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M4 Dispatches
Notes from the Maryland Mensa Monthly Meeting
by The Boreal Badger (a.k.a. Thomas Weinbaum
vonWaldenthal)
On the 21st of March, in the year of the lord 2008, the mental mavens of Maryland Mensa met (as is their wont) in the hall of the Stillwater church in Catonsville, to hear a presentation decidedly different from the sort to which they were accustomed. Usually, there's a guest speaker (usually not a member) who delivers a talk about some topic of their particular expertise or experience, followed by a question-and-answer session. Unless we're unlucky, the presenter doesn't make any pitch for either profit or proselytizing, and the audience in attendance leaves edified and unoffended, although a presentation on a particularly controversial subject might occasionally occasion raised voices or objections.
No chance of that this time, though; instead of a solitary presenterer we were treated to a half-dozen, an a capella vocal sextet called The Chromatics. For those few of you who might not know, 'a capella' (literally, 'chapel-style') means that the artistes sing without instrumental accompaniment. A listing of better-known modern examples, with multiple commercial recordings, would include The Kings Singers (that's not a typo:-- the name refers to Kings College, Cambridge) and The Manhattan Transfer. Alternatively, one might imagine the Beach Boys' recordings minus their instrumental tracks.)
A capella singing, as the name implies, started as church chanting in melodic unison, and then developed to parallel fourths under Pope Gregory (Gregorian Chant, geddit?) and later still into polyphonic part-singing as motets, which were usually notated. By the Baroque period, their increasing complexity and virtuosic demands had evolved to the point that only trained experts (lay or professional) could cope with them, and the ecclesiastic music was joined by extended forms on laic subjects as well as sacred, including the cantata and the oratorio (with continuo accompaniment on harpsichord or organ). The latter two began to separate solo arias from the ensemble sections (not unlike the Baroque concerto) to feature the abilities of individual singers as much as to illuminate a narrative line, gradually becoming the early opera, with its full orchestral accompaniment. The cantata and oratorios became increasingly rich in texture, with four to eight different simultaneous melody lines, and were not easily accessible to the average amateur singer.
The simpler vocal form, the unaccompanied motet, remained popular among the laity, for whom it remained a means of self-entertainment at gatherings at the homes of the higher orders of society, while the villein kept to the less sophisticated (i.e. monophonic) folk songs of the era. As time went on, the harmonies used in these laic entertainments grew closer to each other on the scale, following the example of contemporary instrumental music, with harmony gradually overtaking counterpoint as the determining feature of the performance. (All performances were live then; they didn't have recording technology available.)
Fast forward a few centuries, and pan across the Atlantic. The first settlers in the New World brought along their folk and liturgical music and the early African slaves their call-and response music with wider separation between the voices, but as the new continent was gradually tamed later colonizers imported their polyphonic pastimes. By the end of the nineteenth century, the U.S. had two distinct but equally authentic original forms of close-harmony vocal ensemble music, the spiritual and the barbershop quartet. That there were two distinct forms was due to the social separation of the slaves from their owners, of course. (Class distinctions in musical diversions persisted at least well into the 1950s in the UK, as can be seen in Kingsley Amis' novel, 'Lucky Jim'.)
Fast-forward a few more decades. The two styles had begun to merge, even if their exponents didn't. Jazz and Tin Pan Alley developed as instruments were added either as accompaniment or in imitation of the human voice, but the purely vocal styles persisted as doo-wop and as the glee club. It wasn't until just a few decades ago that the close-harmony vocal group began to come into its own once again as a popular form.
The Chromatics are a semi-amateur a capella sextet based around Greenbelt, MD. It is composed of Padi Boyd (mezzo) and Deb Nixon (soprano) of Greenbelt, Barry Mahaffey (tenor) of Lancaster, Karen (alto) and Alan (bass) Smale of Gambrels and John Meyer (Baritone and 'percussion') from Western Maryland, and they've been together for over a decade. The group has their own website at thechromatics.com, at which one can hear and view some of their work, and more performance videos can be seen on youtube.com.
Most of their songs are original, many with a science (mostly physics) or science-fiction bent. For those among my readers who know what it means, those songs are similar filk singing (adding Sci-Fi or pseudo-period lyrics to folk or popular melodies, e.g. rewriting 'Home on the Range' as 'Home at Lagrange'), but with original tunes (meaning no royalties need be paid). Other irreverent topics are the internet, television and fast food. They also perform some vocal standards, such as Where Have All the Cowboys Gone and Awimoweh (The Lion Sleeps Tonight). Those of you who remember a recording of microphonic vocal special effects LP titled You Won't Believe Your Ears will find their inclusion of sonic special effects, percussive effects and barnyard (and jungle) imitations pleasantly familiar. Indeed, the audience was invited to contribute animal sounds to Awimoweh, and did so enthusiastically. (Now there's a new response to that perennial question, "What do you Mensans do at your meetings?" )
When asked their musical influences, the members of the sextet differed but didn't disagree. (They're obviously friends.) The majority citations included the Beach Boys (They performed 'Good Vibrations'), the Beatles (They all seemed to be over 40), the Kings Singers and Pachabel.
The group has recorded five CDs (which were available for salee after the performance; yours truly purchased two). One was the obligatory Christmas album (Even the Ventures did one, but so did the Kings Singers. Matthias Claudius no longer gets royalties. ), but the others were interesting, including songs about comets, the Doppler shift and other scientific topics. Quite entertaining, even for non-Mensans and non-scientists.
Competent and engaging as the group is misically, they weren't all that striking visually. They didn't have the precision choreography of the Motown close-harmony groups, nor their matched wardrobes. Having mostly come from directly their day jobs, they were dressed in a variety of shapeless Casual Friday attire. (One of the men has either alienated his haberdasher or needs a foundation garment!) It would have added to the performance to see them in sequined outfits, like the Tops or the Temps.
In all, it was a charming evening's diversion, and for once enjoyed by everyone present. Need I add that it was a free floorshow? (We all know how those ducats slip through certain Mensans' fingers like molasses. ) The CD sale was appropriately apologetic and low-key, as befits invited guests, and to this observer at least it seemed that all those present left smiling (as opposed to smirking). The evening was a success; we should have more like this one.
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