Whiffenpoof Centenary Songbook Project completed

Over the last year and a half, a small team of us has been assembling a songbook representing a selection of the most cherished 100 songs of the 100 year history of the Yale Whiffenpoofs. A couple of years ago, I had a wealth of experience typesetting songs for Blue of a Kind using Passport Encore, and I submitted some samples to audition for the job.

The Whiffenpoof Alumni Board told me they were making a hardcover edition for the Centenary celebration, which is in full swing at this moment. They also asked me how much remuneration I would require, suggesting that "none" would be the right answer. They would buy the Finale software I needed, and I hunted down a discount price. Due to the educational and historical significance of the project, I only had to submit a letter describing the project to gain the hefty discount. Sweet!

Then, I had to transfer my skills to Finale, whose typesetting paradigm was completely different from what I knew. The initial learning curve was quite steep, and working with other engravers using a rigid style sheet also added to the startup time.

This week we finished our 100 songs, typeset, proofed, edited, proofed again, edited again and etc. At times during the course of the project, an earlier manuscript was uncovered so some songs were completely redone. Every song was also proofed audibly to make sure our eyes were not fooling us.

And now the Songbook goes virtual

The Board has decided now to produce only a virtual songbook - there will not be any hardcover edition. Apparently the cost of the publishing made some Board members blanch. Throwing all the files on a web site will save a fortune.

I am not going linger over my disappointment, but let me say briefly that while a virtual songbook where members can access both sheet music and digital audio is itself a worthy project, it commemorates nothing. It has no historical moment. Members showing up for the big anniversary concert in October will get a username and a password. Nothing will "thud" on the coffee table when they return home.

Recently, I asked for statistics on the project, crunched the spreadsheet and found out how much work I'd done. I had a rough idea, but truly the project has been pretty much a blur.

The results? I engraved 88 songs, for a total of 423 pages. This may be the greatest reward of the project - knowing that we tackled something seemingly insurmountable, paced ourselves appropriately to achieve both quality and quantity and finished on time! We did it because we love this stuff, but also because of the goal to make something commemorative of the 100th.

To my family and friends who gave me the space to make something significant for the Centennial, I owe an enormous debt. Once the web site is up, I'll log in and show you what we did. ;-)

Cosi Cosa - so how did we do?

Cosi Cosa got aired out in public this month. If you have been following my ravings, you will realize how long it took from conception to reality. On June 6, I took a deep breath and joined the backing chorus for the first public rendition with Brad Peloquin soloing. You might want a listen to this one.

Click here for the Premiere Performance

-Bob

Mission is as important as repertoire

Who are you?

Every group has a reason for being; a mission. It is what charges you up to do all the work. Your mission might be to make people happy, to rock the world with phenomenal cover songs, become famous and quit the day job, or it might be to preserve a particular musical tradition.

Since our inception, Blue of a Kind has existed primarily to create something fun. Equally important to us has been lending our voices to help fundraisers, causes and to benefit folks down on their luck in our community. We sing to share a special brand of mirth, and we sing to benefit others. Having fun, making fun and doing good seems like plenty of good reasons to exist and to work so hard.

Mission forms your identity

We're refining our mission as we go along. We've become more focused on raising the performance value of our work, a natural thing for any singing group to work on. Just making the "To the Sky" CD raised our performance bar significantly, but our primary goal in making it was to create another way to raise more money for the charities we support. Becoming better and avoiding complacence have naturally become fundamental to our mission. These values carry over into all aspects of the singer's lives, into their families and on into the community.

In the last month, Blue of a Kind has appeared on a float in a parade, sung hymns graveside on Memorial Day, been covered in a feature article of the Boston Globe, appeared live on FOX25 TV and entertained a thousand folks and a few wild critters at the Zoo. So another part of our mission is also coming into greater focus: we want to sing in more cool places.

All of the above goals support one another. The better we get, the more mirth and joy we can create, the more goodwill and charity we can spread around -  the more exciting the performance opportunities become. Having a coherent mission gives you better buy-in on the part of the members to work hard. At the same time, as the character of the group becomes hardened publicly along the lines of your mission, you gain more buy-in from the community to hire and enjoy you. They know who you are and what you bring to the party. They can believe in you, and they can lock in on all the wacky stuff you do in the name of fun.

With "Blue of a Kind", we're getting more and more solid opportunities to sing in cool places especially because we've communicated clearly we're a bunch of fun-loving guys who work hard to sing well, share delightful music and help folks (and even some critters) in need.

Your identity is something your audiences will cherish as much as your music.

Zip Trip for the Blue Boys

Blue of a Kind is going on a Zip Trip!

Read all about it in the Boston Globe online:

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/melrose/2009/05/melrose_a_cappella_group_ready.html

We'll be singing one of the songs from the "To the Sky" CD, originally arranged by our dear friend, Walter Latzko for The Chordettes.

Bob

John the Revelator

Another song from the "To the Sky" CD - live on Stoneham, MA TV. I get to sing the 2nd verse here! Wailing away...

Rolling Down To Old Maui

Another live recording of a song on "To the Sky"

Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika

Blue of a Kind sings the South African National Anthem, in three languages! This song, the equivalent of God Bless America, was at one time illegal to sing under aparteheid.