What I do for love...

I was raising toddlers when the flower children and the rock musicians went to Woodstock, NY.  I was raising teenagers and helping college students when screaming mobs pursued the great rock bands and the Beatles.  I personally liked more sedate music and many of the composers were long dead, and the performers of these pieces didn't really have groupies -- as such.  Following a musician around, keeping his "costumes" clean and pressed, making sure there's water and light snacks in his music bag, listening to him practice, these are not  things I ever imagined myself doing.  But...there you have it.  I am a groupie.  A 70+year old, gray-haired, cane wielding little old lady who follows a singing group around the State of Ohio.  I admit it!!  I'm in love with a musician and he sleeps right next to me every night.  The group is the Voices of Ohio and my husband, Bob, with his deep bass voice (I call him Big Bopper), is a member of the chorus.

The Voices of Ohio perform at a variety of places, sometimes inside, mostly out of doors at a fair or festival of some kind.  This particular Saturday, They are at a fair.  When we arrive at the fair grounds, Bob heads off to find other members of the group and I gather up my chair, purse, cane, reading material and sometimes sewing or knitting and head in the general direction of the entertainment shelter or tent.  As I watch, men and women, all dressed in black shirts and beige pants, start arriving from all directions, singly, in pairs and multi-person groups.  I watch as my husband, a member of this elite group, joins several other men assembling the tiers and arranging and placing microphone stands and speakers.  One of the men reaches into the trailer and brings out several large rolls of orange and yellow heavy duty extension cords.  A few of the guys scurry over to grab an end and measure the cord off to the microphones and sound system "booth," a card table in the middle of the tent.

Small groups of singers sit around the area at picnic tables, applying makeup, women were taking out their earrings and replacing them with the uniform sparklers that all the women wear.  They laughed at some joke or other.  One of the women had a small hand held radio and a group was gathered around her.  Occasionally, I hear the Ohio State fight song or a loud cheer from someone in the crowd.  Other singers wander over to the coolers at the back of the stage area and get out a couple of bottles of ice cold water.  Several vocalists rehearse parts from one song or another, blending and listening to each other for cues or unusual sounds.  They fussed with one another's hair and brushed off specs of lint or dust while they talked and sang.

Nearly 40 people, appearing to range in age from mid twenties to over sixty, started to gradually hum and move toward a short balding, middle-aged man in a red shirt and beige slacks.  As they all assembled around him in no particular order, they grew quiet as he said something and raised his arms.  Then as one, they began to sing...he would stop them say something else and they would sing a few phrases from another song.  When the man in red (Girard, the conductor) dismissed them, he moved over the stage area, checking the tiers and microphone stands, testing microphones, rearranging wires that seemed to be in the way, checking for obstacles that might trip up someone as the chorus entered.  He collected some papers, placed them on a stand at the middle of the stage in front of the tiers.  When he seemed satisfied that everything was in order, he disappeared around the edge of the tent.

I position my chair so I can see Bob when he comes on stage.  I am usually near the sound system where the sound man and his wife (also a groupie) are seated along with a third groupie, the husband of a singer who has set up a video camera on a tripod.  I am joined by a fourth groupie, the wife of one of the other bass singers.  Some of these groupies double as "roadies"  or as photographer or some other job.  There we sit, waiting for the audience to appear and a concert to start. While we wait, we chat, buy drinks for one another from the fair vendors and watch people, sometimes read or sew and generally just wait.  People are moving in all directions with fair food in paper containers, riotous balloon figures on long strings and all sizes of drinks from a normal size "coke" to a jumbo something or other.  A few people are sitting on the benches in the tent chatting.  Mothers, with toddlers in strollers as well as older kids in tow, are sitting on the benches around the edge of the tent trying to collect everyone and wipe faces and hands of the stickiness left behind by some treat.  They are resting with the overstimulated kids who just want to head out for another adventure.  Older couples are smiling and holding hands as they stroll into the tent, moving quickly toward to the front rows so they don't miss anything.

Suddenly, with no warning, no trumpets, no flashing of lights, men in black shirts came from behind the stage and began ascending the tiers each taking a specific spot as if it were marked just for him.  They are followed by the women who soon have the tires filled with a beautifully arranged gathering of people...old, young, men, women, different races, different heights, some with glasses, some with no hair.  The pianist took her place and you could hear a pin drop (well, actually in this case you could hear the music from a video game just on the other side of the tent).  With a flourish, the man in red took his place at center stage facing the singers and raised his right arm.  The concert had begun.  "Overture, light the lights, this is it..."  The opening song drew more people into the tent, chatter stopped and the surrounding noise seemed to face into the background.

Following the first song, the conductor acknowledges the audience and introduces himself and the group. He describes the beginning of the Voices of Ohio from the time he and a number of those in the group were in high school and participated in the Ohio Youth Chorus at the Ohio State Fair and travelling to Europe to sing. While not everyone in the group had the same experiences, the majority had participated with the youth chorus in some way prior to Voices being formed.

Girard  abruptly turns back to the chorus, raises his arm and the group bursts into another song and then another.  Singers come down from the tiers to introduce s member of the group or to sing a solo with the chorus, Elvis spring to life and the female members of the group swoon.  The 60's musical "Hair" makes a return to the stage as group members don peace symbols and dark glasses and the whole audience sways as "Age of Aquarius" moves across the tent.  The sounds of Gladys Knight emerge from a petite brunette who belts through "Midnight Train to Georgia" with  a rendition that sets the whole audience making the train whistle sounds and brings them to their feet asking for more.  The first half of the concert flies by and the singers leave the stage for a ten minute water break.

By now, the entertainment tent is fairly full, the benches and chairs filled with people waiting to see what the second half will bring.  Ten minutes goes by quickly and the men start to file in and fill the top tiers of the stage followed by the women, each one taking their specif spot on the risers.  The conductor and pianist enter, the baton is raised and the second half begins.

Today, the second half is all inspirational and patriotic music interspersed with personal stories of triumph over tragedy and experiences with the United States Armed Services.  As the concert winds down to the final songs of the night, we are reminded of the men and women who have served and fought for this country since its inception and some of the music that inspired them.  TAPS is played on a single trumpet over the loudspeakers and there is not a movement on stage or off, heads are bowed until the final note when the conductor leads the chorus through a medley of service anthems saluting every veteran who is invited to stand at the mention of his or her branch of service.  The audience and chorus salute each service member with an extended hand and applause.  Then, the finale..."America the Beautiful" morphing into the "Star Spangled Banner" with people scrambling to their feet with hands over their hearts as the song is recognized.  And then, just when you think there is no more...comes "God Bless America" - all three verses with an ending that would make the late, great, Ohio-born Kate Smith proud.  The chorus, pianist and conductor bow as one to the warm applause of the audience and begin filing off the stage.

Within 15 minutes, the stage is broken down, all the equipment is loaded into the trailer, the singers have gone off to find some fair food or drinks and pile into their cars for the long drive to their homes all across Ohio.  Another concert is under their belts, yet another county has thrilled to the Voices of Ohio. 

In a normal season, the Voices of Ohio will perform at least 15 concerts around the state.  Many years, additional concerts or special calls might add two or three more concerts.  All these concerts require a great deal of work.  Vocalists come from all over Ohio to the practice site in Dublin.  Every vocalist has to learn their part by heart, and be ready for the group practices.  The vocalists practice together two times a month starting in January for 5-6 hours at a time through April when the concert schedule begins.  Additional practice times are called for new shows or to add additional pieces that have not been used before.  All chorus members pay yearly dues to belong, they purchase their own music and their own stage ensemble:  a tuxedo with white shirt, six sets of cummerbund/bow ties (in different colors), a summer shirt and another practice shirt, jackets, black shoes and beige slacks - both men and women.  In addition, the women have specific makeup and jewelry they wear to appear more uniform.  These dedicated musicians donate their time and travel to the organization.  Any fees the group receives for performing is channeled back into the organization to pay for equipment and to purchase musical rights to enlarge their selection of music.

Friends and family frequently question the sanity of participating in an activity which requires such dedication of time and money with no financial pay off...we can't even write off the travel on our income tax.  Occasionally, we'll have to purchase our own tickets or additional tickets for family members.  Sometimes, like this past year, a new vest is needed for a special performance -- this time with the Kenny Rogers Christmas tour.  So why do it?   Why follow the man I love, whose deep voice first drew me to him, over the rural back roads of Ohio, knowing we are expending additional money with no additional income?  For love of the man, that's why I do it!  He does it for the love of music...for the opportunity to perform, to bring pleasure to those who hear the group and for the opportunity to do what he has always loved and been denied for so many years.  Bob started college as a music major, but had to leave college and never got the chance to finish.  He has sung with some quartets at church and with the Lima Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, which is where I met him.  And, he has been in the church choir occasionally, but nothing of this caliber.

Life has a funny way of intervening.  When we returned from Georgia after an eight year try at retirement, he found out about the group through a high school friend.  Now the Voices of Ohio enables him to again utilize the talent that was recognized by a teacher in high school over 30 years ago when he performed musical theater.  Now his dream of performing music is being realized.  So, a groupie I will happily be as long as I am able.  As long as he can perform, you'll find me somewhere on the edges of the audience singing along or mouthing his part with chorus.  I'll be leading the audience in jumping up for "Hang on Sloopy" and yelling out OH-IO, swooning for the Elvis impersonator, pulling an imaginary train whistle to "Midnight Train to Georgia" and singing the "Star Spangled Banner" with my hand over my heart and my tear filled eyes focused on the American flag at the corner of the stage.