EVENTS

The Bluegrass Student Union Story . . . in their own words.

How can we sum up the career of the Bluegrass Student Union?  Every person on earth has a “legacy;” a list of qualities which can inspire and teach others. A barbershop quartet is a team autonomous, with a separate life and legacy of its own, albeit intertwined with the lives of its four members.

The question most often asked of us by quartet fans is "What are your secrets?"  Perhaps our answers might be fun to read.

Near the beginning of our career, we asked the same question of our favorite quartet, the “Suntones.”  They explained they had been inspired by the legendary “Buffalo Bills,” and that there was no simple road map.  The "Suntones" shared some elements of their success, but advised us that each quartet must make its own path.

During our first rehearsal, we heard the overtones, and interpreted them as some kind of “magic.”  First, all we could do was laugh, but before the evening was over, we swore to each other that we would win the International Quartet Contest, and would "become another “Suntones”,  bold words, since on that night, our average age was eighteen very short years.  They were not half so short as the twenty-five years which followed.  These are our “secrets.”

The Boys Perform in England

From the beginning, the BSU shared something with every quartet who ever sang; the challenge to master the science of barbershop quartet singing.  Every art form has two vital elements; form and imagination (science and art).  Lack of form is an obstacle to maximizing the impact of the art.  Many quartets spend their entire careers just trying to master the science.

We could not have helped but notice the music our parents and siblings enjoyed. Dwight and Mary Jo Hatton, Jim and Paula Burgess, and E.J. Staab introduced us to barbershop harmony, through their participation in the Louisville area SPEBSQSA, INC. and Sweet Adeline chapters.  It was natural for us to have followed in their footsteps.

As members of the International Champion “Thoroughbred Chorus,” the BSU received instruction from true experts in the field, as part of our introduction to quartet singing.  Our legendary chorus director, Jim Miller, along with his quartet, the International Finalist "Citations" and our long-time chorus coach, Ed Gentry had a keen understanding of balance, vowel matching and synchronization of consonants, which gave us a great head start.  We also picked up a confident performing attitude from their example.

Allen's and Ken's mother, Mary Jo, was director of the “ Falls Of The Ohio Chapter ” of “Sweet Adelines, International,” and agreed to serve as the quartet's first coach.  She focused her efforts on vocal production and rhythm, in order to give us tender young singers a solid understanding of how to keep a beat and produce tones properly by using the right muscles.  We sang many hours of unison to create as solid a unit sound as possible.  Even though this difficult work did not score “quick” points in competition, it was her contention that to ignore this element of good singing would limit the quartet's impact down the road.  In retrospect, we sure are glad “Mom” convinced us to do that difficult work.

Nevertheless, in the fall of 1974, we became Cardinal District Quartet Champions in our first attempt.  Six months later, we met Don Clause, who had already coached several International Champion Quartets, including the “Dealer's Choice.”  The “DC” had revolutionized quartet craft, achieving an unprecedented mastery of vowel matching and synchronization.  Under Don's guidance, they had proven it was possible  to “ring” every single chord.  Her task completed, Mary Jo handed her “kids,” the “Bluegrass Student Union,” over to Don for the next phase of our development.

Ed Waesche

Coach Don’s impact on the group was phenomenal.  His understanding of form was specific to quarteting, while our “Thoroughbred” fundamentals had been designed for chorus singers.  Also, Don had great knowledge of the use of interpretive tools like rhythm, tempo, dynamics, etc..  Still, the greatest contribution Don made to the BSU was motivational.  His charisma and motivational skills served to solidify our work ethic and discipline.  The result was an accelerated learning process.  Don introduced us to arranger Ed Waesche, who gave us our first "original" arrangements.  Ed's intellect and creativity helped motivate us to work even harder on our craft, because his wonderful arrangements deserved nothing less.  Thirty months after our first rehearsal, we were told we had mastered the science of barbershop quartet singing.

Each quartet has a sound all its own, with basic characteristics.  The “Bills” and the “Citations” had a “big” sound, and the “DC” sounded perfect.  The “Suntones” unit sound was bell-like and dramatic.  But all four of our hero quartets had this in common: they sang like men, a quality we believed to be stylistic of barbershop quartet singing.

Perhaps, as youngsters, we were sensitive to the fact that we might have a boyish sound.  Still, Rick had an unnaturally solid bass range, with a wide, full timbre, creating overtones all by himself.  Dan, Our baritone was a natural bass, as well, so his quality complemented Rick's nicely.  Dan's high register was thinner; a better match for Ken's lead sound, which was measurably brighter than the others, serving to make Ken's voice predominant.  Allen's tenor quality was comparatively dark, resulting in a unique aural “tension” between the two brothers (Ken and Allen).

These were not elements over which we had total control, but simply the gifts God gave us.  Through experimentation, and with our coaches' guidance, we learned to exploit and discipline their use, so as to create the most exciting sound possible.  We were pleased that the resulting unit sound was more manly than boyish, and that it became more virile as we matured physically.

Growing up in the “Thoroughbreds,” we were competitors right down to our toes.  The chorus had been formed to compete, and in those days, all actions served the chorus’ competitive effort.  This attitude spilled over into quarteting, so our primary goal was to win. Competition served its noble purpose with the BSU, to motivate us to improve.  This phase of our career included a fourth place medal and a sixth place finish, before we won the quartet championship in 1978 on  the same day we sang with our beloved “Thoroughbreds”, winning an unprecedented fifth chorus championship.  This was the first time in the history of the Barbershop Quartet Society (SPEBSQSA, INC.) that a single chapter had won both contests in the same year. We had believed that if we became International Champions, we would be rich, and everyone would love us.  Boy, were we surprised!

1978 Record Album - Note future Gold Medalists Grandma's Boys & Boston Common

After the glow of victory subsided, we struggled to search for an identity as a past champion quartet.  There were no Thoroughbred chapter quartets who had been faced with our circumstances.  We were not acquainted with any other Society quartets who had won at such a young age.  We were simply not ready to make retirement plans.  We spent two years performing on chapter shows, and recorded our first two albums of contest songs and show material, while we pondered the future.  During that time, we toyed with the idea of “turning pro,” but talked ourselves out of it, because of the way it might impact our family lives.

Walter Latzko

Then, we met Walter Latzko.  The famed arranger had written arrangements for dozens of International Champion quartets since the 1940's, including the “Bills,” the “Suntones,” and the “Dealer's Choice,” not to mention the famous female professional quartet, the “Chordettes.”  Discussions with Walter resulted in a plan to select Meredith Willson's “The Music Man” as the theme for our third album.  This would be an unprecedented move, which would be difficult to complete, since each song would have to fit the chosen theme.  No songs could be tried and dismissed due to our own limitations.  We would have to make every song work.

Music Men

“The Music Man” was the only Broadway show and Hollywood film production that included a barbershop quartet (the “Buffalo Bills”) in the cast.  We had played the part of the quartet in a high school production of the play, so we understood the value of the music, and shared a love for the songs with most barbershoppers.

Walter agreed to write the arrangements, and we began the two year process to complete the recording.  We worked the songs into our repertoire as they were completed, and Dan's wife, Cyndy, hand-sewed elaborate costumes for us.  The project was a success, and gave us confidence that we were heading in the right direction.  We learned that the limitations created by the theme served to enhance the art.  We also learned that there would be no chapter, no Society, and no contest judges to create any more challenges for us.  We would have to decide for ourselves what was important, create our own definition of success, and set our own goals.  Our quartet had made an important transition; from follower to innovator.

The first International Champion Director of the “Thoroughbreds,” Bill Benner, had always insisted that the chorus refrain from bragging about its accomplishments, in order to encourage other barbershoppers, a tradition which Jim Miller wisely continued.  Immediately after the BSU won the District trophy in 1974, the chapter threw us a victory party, and we were feeling pretty important.  In the midst of the celebration, Jim congratulated us, and then asked all chorus members who had won the District Quartet Championship before to be recognized.  About half the chorus members raised their hands.

With moms, dads, big brothers, “Thoroughbreds,” coaches and arrangers all around us, we never had a chance to get “too big for our britches.”  They taught us not only about singing, but about good manners and barbershop etiquette.   This early training minimized (but did not eliminate) our mistakes in public relations, which served to enhance our quartet's popularity over the years.  We maintained our respect for our mentors, our families, the Society and “Joe Barbershopper,” which made for a much more rewarding career, with few regrets.  We happened upon some great philosophies about quartet singing and about life, which helped keep us down to earth.  Ed Gentry said it best, "In all things, be modest, because you have a heck of a lot to be modest about." 

The Bluegrass has always been determined to succeed, no matter what obstacles were before us.  For every quartet, it is disappointing to fail, but every winner understands that failure is part of success, because one learns from each of them.

The first two times we entered the Cardinal District Preliminary contest, we failed to qualify for the International Quartet Competition, even though we advanced in rank each year.  Our first real taste of defeat came in 1977, when we placed sixth in International Competition, after having finished fourth the previous year.  This formative experience had great impact on our collective character, and may have been a vital element of the level of success we eventually achieved.

After we focused on theme recordings and shows, we found that our projects took much longer to come to fruition than did individual songs.  Still, we felt the impact of “The Music Man,” “Jukebox Saturday Night,” and “Here To Stay” would be commensurate with our effort.  These recordings served not only to enhance our career, but we have been told they contributed to the progress of the barbershop style, as well. 

We had to have strong faith in the value of these projects, in order to stick with them for the years of preparation required by each theme.  In fact, we started and abandoned several other themes along the way, because they failed to hold our interest.  Our individual and collective interests created a “net” through which every song and every project had to pass.  We developed more faith in ourselves and in each other.  We persevered.

We started our career like most quartets, copying songs from other quartets, whose work we admired.  One piece of advice given to us by Harlan Wilson, the “Suntones'” famous baritone, was to “...choose your songs and arrangements carefully.”  Ed Waesche had solved this problem in our competitive days with arrangements of “Midnight Rose,” “I've Found My Sweetheart Sally,” and others, but the situation changed.

After winning the International Quartet Contest, a quartet is no longer eligible for Society competitions, so our new goal was simply to entertain well through chapter shows and recordings.  The show audiences’ and listeners’ tastes were slightly different from those of contest audiences, so we had new “judges” to please, with obscure rules to identify and follow.

We realized there was a limit to how many songs we would be able to perform in our career, and realized that each rehearsal hour was precious.  We established criteria for BSU songs and arrangements, including originality, familiarity, adaptability, and degree of difficulty, all determined by intensive research.

Kenny's many trips to book stores, record shops and sheet music stores resulted in a collection of over 500 albums and single recordings, 1500 pieces of sheet music, biographies of major American composers, and books about American Popular Music as a legitimate art form.  He became a virtual musicologist.  With such a list from which to choose, it was a simple matter to determine which songs or collections of songs we liked better than the others.  We selected a 1940's theme for our fourth album, and for our fifth recording, we used only songs written by George Gershwin.

We considered hundreds of songs that didn’t make it through the “net.”  Some were thrown out quickly, and others were tossed after we had tested the suitability of the arrangements.  Still, some tunes were performed by the quartet on shows, but were not released on our recordings because they did not fit any of our chosen themes. 

Somehow, we always knew that it was important to choose our mentors carefully.  In turn, we enjoyed the benefits of their good taste.  Bob Ernspiker, the son of Thoroughbred John Ernspiker, served as our friend, conscience and recording engineer. Bobby's high standards in the recording studio contributed much to the success of our album projects.  While most quartets would spend a few days recording an album, Bobby insisted that we spend from six months to a year in the studio to produce one recording.  In addition, he spent many hours perfecting his a cappella recording technique, to our benefit.

As “baby-boomer” barbershoppers, we considered ourselves to be the first “second generation” barbershoppers ever to win the International Quartet Championship.  Growing up in the 1960's and 1970's, we noticed that popular singers of our generation were using a different phonetic alphabet than the one we had learned through barbershopping.  As we later experimented with adaptation of popular songs to the barbershop style, we discovered that our traditional word sounds did not fit.  We consciously changed our pronunciation of lyrics, to better communicate the more contemporary songs' messages to general show audiences, whose “ears” had been conditioned by the recorded popular music of their time.

We analyzed the differences, and decided the more cultured (traditional) pronunciation represented sincerity, and the more common (pop song) pronunciation conveyed “coolness,” almost the opposite of sincerity.  This change did much to enhance the acceptance of newer adaptations to the style, but by recognizing the difference, we avoided compromising the integrity and sincerity of traditional barbershop songs by continuing to use the traditional phonetic alphabet, when applicable.  We believe the changes that resulted from our observation and analysis, along with our ability to understand and translate rhythm, tempo and meter, may have been the greatest contributions we made to the progress of the barbershop style.

We found Walter Latzko and Ed Waesche to be musical geniuses; yet both arrangers always allowed us to participate in the creation of their arrangements. Although our formal musical education pales by comparison to theirs, they encouraged us to develop what they called our “musical sensibilities.”

Most quartets have experienced the joy of “woodshedding,” which is paramount to making up the arrangement as you sing together, using only your God-given “musical ear.”  Although we usually start with a finished arrangement, if we feel a chord moving in a different direction, we are free to embellish it.  This freedom makes rehearsals more fun, because the singer is participating in the creation of the art.  Some arrangers resent it when a quartet changes their arrangements, as if it’s ok for them to change the songwriter’s work, but not ok for anybody else.  Consequently, we rarely got around to singing any of their works.

Who knows how it was that we four happened to join the “Thoroughbreds” at about the same time?  How is it that none of us had a bad cold on contest day?  There is an old saying; “It's funny how the guys with all the luck just happen to be the guys who work the hardest.”  Still, there is an element of success which cannot be measured.  Call it fate, if you will, but we believe God had a hand in our success.

Like many quartets, our first mission was to win contests.  After we were no longer eligible for competition, we focused on how to gain the admiration of show audiences.  But over time, our focus gradually changed again.  As we continued to sing together, we began to realize the most important thing we could accomplish was to help the listener to experience his emotion.  This, we believe, is the primary purpose of art; to facilitate the exercise of those natural feelings for which society offers no other appropriate venue.  We like to think this change in our attitude is reflected in the reverence with which we recorded the “Jukebox Saturday Night” era and Gershwin tunes.

In 1992, we decided it would be wise to take a break from quarteting to focus energy on careers and to spend more time with our families.  Over a five year period we sang only an occasional benefit performance, local show or chapter guest night.  Then, in 1997, we received a call from Muncie, Indiana barbershopper Ed Dotson, advising us that the new Harmonet was alive with requests for us to release all of our recordings on CD.  Ed’s call inspired us to conceive the Legacy collection, the first complete-works recording by a barbershop quartet.

It was a lot of fun to review the analog master tapes and live show tapes from our years together, and with the help of our old friend, Bobby Ernspiker, we were able to digitally re-master all five albums, as well as some previously unreleased cuts and live performances.  The satisfying thing about the project was preserving our music forever, thanks to the new digital technology.

We had decided we wouldn’t travel to perform anymore, and continued to decline offers from chapters, when one day we got a call from director Jack Pinto.  It seems his new chorus in Easton, PA , Brothers In Harmony, would not take no for an answer.  They offered us enough money for a one-nighter to pay one semester’s college tuition for four of our 12 kids.  WE couldn’t afford to turn them down.

That got us back to rehearsing and performing regularly.  Eventually, we learned some more new material, and began recording a tune here and there. Over the past few years, some of the guys have once again tired of the road, so it’s really time to hang up the ol’ pitch pipe.  We’ll sing one last time on December 9th, 2006 in the same hall where we gave our first performance in December of 1973.  And we’ll try to finish up the mixing and editing of the new tunes as soon as possible, so we can say goodbye properly to our fans with a nice addendum to Legacy.

Another quote from our first coach, Mary Jo Hatton, was “Never step on anybody on the way up whom you might need on the way down.”  We tried to follow that advice, and wish to offer profuse thanks to all of the people and organizations mentioned above.  In addition, we would like to thank choreographer Gene Stickler, our long-time booking agent,  Larry Knott, our families, the Cardinal District, the Association of International Champions, the many performers, quartets, composers and arrangers who inspired us, and most of all, the fans who cheered us.   All of those people have touched and shaped the Bluegrass Student Union, enriching our lives and our endeavors.  We are, in large part, the product of their work, their encouragement, their guidance, their wisdom, sweat, love, tears, applause and support.   For everything they have done for us, we are eternally grateful.

If you are an aspiring quartet singer, we know not whether our “secrets” may inspire you, but we offer you this unsolicited advice:  A quartet is merely a piece of the conduit through which the Creator's harmony is channeled.  Cherish it.  Make it better.  Pass it on. 

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