Real men sing.
We’ve known this since the Appleton Boychoir taught our very young boys to stand up straight, harmonize, knot a tie properly, and conduct themselves with dignity, both on and off the stage.
Raised in the shadow of Lawrence University’s renowned music conservatory, nurtured by a sweet, talented elementary school music teacher and encouraged by a series of gifted high school choir teachers, our boys and their friends learned choral music as easily as they learned to hike a football.
And we, their lucky fans, moved happily between stadiums and auditoriums woo hooing for the muddy athletes and the scrubbed up singers with equal enthusiasm.
I love beautiful music of any kind, but there is something extra sweet about watching grade school boys who spent their recess battling fiercely in games of lightning or 500, taking their places on risers, nervously tugging at too-big ties, turning earnest faces to their teacher and singing.
This weekend, Molly and I joined my sister Kathy at a Fundamentally Sound Concert in Madison. Founded in 2005, Fundamentally Sound is an all male collegiate a cappella group.
We weren’t sure what to expect as we dodged a sprinting grandma to secure our seats at the sold out show. But we settled in civilly and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Fundamentally Sounds performs the kind of clever mashups you’d expect from a talented a cappella group. The gift of this particular group lies in the pure joy they convey with every song.
How wonderful to know that, taught properly and encouraged consistently, real boys sing and their music can last a lifetime.
Here’s a link to a Fundamentally Sound song, performed at this weekend’s concert.






I do love boys’ choirs and men’s choirs…and mixed choirs and women’s and girls’…vox humana! Thanks for the music.
Thanks for the visit!