|
November 2006 InCider Press Page 7 |
|
My days of barbershop music goes way back. When I was in high school I can remember taking a girl on a date to see a barbershop show and competition in Oakland, California. This seemed to be really fun music. As a child I learned to play the piano in a very limited way. My father was in our church Choir and so at the age of about 12 years old I started going to practice with him and enjoyed this time with my father. In the church in the region of the bay area then there was a “Messiah” presentation and I went to that and sang soprano for one or two years and then tenor. To this day I can remember both of the parts for the most of the “Messiah” by Handel. I continued to sing mainly with our church choirs and sang tenor. In Berkeley High School three of my friends and I made up a quartet and sang mainly for church functions. I remember the cute song about the mosquitoes. When at Berkeley during my college years the Church had a Barbershop Harmony competition to be held at the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. There were four of us in the church unit at Berkeley who liked to sing and we had a quartet. We sang “My little Margie” and “Aura Lee”. We taped a performance and submitted it and were invited to Salt Lake to perform in the great Tabernacle building. This was real fun and we had fun singing to the poor girls that happened to be our waitresses. We would find out what her name was and then same “My little (name)” to her. We would get a crowd that appreciated this and they would clap. Well through medical school there wasn’t much time for these things but there was a music station in St. Louis on Sunday night that played barbershop music. This I really enjoyed to listen to. Time went on and I was in the Army at Fort Riley for 2 years then in Salt Lake for three years for training and finally came back to Manhattan to settle down. I was here for a few years and my next door neighbor had joined the Little Apple chorus. He was Paul Windly for those that might remember him. He took his son Jay to practices. I remember he was called in the church to be a Bishop and had to curtail his time with the Chorus. Well Paul one Thursday night invited me to come to an open house night with the Little Apple Chorus. This was so much fun that I was hooked. It was very fun to take Robert who at that time was about 12 and he would sing with us and also in our church choir. There was a period then when Stewart the next oldest came. He was about 10 years old and he didn’t seem to be able to focus for the hour and a half and probably drove our director nuts. Well after Stewart there was some policy that the boys should be about 12 years old to start. I guess this occurred when Stewart was 12 and he was more attentive. Then came Tom the next oldest and he had to wait until he was 12. Finally Richard came along after that. Each of the boys would come until they got into the senior year of high school. We registered as “Martha’s Boys” but never did a lot with this. These four boys and their sister Elizabeth were involved with Pops as well as the concert choir at school and sang in our church choir also. Barbershop music as well as other music has been a great influence in the lives of my children. The boys all were part of the BYU men’s chorus which was really a good chorus. In addition Stewart the one who gave Ken the most headaches remains as the most active participant with Barbershop music. He is at the University of Illinois at this time and is part of their group there. There was a time when I worked in the old Memorial Hospital in the ER where it was pretty slow in terms of patient volume and I had the delightful opportunity to be part of the Little Apple Core quartet. We practiced every Monday night for an hour or two. This really was fun. We even went to a competition one time. I remember also when we would go to a Summer Barbershop School and I took Stewart as I remember and our Little Apple Core quartet would have the opportunity of being coached by some great barber shoppers. When I was called to be a Bishop all but Richard were gone and he was in the senior class of high school. The responsibilities of this calling in the church competed with my time to spend with the Chorus and so you might say that I was inactive for a few years while Bishop. Currently I continue to work with the Youth in Church and I do have one Thursday night a month where I have a regular conflict in time to attend the Chorus practices. I have valued and continue to value the friendship of the great men who serve this community with an art form that is uplifting and challenging. I especially recognize the years of service that many of the Chorus members and leadership have given to the National Organization.
Jim Gardner Tenor 26 year member ♪ |
|
Meet Member Jim Gardner |