A Musical Diversion

In which Doris introduces her reader(s) to the art of Extreme Quartetting

You may or may not remember that Doris has fallen into Bad Company, in the form of London City Singers. LCS are a ladies’ (or as we should say nowadays, treble-range) barbershop chorus, singing four-part a cappella close harmony and having a terrifically good time doing it.

But for Doris enough is sometimes never enough and a fellow obsessive in the chorus (thank you Nat) introduced her to Extreme Quartetting.  All that is required is the ability to learn about 120 pages of detailed music off by heart, and the courage to go along to an event where 80 other people have done the same thing and sing with them.  But not all together – you find three people who know the other three parts and form a quartet with them.  Then you say thank you hooray and what fun, split up, and find another three people, and so on.  Eventually – hopefully – you will have sung all the songs with all the people.  Then you drink beer, stay up far too late and sing some more.

For various covid-related reasons too tedious to remind you of (are we all pretending that the last two years didn’t exist?) the Mixed Harmony Brigade of New England 2020 in Boston has now become the Atlantic Harmony Brigade 2022 in Delaware and that is why Doris is leaving Sid and Joe in Maryland and driving 100 miles north to a hotel whose location can only be praised as being very handy for I-95 and of such dullness that even Crowne Plaza have withdrawn their brand from it (and closed the restaurant and bar).  But who cares because inside will be 80 fellow nerds, songs that sing and chords that ring.

Mifter Bat has of course come along to help monitor and improve the overtones, and the existence of a Total Wine superstore across the road more than makes up for the absence of bar, so the weekend goes with a swing and only a few people go to bed before midnight each night.

Doris completely forgot to take any pictures of individual quartets singing so instead here are some pictures of some massed sings. On arrival, round the pool and during the Big Concert (plot spoiler: 33 remote subscribers and nobody in person due to Covid precautions)

And finally the inaugural meeting of the Pitch It Down club over breakfast on the last day where after two days of vocal chord abuse Doris proudly recorded a bottom F2.