Wombat in the World

[BRWombat]

Seven years.

Seven long years since I've been in any Disney park, and almost nine since I've been to Walt Disney World. Finally the wait is over and I have my next vacation semi-booked!

Mrs. Wombat & I will be descending on WDW in January, just the two of us -- sans kids, parents, and any other hangers-on -- for the first time since our 1990 honeymoon! I found some amazingly low airfares, and we still have one unexpired day on our four-day passes from our honeymoon to make visiting the parks a bit cheaper. We've booked an off-site hotel, but may very well switch to staying on-property once the January resort discounts are announced. Can't wait!!!



Now if I can just locate those 1990 passes with the unexpired day...

[Zazu]

Sounds like we need to organize an SGT get-together!

[BRWombat]

Well, we didn't have an SGT meetup this time -- sorry, Zazu! -- but I am back from my brief trip to Walt Disney World. Lots of incredible magic moments as usual, but the best for me was when Mrs. Wombat & I were watching the Dapper Dans perform, and they spotted my Vocal Majority shirt (which I may or may not have been wearing for exactly this reason) and invited me to sing with them! I subbed in for their baritone, who then took my camera and videoed the whole thing (and doing a masterful job of it, I might add. Baritones rule!). Enjoy:

https://youtu.be/6Hl6-ZlQRBI
Link: https://youtu.be/6Hl6-ZlQRBI

I have a couple of SGT's I'll post later, but overall an amazing trip.

P.S. The 2018 International competition & convention for the Barbershop Harmony Society will be in... Orlando!!!! Vocal Majority is competing again this summer in Vegas, but if we win this year, we'll be at the convention next year to perform!

[WEDFan]

Very nice, Wombat, but it looked like you were trying to get away with the hat!



So, is that a standard arrangement that most singers know, or did you talk about what to do first, or do you do it more like jazz and just improvise along their line?

[BRWombat]

...

So, is that a standard arrangement that most singers know, or did you talk about what to do first, or do you do it more like jazz and just improvise along their line?

"Heart of My Heart" is a "polecat," one of a group of familiar barbershop songs with standard arrangements. ("Polecat" somehow evolved from "barber pole"... and that's as far as I understand.) Most barbershoppers learn some or all of them along the way. I just know a few, mostly from doing Singing Valentines, so I was ready when they asked me what I wanted to sing.

As a side note, there is a barbershop equivalent to jazz improvisation called "woodshedding," which really gets back to the roots of how barbershop harmony started. Unlike in jazz, it's not exactly done in real time. It's the art of four guys getting together to spontaneously create harmony in the barbershop style to a song they just learned. They all learn the words and melody, and then in a matter of minutes create the bass, baritone, and tenor parts to harmonize to the song. Boom, new arrangement. There is a whole subculture (and organization: AHSOW, the "Ancient and Harmonious Society of Woodshedders") within the barbershop community dedicated to practicing and preserving this art.

[BRWombat]

Twice in one year! Whaaaaa???

Residing in Texas and not having tons of extra $$ to throw around means it's rare that I get to visit my Disney "homes" on either coast. But it looks like Mrs. W and I will be returning to WDW in December, this time with our boys!

The Barbershop International competition will be in Orlando next July, so of course we were planning on attending (since VM will be competing again) and then hitting the parks. But as optimistic as I am... those conventions where we compete are exhausting. Going to WDW, fun as it is, is exhausting. Putting them back to back, in the hottest and nearly most crowded time of year? It was a recipe for disaster. And conventions can cost a lot, too.

SO, instead of spending the money on having the 4 of us in Orlando for both events, likely just Becky & I will attend the convention, but the four of us will go when the air is cooler!

Since it's usually years between trips, it's blowing my mind that I was just there in January and will be back before the year is out. For once, Mickey was right when he said, "See ya real soon!!"

[ktulu]

I think anytime after Thanksgiving is an awesome time. But I love all of the Christmas decorations that they put up. It's like Hobby Lobby in August!

[BRWombat]

New custom buttons for our upcoming December trip! I've learned from my own SGT and not used any of the colors of the official buttons.

For me and Mrs. W, since this trip is a really rare thing, here's our buttons:



For our boys:



And my favorite, inspired by the SCMT of the cast member at Epcot telling us and everyone, "Congratulations on your button!":

[felinefan]

How are you doing with Hurricane Harvey? I hope you and yours are safe.

[ktulu]

How are you doing with Hurricane Harvey? I hope you and yours are safe.

We are roughly 400 miles away from where it made landfall, and around 250 miles from Houston. My in-laws house is flooded, and they are still waiting to get rescued :/