medalist drove them insane. When I tried to get Eric to sing with more space, he got snappy, angry and incredibly defensive, and said I was "claiming to know what [his] voice felt like on the inside."
They found my replacement before contest. They planned the whole thing. That's what pisses me off. But I find some solace in the fact that the bass they chose to replace me is burned out. He has 2 gold medals, but he's old. The last quartet he sang in, Four Aces, tanked when they picked him up. Four Aces debuted in 2007, placing 11th, which is an incredible feat for a quartet with a new-to-barbershop lead. They were pegged to place well inside the top 10 in 2008, when they announced this particular bass as their new bass. Talks of a medal (top 5) circulated among the masses. They qualified in 2008 in 23rd, a full 3 points per judge per song lower than what they had sung the year before, and did not improve at all at International that year, with the same score and placement. Three points per judge per song for Lucky Day's score at International moves them from 21st to 33rd. I look forward to watching them crumble, and forming a quartet of my own in St. Louis.
On the lighter side of the news, I met 2 of my 3 roommates for next fall. One is a vocal performance major, like myself, but he's a countertenor, and he's really cool. The other is in graphic design, and he's pretty cool too. Quite the departure from my wing full of hockey players at Eau Claire, haha.
Enough of this ranting. I'm going to bed. Go fu--I mean, stay classy, San Diego.
PS. I need to get out of Madison. NOW.
So here's the story of the week:
Last Wednesday, I get on a conference call with my quartet, Lucky Day. We had just finished 21st in the world at contest with a score that would have put us in the top 20 pretty much any other year. I was pretty happy with the way things turned out. So the call comes and I get the run-around that "with [my] new commitments with a new school and soon to be with AOH (Ambassadors of Harmony) and with [my] finances, we feel that it would be in the best interest of the quartet and [me] that the three of us move on with another bass singer." My tenor had been paying for my flights to rehearsal. In April, he said he would no longer be able to afford it after contest. The man brings in a substantial six figure income, and just built a half million dollar house in a brand new subdivision in the suburbs of Orlando. He gave himself an oddly convenient reason to kick me out. This whole thing was planned. What did I do, you may ask? (and Katelyn, you really did ask lol) First, let me explain the makeup of the quartet:
Roger (tenor): International Champion, former Presentation Judge
Eric (lead): Competed at International 6 or 7 times over the last 10 years
Paul (baritone): 2-time International Champion
Me (bass): Music Judge Candidate, never been to International, never finished higher than 8th at a District contest
To say the least, I was the least experienced of the foursome (bow chicka wow wow, jk). But that doesn't mean I don't have musical ideas, not at all. I felt like nearly all of my ideas were being brushed off because I wasn't experienced. Probably 90% of what I said, I would suggest it, Eric would think about it for a minute, and say "nope, I don't feel it that way". He wouldn't even try it in context. But the first thing Roger says, we adopt without question. It's enough to piss off the pope several times over. The fact that I dared to express a musical opinion without being the lead or a gold medalist drove them insane. When I tried to get Eric to sing with more space, he got snappy, angry and incredibly defensive, and said I was "claiming to know what [his] voice felt like on the inside."
They found my replacement before contest. They planned the whole thing. That's what pisses me off. But I find some solace in the fact that the bass they chose to replace me is burned out. He has 2 gold medals, but he's old. The last quartet he sang in, Four Aces, tanked when they picked him up. Four Aces debuted in 2007, placing 11th, which is an incredible feat for a quartet with a new-to-barbershop lead. They were pegged to place well inside the top 10 in 2008, when they announced this particular bass as their new bass. Talks of a medal (top 5) circulated among the masses. They qualified in 2008 in 23rd, a full 3 points per judge per song lower than what they had sung the year before, and did not improve at all at International that year, with the same score and placement. Three points per judge per song for Lucky Day's score at International moves them from 21st to 33rd. I look forward to watching them crumble, and forming a quartet of my own in St. Louis.
On the lighter side of the news, I met 2 of my 3 roommates for next fall. One is a vocal performance major, like myself, but he's a countertenor, and he's really cool. The other is in graphic design, and he's pretty cool too. Quite the departure from my wing full of hockey players at Eau Claire, haha.
Enough of this ranting. I'm going to bed. Go fu--I mean, stay classy, San Diego.
PS. I need to get out of Madison. NOW.