During Chordiology’s later middle years, we continued to laugh more than we sang.  But the quartet changed again, as Ed dropped out.  Kelly invited Macomb tenor Cliff Dake to a rehearsal, to see if our personalities and voices matched. Fortunately for Chordiolgy, Cliff was a match made in heaven.  Cliff laughed as hard as anyone at Kelly’s jokes, at Kelly and Paul’s bickering, and at Spiz’s cynical comments.  After about 30 seconds of discussion, during which Kelly and Paul bickered and Spiz made some sarcastic comment, we voted him in. And while our contest scores didn’t improve, we continued to have fun, laughing as much as singing at almost every rehearsal.  It was a fun time for the quartet.

 During Chordiology’s later years, tragedy struck, as Kelly became ill.  Almost to the end, we laughed and sang, until the sadness and Kelly’s pain were too much to overcome, so we cried instead.  And then Kelly left us.

 By this time, Rob was back with the quartet, giving us the current Chordiology.  Years of voice lessons, Harmony Quartet College, multiple different barbershop coaches, Tim’s learning tracks, a “truth machine” (a multi track recorder), and Audacity, a freeware recording program, have improved our singing accuracy.  Somehow and somewhere, we learned to move while we sang, which apparently is the secret to this “energy” thing that coaches have harassed us about for years.  However, despite trying different rehearsal techniques, we have yet to stop laughing long enough to have a serious rehearsal. 

 If you must know, here’s what the Chordiologists do when they aren’t singing in Chordiology.

 Paul owns the Paulmark Agency, which mainly sells personal and commercial insurance.  He also sings in ElmoTHUMM, www.elmothumm.com a high energy award winning a cappella rock and R&B group.