(upbeat music) - The Grand Rapids Choir of Men and Boys have a unique sound and a strong bond.

So, we continue a Community Connection theme of song.

Welcome director Scott Bosscher, chorister, Ben Zuzelski, and there's a mom in the house, Traci Zuzelski.

Good that you are all three here and we get to experience what you look like throughout our show as well with the clips.

Oh Scott, congratulations on the success of this organization.

- Thank you very much.

I've been leading it since 2001 and this fall starts our 33rd season, so 33 years.

- How would you describe this choir?

- It's really special and it's unique.

There's such such wonderful music happening in Grand Rapids, especially with all of our church choirs and community choirs, but a choir of men and boys in the English cathedral tradition is really very, very unique.

There's probably only five or six in the United States and we're fortunate to have one here in West Michigan.

- [Shelley] And let's delve into the title.

You combine the male man voice with the male boy voice.

- Right.

- [Shelley] What's that sound like?

- Well, it's a tradition that goes back centuries and centuries.

So, the boys take the treble line, the top line and then, since the boys don't have a lot of vibrato in their voice, we have men singing in falsetto doing the alto part and then our wonderful tenor and bass section.

So, there's such a unity to the sound when you get all of the men and boys singing together.

- Great.

Ben, congratulations to you for the singing you do.

- Thank you.

- Tell us a little bit about you and I understand the organ's an important instrument to you.

- Oh yeah, mhhm.

- Yeah, so ever since I started choir, it started back in fifth grade when my music teacher gave me a scholarship to the summer camp and then through the summer camp I really wanted to know more about the choir and so I joined and ever since I joined I have just fallen in love with the music and especially the organ, 'cause we sing with the organs in the cathedrals and ever since we used to sing with those I would watch YouTube videos on them, learn more about them and now I get to start lessons in the fall, so... - Yes.

How did you know that you had the voice to sing?

- Well, I feel like I didn't know that I had it really until I started singing and I explored my voice and what I could do with it.

So... - Yes.

And what's the rehearsal like and the direction of Scott Bosscher?

(both laughing) - Well, it's awesome.

So, we rehearse on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Fridays is just the boys where we work on more things for just the boys, but we come in and we practice, we sing and then we have breaks and it's awesome to get to talk to people and hang out.

- Great.

Well, I'm glad mom Traci said yes to may I sing with the Grand Rapids Choir.

Mom, what's the experience like at the dinner table?

- Oh, it's so awesome.

I was gonna say when- Yeah, so Ben was in fourth grade, he was in choir in grade school and then it was his choir teacher who he got the scholarship to go the summer camp after fourth grade.

And I had heard a little bit about the choir and then through the scholarship I was just- Ben got to do the camp and I was just blown away.

Yeah, so amazed.

So yeah, it's just been, it's amazing.

It's awesome.

And so yeah, I was just gonna say that, that that's when he really started getting into it and I'm just amazed, yeah.

I could go on about, like, I had just no idea and just how much he's learned and got to explore with music and it's just taken him way further than I ever imagined.

- He's already gonna be in ninth grade.

All right.

We've mentioned summer camp a couple times, thick of the summer here we are.

What is this camp all about?

- Well, our board of directors works really hard to fundraise.

And so, our choir is offered, the summer camp is offered free of charge to boys from all over the city and we work with maybe 25, 30 different elementary and middle school teachers and each year they get to send one or two scholarships of boys that just love music.

It's the favorite class, they can just tell.

And so, they offer them a scholarship and many of them come and we for seven weeks, once a week, we meet from nine in the morning until three in the afternoon and we mix together learning music with recreation and fun time together as well.

'Cause it is summer after all.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Maybe there's a jump in the pool or something.

- [Scott] Exactly.

- Fill in the blanks, Ben.

What's really happening at camp.

- Well, I mean it is so awesome 'cause a lot of the new boys join and some of us, the older boys, like who just graduated, it's kind of a tradition that we come back and help out at the summer camp and it's so awesome just to see how much they grow with already in the first few days, learning more about the choir, learning about the composers we work with.

The ones who fly over from England and other places and it's an awesome experience.

- Yes.

Do you work toward- is there an end performance or is each day just learning new things?

- I feel like it's a mix of both.

I mean, each day we learn new things, but in the performances, it's just our time to show our capabilities and our music skills to other people.

- [Shelley] Yes.

Traci, are parents encouraged or is this for the kid?

- Oh totally, yes.

Yeah.

I know, it's like for Ben and for us.

Yeah, parents definitely can get involved and it's just amazing and it's like yeah, any opportunity that can be involved and help volunteer, but yeah, definitely for the parents.

I mean, as a parent, you're just so happy to see your child have an opportunity that makes them so happy and fills their heart and soul and their passion.

It's just such a gift.

Like, not only do they, does your children get to do something they love and enjoy so much and then be taught so much and just grow so much in it and just, like I said, feed their heart and soul.

So, that feeds yours as a mom and then on the flip side, just getting to go to the concerts and just sit there and enjoy and see all of their hard work and it's just, it's amazing how much they do.

- [Shelley] Yes.

- And then just, like, that goes into those concerts that we get to show up and enjoy and I brought a program from one of 'em.

I mean, these are just like- it's amazing.

- [Shelley] Where's Ben's picture, show me Ben's picture.

- There's Ben.

- [Shelley] There we go, it's real.

- But yes, so I could go on about that.

I'll pause if I need to, but yeah, it's just, it's just so beautiful.

- Rockstar mom, there.

Scott, obviously we've been seeing a bit of your performances throughout this conversation.

What are the performances all about?

- Well, I prepare the program, put it together and teach the boys the music and as much as we can, we try to bring some of the wonderful directors of music that I got to work with in my years living in England to fly over and then spend the week before the concert with us kind of really, you know, polishing things and then having them lead the concerts.

There's really no tradition like the English choral tradition and the fact that we've been able to bring these wonderful directors like Matthew Owens and Andrew Nethsingha, whose just been appointed to Westminster Abbey.

Martin Neary, who was at Westminster Abbey all those years.

That they fly over and invest so much of their time and energy in helping us to get the performances ready.

It's a real treat to have them, to have our boys be able to work with these great, great musicians.

- Yes.

So, what's it like Ben, you're in front of the crowd.

You're ready to sing.

You've been performing.

I hope the butterflies are there a little bit.

- [Ben] Oh yeah.

- What's that performance like?

- Well, I mean, it's another great experience, but it's an awesome opportunity that we get to have to show our music to all the people.

So... - Yes, Scott, let's go back to, well reality.

Ben will lose his boy voice, then what happens?

- [Scott] I know.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

You know, sometimes I wish I directed a girls choir 'cause then they can sing all the way through high school.

- [Interviewer] Well, you still can, you know?

- Yeah, but I think that's kind of the magical thing.

There's just this short moment of time where they sing this music in this style and you just have to treasure it and there's always more boys coming up below and you're just, you know, we started summer camp and it's like turning back to page one again and here we go.

So, yeah.

- Yeah, but you're not going away anywhere far there, Ben.

Tell us a little bit about your journey.

- Yeah.

Well, I'm continuing to come back and help with the summer camp and then also all of us older boys, we're gonna get together and come to all the concerts and hopefully, when my voice is done or well- - [Scott] Changed.

- When it's yeah, fully changed, I'll be able to come back as a man and sing.

- [Shelley] Yes, yes.

- [Scott] Quite a few of our men in the choir were former choristers.

- Yeah, and how does that work?

Right?

- Yeah.

Well, we ask them to enjoy high school and get involved in their high school programs 'cause our program's pretty demanding and then once they finish high school, if they stay in the area for college, they can, from college age on up, they come back and take the back row.

We probably have five or six former choristers right now singing in the back row and in terms of parent involvement, we also have a fair amount of fathers and grandfathers of current choristers singing in our back row as well.

So, it's a real family.

- [Shelley] Yeah.

- [Scott] Activity.

- Let's hope that the Zuzelski family has an organ ready for purchase or- - [Traci] Yeah, did you know?

I was like, how did you know?

- Well, I just, I'm hoping that that's- - Yes.

- So how do you cultivate this next talent?

- Yeah, I know.

Oh my gosh, I know.

So, it's like seeing the boys at the camp, like Ben was just in fourth and now he's one of the graduated choristers, it's just crazy.

So, that whole thing of like, that their voice will change.

It's just like, wow.

But yeah, so.

- [Shelley] And he'll date soon.

- Yeah.

- Oh sorry.

(all laughing) I know.

So cultivating, he's excited to do marching band in high school and take organ lessons, definitely.

So, he's continuing with piano and he'll start to alternate with organ lessons.

So, that's- - You know our motto is moving the song forward from one generation to the next.

So, part of it is the short time that we have with these young men to plant the love for this music and this tradition so that as they grow older, they carry it into their community choirs, into their churches and keep this song of Henry Purcell and Handel and Bach and keep it going.

- Are you able to look forward?

Will you look Ben up in 10 years to see, you know, how this is carried him forth?

- We, one of the really fun things when we do the live concerts and we do four different programs a year and then there's three or four performances of each program, to see each night how many former choristers are sitting out there and they always come up to us.

There's always at least five or six former choristers from previous years who will come to the concerts and then reconnect and so it's, yeah, we keep in touch.

- [Shelley] Wonderful.

Ben, how has this changed your life thus far?

- Well, beforehand I would sing in the shower, things like that (laughs) but, through choir it's just made me appreciate music so much more and there's so much that goes into it, so much learning about the composers and it's just really been an eye opening experience for music.

- Great.

All right, Traci, what would you tell that mom and or dad when they ask to join the choir?

- Do it (laughs).

Yeah, I mean definitely, if your child loves singing and is, you know, wants to learn more, definitely.

I mean, it's just truly amazing and like I said, the education, the learning, I just, yeah, it's really, yeah.

I was gonna say top notch, but just amazing.

It's just such a gift.

I mean, what Scott has taught Ben and the choristers and like you say, the family and it's just- meeting the composers from England.

I mean, it's just really cool.

It's really amazing and a special, like Scott said, carrying that song forward, I just, it's a very special, meaningful, moving music.

- [Shelley] All right.

- Yeah.

- All right.

Best thing about summer camp is, Ben?

- Well, I would say getting to go to Mr. Bosscher's house and swimming, but- - See, I knew there'd be swimming involved.

- Oh yeah.

But- - And Murphy.

- Yes, Murphy.

- Our golden retriever.

- I was gonna say, I hope that's an animal.

(all laughing) Or your best friend.

Well, congratulations again to you and Ben and Traci for finding your niche and passion and that'll certainly take you a long way.

So, next time we see you, there will be an organ and our recital we'll request.

And then in closing, Scott, obviously there is a summer camp, but there's also a whole season ahead of you.

- There is.

And boys, if families are interested, they can contact us through the website too, which you'll have on your website, grcmb.org and boys can join anytime during the year.

We have a great season planned coming up ahead.

So, Matthew Owens is starting us off this fall, coming over from Northern Ireland, from Belfast.

Richard Webster will be coming from Trinity Church Boston to do our Christmas concerts.

In March, we have the choir of St. John's Cambridge coming over to put our two choirs together for a concert at the Basilica.

Matthew Owens comes back in the spring.

I'll be directing the Linton Easter program.

We got a lot coming up this year.

- Yeah, and then there'll be summer 2023 again.

- We'll start all again, year 34.

- Don't rush life.

Continued good health and good singing to you all.

- Thank you very much.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

(upbeat music) - Ground Rapids Chorus of Sweet Adelines are in the house.

Let's catch up with how they're entertaining West Michigan and beyond.

Introducing Colleen Pierson.

Sing us a song, Colleen.

- Oh, okay.

No, it's great to be in the house, Shelly.

Thank you so much for having us on.

- [Shelley] You're quite welcome.

Janet Mason, I'm so glad that your talented voice is here.

Hello to you.

- Well, hi.

It's nice seeing you again.

- Yes, Sandy Recker.

I understand you have a history of well, a grand poo boss So, we'll look forward to this conversation.

- Yeah.

Way too many years.

- I start off happy because you developed such great friendships, but you also provide a talent to West Michigan.

So here we go, Colleen Pierson, who is, who are your Sweet Adelines?

- The Grand Rapids Chorus of Sweet Adelines is a four part harmony, acapella group and we have about 60 members.

I think the best way to describe us, Shelly, would be we're vibrant, we're fun, we love to sing, we love to perform and these, they might not know this, but they're like family to me and so it really is like one big extended family.

It's like having 60 new sisters or friends.

So, it's just a joy to be part of the group and then many of us have some talents when it comes to singing, but that doesn't necessarily mean if you're a member, you know how to read music.

There's so many things that you learn being in a group like the Grand Rapids chapter of Sweet Adelines and the Grand Rapids Chorus of Sweet Adelines and we are celebrating our 71st anniversary, which means we are the longest running barbershop female group in the world.

- Wow.

- So, that's something to celebrate.

- That'll keep you here the next 71 years.

Janet, how'd you get involved?

- Well, this woman over here, Colleen actually approached me when I was still working.

- Yes.

- And I won't use the word badgered, but she did lobby me heavily for two years and I was very consistent in what I told her.

I said, you know, the job that I had at the time was very time consuming, but I would consider it when I retired and so, when Colleen heard that I was retiring, we had lunch that month and next thing you know, I auditioned for the chorus.

- [Shelley] Yes.

- [Colleen] And she made it successfully.

- Well, I'm sure there's a big, long list.

Are you glad you did?

- Oh, absolutely.

I've had so much fun with these ladies.

Despite the fact we're in the middle of a pandemic, we started out rehearsing on Zoom calls and the problem with that is you can't hear each other sing.

You can see people's mouths moving, moving, but that's about it and so it was a difficult way to get started and when Colleen and I had lunch, she said, well, can you carry a tune?

And I said, I don't know.

I've really never been a singer and so we decided, or I decided to go down that path, that journey to see if I could.

- The audition was Mary Had a Little Lamb, right?

Sandy, what's your history?

- Oh, well I look back often and can't believe that I've been a member of this chorus for 24 years.

And you know, back in the day you found out about something like this because there was an ad in the Grand Rapids press and I read that ad and I was at a point in my life that I'd been singing since I was four years old, but I needed a challenge and I walked in the door and, you know, heard the chorus singing, heard a quartet sing and I said, yes, this is what I wanna do.

And good, bad, or otherwise I'm still here and have learned a lot of leadership skills along with the singing and it also was an opportunity for my youngest daughter, ultimately joined when she was 11 and is still kind of a member overall, but we shared so many wonderful experiences and gained all these friendships.

- [Shelley] Nice.

- On our website, grsa.net.

it gives the address of our rehearsals.

We practice every Monday night from 7:00 to sometimes 9:30.

Depends on what part we're doing.

And it just, people can come to a rehearsal, they're allowed to come to three times and then usually they say, okay, I'm hooked and they do audition.

I did audition on Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

So it's just a great- and they listen to you and they go, oh, we think, as we said, four part harmony, we think Colleen you'd be best suited being a lead.

Sandy's a tenor, Janet's a bass and we just don't have a baritone, - [Shelley] Oh.

- but we could be looking at the newest baritone in West Michigan.

- We could do that.

- So, it's very simple to get involved and some people just wanna maybe come and watch and see what the group is all about.

So, it's just a really fun process.

- And let's praise you too.

I mean, you have to sing, but you have to move a little bit too, right?

- Yes you do.

- There's a little choreography involved.

- It's so fun.

I have been on the team that helps with choreography.

As you may remember, I'm a tap dancer from way back.

So, I love to be able to do movement and the men's group that we sang with said oh, don't expect any choreography from us, but I think it's just important to tell the story of the song and that can be done so well through animated faces obviously, and through movements.

So, we do a lot of planned choreography.

And so, if the hand's not that way, it's like, hey, it's supposed to be that way.

So, it's just great fun with singing, dancing, moving, companionship, camaraderie, vibrancy.

- [Shelley] Yes.

- It's a group I'm very proud to be a part of.

- [Shelley] Yes, obvious.

- So, we were invited to perform at the 80th commemoration of the bombing of Pearl Harbor and so we were there last December and the thing is, it was a leap of faith for us because when we got the invitation, we were in the middle of COVID and we weren't singing together.

So, it was a leap of faith that COVID would wane, that there would be a vaccine, that there would be a way for us to get together again and start rehearsing.

And so, we started rehearsing in person June of last year.

And so, in a matter of five months, we got ourselves ready to perform three performances at Pearl Harbor.

And so, that will be a memory for a lifetime for all of us.

It was a very moving experience, when you're meeting these veterans who are a hundred years old and a number of them, as you can imagine, were in wheelchairs and to see them actually stand up and get out of their wheelchairs because we were singing their branch song, whether it was the Army, the Air Force, the Navy, I mean, it was just a very moving experience and then more recently we were at Festival of the Arts, you introduced as.

- [Shelley] Yes, wonderful.

- And then most recently, we were just at the Lowell Showboat where we got to perform with the men's chorus, the Great Lakes Harmony or Great Lakes Chorus, which is also a fabulous experience when you put eight different voice parts together, because we're all singing at different octaves.

It just, beautiful music and then we have some other things that we're working on.

We're focused now on Christmas and the holidays.

So, we're working on two programs.

One's going to be for friends and family and our supporters and then the other one we're not ready to announce yet, but we're very excited about that opportunity and they're also going to do popups.

And so, last year we had to think differently because of the pandemic and we did little popup Christmas choirs, I guess, is what I'll call them and we did some for Toys for Tots and then we showed up at a number of outdoor venues in downtown Grand Rapids.

So, it's been a fun, fun experience, you know, for me personally and we have a lot more fun and exciting things that we wanna do and we're always open for new members.

- I bet.

Sandy, she's won an award, hasn't she?

- Yes, she has.

(all laughing) Yes she has.

Yeah, internally we have what we call the Sweet Adeline of the year.

- [Shelley] Yeah.

- And we nominate people and Janet was nominated this year for her efforts that she provides with video and just lots of different things and ultimately got the vote.

So, yeah.

- And 33 women in the group are nominated.

- Oh.

- So, just that alone is that a great thing to be part of.

- Congratulations.

How are your songs chosen, Sandy?

How do you know what you're gonna sing and move to?

- Yeah.

Well, in addition to, we have like a management team, like a board, that handles kind of the business end, but we also have a music staff and we have a director that collects her team of others in the chorus and they sit down and go through all the, you know, many different types of songs out there.

We're looking at singing some that are maybe a little bit more recent.

If they've been arranged in four part harmony, we do go to contest and that's something that the Sweet Adelines International Organization does and in that regard, we do need to sing more strictly barbershop songs.

So, they may not be familiar to somebody who just walks in the door, but they're really fun.

- But the definition of barbershop music is pretty broad.

It can be anything from bebop to the contemporary songs that Sandy's talking about and even gospel and so we do a little bit of everything with a heavy emphasis, obviously on four part harmony and contemporary music, because that's what people are familiar with.

But our music goes well beyond that, too.

- Wow.

And if one is ready to get involved, go through your website and I'm sure there's some audition, but, you know.

- Yes, one thing I think that's important, Sandy might agree with me on this too, is you don't have to read music.

Some people are like, oh, you guys are super talented, off the charts.

You know what?

You don't have to read music.

We work with our master director, Denise van Dykin works with people to get them to a level.

So, I think that it's important not to be overwhelmed about, oh, can I become a member?

Because I think, if you agree, Sandy.

- Yeah, they need to walk in the door and let us chat with them, find out where they're at and then give us- - Because it's a commitment.

- It is, it is a commitment, but give us an opportunity to look at what they can bring to the table and what can we educate them on?

And for example, Janet, do you read music?

- I didn't.

- Are you learning?

- I've already learned.

You know, there was another Sweet Adeline that volunteered to teach me how to read music.

So, I grabbed at it and we also have a buddy system.

So, everyone who comes in gets a buddy who gets help and if somebody needs more attention than another, we provide that and then we also provide audio tracks and each voice part has an audio track.

So, you're listening to that.

Even if you can't read music, you can listen to it and I call it, mimicking, mimicking what you hear and then once you learn the basic music, then we work with the director and then she puts her own interpretation, you know, of the song to work.

- So, when I asked her years ago, can you keep a tune?

The answer is yes she can.

- Yes she can, that was so funny.

- And look what you've gotten out of it.

We are in for closing comments, why get involved in Sweet Adelines, Janet Mason?

- I really believe that everybody should have a passion.

I know what your passion is and my passion was fly fishing, but you know what?

You can have more than one passion.

And so I've jumped in with both feet because of what we talked about, that camaraderie, the sisterhood and the fact that we're fun, vibrant, and we travel.

And maybe someday we can come back and talk about some of the travels that we have planned.

So it's just a wonderful, wonderful experience.

It's hard to match it in the other hobbies that I have.

- [Sandy] Yeah.

- It's evident.

What do you close with Sandy Recker?

- Well, I'd like to just share, yesterday at rehearsal, we had a guest who came and I'm not sure on her age, but I'm gonna say she's somewhere between 25 and early 30s and I asked her, you know, what brought you here?

And she said, you know, the last few years have been isolated and lonely and I love to sing, she said.

Why not come and involve myself with these 40, 50 women so I'm not isolated and I get to sing?

- [Shelley] Yeah.

- So, I think that's, you know, to me, that was a great testament of what we're here for.

- Yes.

Give her a solo.

- First of all, thank you for all you do to support us through radio and television, thank you.

And I think the biggest way that I love to think about it is I look forward to Monday nights.

I mean, Monday nights are just the best time to get involved and singing lowers the blood pressure.

There's so much that can be done through song.

I'm happy and proud to be part of such a group.

- Website?

- grsa.net.

- Thank you ladies.

- Thank you, Shelley.

- Thank you.

- Thank you, Shelley.

(upbeat music)