March 12, 2009 by Ro.

Oh, boy, we are in hyperdrive working on expanding our repertoire. It’s just fun, fun, fun! (which is one of the few songs we are not working on).

Having successfully just performed our three new songs at the Temple Hatikvah Coffeehouse (plus “Happy Birthday,” also brand new), we are eager to find new material to tackle. Steve is up to the task. We meet for our Thursday evening rehearsal and he has no less than nine songs for us to try. We attempt them one by one…

Now I’m sure there are some a cappella groups that can say, “Hmmm… “Over the Rainbow” in G?” and then calmly give a starting pitch and just improvise the harmonies, and it is good.

We are not that type of group.

And I’m sure there are some a cappella groups who buy an arrangement of “Over the Rainbow” and sight-sing it, looking at the music, and it is good.

We are not that type of group.

What Moderately Bright Four does is cluster around the piano in an eager and cheerful manner. We spend an inordinate amount of time trying to get the music to stay upright on the mysteriously slippery and poorly-designed piano ledge thingie that holds the music. (Please help me: I’m sure there is a word for this thing). We bravely listen to the opening pitches Steve plays, optimistically hoping that we will be able to sight-read the song. Of course, we can’t, and by the third measure we start what can only be described as vocal flailing. Steve, Ro, and Audrey simultaneously poke out their own parts on the piano, Ro doing the bobbing parakeet-head thing because of her bifocals, while Jeff adheres firmly to the “if the little black dots go up, sing higher, and if they go down, sing lower” school of sight-reading. Of course, we are all on different measures. Ro frequently takes the key signature with its pesky and inconvenient sharps and flats as simply optional. The result is cacophonous. The sheet music, from all this activity, frequently slides down from its slippery perch, falling in separate pages on the floor.

It is so hilarious that productive rehearsal time ceases and it is a miracle that we ever learn a single song.

Nonetheless, in one rehearsal, we tackle at least the first page of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, At Last, The Theme from Peter Gunn, the William Tell Overture, Yesterday, My Blue Heaven, Seems Like Old Times, My Funny Valentine, and Bohemian Rhapsody.

Now that is a good day’s work!

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March 9, 2009 by Ro.

March 7, 2009

So it is Ro’s birthday and we celebrate by singing at our fifth Temple Hatikvah Coffeehouse. This is always a special event. When the quartet first formed way back in ‘04 (pronounced “aught-four”) our primary focus was to get ready for The Coffeehouse, always said with such reverence you could actually hear the italics. The annual Coffeehouse, now in its tenth year, has evolved into quite a showcase of talent and a ton of fun and we are proud to be a part of it.

Plus, Audrey is in charge of it, so of course we are on the bill.

This year is a special occasion for MB4. It is the first time we have the audacity, or perhaps stupidity, to debut three songs in one evening (except for our very first show (yes, in aught-four) when everything was a debut and we were suitably terrified. Our new songs, all brand new in ‘09 are: “It’s Alright”, “Dock of the Bay”, and “Good Lovin’.” We love them.

Ro shows up at the Coffeehouse doubly unnerved. Not only is she going to debut her first big solo (“Good Lovin’) but she has had a traumatic blonde moment earlier in the day: while pulling her beloved Misubishi Eclipse out of the garage, she realizes that there is a dreadful electrical problem with it that will undoubtedly cost hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars to repair and will have the car laid up in the shop for weeks! Oh no! The problem is with the audio controls conveniently placed in the steering wheel: normally with a touch of a finger, Ro can adjust volume, change stations, switch from radio to CD. She is a master of all of these skills. Unfortunately, all the controls have become REVERSED!! What a mystery! The volume control, once on the right, is now on the left! When she pushes the volume down, it gets louder!! When Ro tries to change the radio station, the CD player starts! It is an electrical nightmare! Of course this will not be covered by warranty! Ro cannot imagine how this happened — perhaps all the cold weather? Dampness? Maybe sunspots??

That’s when Ro realizes that since she has backed the car out of the garage and is angling it to head out of the driveway, the steering wheel is UPSIDE DOWN so of course all the audio controls are backward…

Who says she’s not a natural blonde?

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