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During Junior year at Mendel the announcement came about a special activity. I signed up to be in a variety show. Mendel Men and the girls from neighboring schools were the performers. I really didn’t know what I was signing up for but I thought it would be fun. Mister Schulp recruited students to come for try outs. He organized a chorale group. A bunch of boys showed up. He asked each of us to sing a line to test our voices. For some strange reason, he chose me as one of the singers.
This activity created another reason for me to stay at school longer. On days when we rehearsed, and I had to work too, I rarely got home before nine p.m. On singing only days, I made it home by seven to do homework.
We rehearsed singing in harmony. Until that time, I didn’t know harmony existed, nor could I read music. I learned to like singing, but it was hard to stay on a line of notes when the guys next to me sang something different into my ear.
Mr. Schulp was patient, but kept pushing and training. Eventually, we started to sound better. About a month before the performance, the show went into rehearsal at an auditorium west of Mendel down 111th Street. The stage rehearsals were in the evening, and Dad let me drive the Green Hornet, to the rehearsals.
The chorale did several numbers, the last one being a barbershop quartet. That was my first experience with barber shop harmony. The chorale members wore suits with a white shirt and tie. The barbershop quartet had to change into a red and white striped jacket and a straw hat for their number. My part in the show was short, but I stayed till the end of rehearsal to see all the performers.
Mom and Dad came to the show and enjoyed themselves. The event was a big hit and a lot of fun. I never sang in a group again after that experience.
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Filed under: Biography, family, Memories, Music, Theater | Tagged: Arts, Barbershop Harmony, Barbershop music, Burnside, Chicago, Mendel CHS, Rehearsal, Roseland, Singing, Vocal |
Grumpa, I sang in a narbershop quartet in the 8th grade at Henry Clay School in Hegewisch in 1954, and never sang in another one since then. But it was fun.
I bet you were a lot better singer than I was.