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S5 E2 - Noteworthy A Capella · Inside the OSD

• 0:00
  SPEAKER 1: But don't save it on sunshine. Don't blame it on the moonlight.
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  Don't blame it on good times. Blame it on the boogie, boogie,
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  boogie. Don't blame it on...
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  SPEAKER 2: Today we're joined by OHS Performing Arts Center director Nate Mendl and students from our acclaimed vocal group,
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  Noteworthy a cappella. We'll hear about their experiences as vocalists at Oregon High School,
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  and the experience of creating and releasing the group's first ever album.
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  SPEAKER 3: Welcome to this episode of Inside the OSD podcast, where it's all about the kids.
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  Here is our host, lifelong educator, community member, and our superintendent, Doctor Shannon Anderson.
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  SPEAKER 4: All right. Welcome, Noteworthy a cappella!
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  Let's start with some introductions. Please introduce yourself and share a little bit about your background with our listeners.
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  SPEAKER 5: Uh, hi, I'm Maya Engwall. I'm a senior here at Oregon High School, and I've been a part of Noteworthy for three years now.
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  And I've also been involved in theater and music opportunities both through the school and then also outside of the school as well
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  for my whole life.
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  SPEAKER 6: Excellent. Thank you.
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  SPEAKER 7: My name is Eli Hawkins. I'm a sophomore in Noteworthy and before Noteworthy, I've mainly done instrumental performance and ensembles,
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  but last year I decided to join Noteworthy and this is my second year.
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  SPEAKER 8: Um, I'm Anna Greenman, I'm a senior and I sing alto for Noteworthy.
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  I've been singing pretty much my whole life with like voice lessons and
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  theater. So yeah.
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  SPEAKER 9: My name is Mr. Nate Mendl. I am the director of the Performing Arts Center.
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  And on Friday mornings and occasionally other times, I have the delight of being the faculty advisor for Noteworthy.
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  SPEAKER 2: Well, I'd like to start actually with you, Mr. Mendl.
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  Can you please give us a brief overview of this group and what led you to take on becoming the advisor?
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  SPEAKER 9: Oh, that's a fantastic question! Uh, so I came to Oregon in 2018 and Noteworthy was already a student led ensemble at that point.
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  It was started by um, OHS graduate Elisa Kaether, who graduated in 2019, and now I believe is the owner of the
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  Academy of Sound Music Studios in town here.
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  Um, so I saw this awesome group that was just totally student led and independent,
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  making up their own arrangements during their lunches.
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  And then she graduated and the pandemic happened.
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  And so the Noteworthy students at that time asked me, "hey, Wednesdays at 11 a.m.,
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  can you just log on to one of those video chats so that we can still sing together and be a group?" And I was like,
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  "sure!" And then coming out of the pandemic, I just stayed, uh, the advisor that,
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  you know, volunteers a little bit of time here and there to make some arrangements and work with these very,
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  very talented students.
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  SPEAKER 2: So for our listeners, when is the next opportunity for everyone to hear this group?
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  SPEAKER 9: Great question. They're actually going to be performing on October 17th, opening for the legendary bass player Lee Rocker and
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  his all star rockabilly band.
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  SPEAKER 2: That's a pretty big number to have in our performing arts center here in Oregon!
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  SPEAKER 9: It is. It's a seasoned, tried and true professionals full band, um, playing all of the like great music.
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  But Lee Rocker was one of the founding members and still is a member of the Stray Cats.
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  If anybody thinks back a few years to like "Rock This Town" and, um, the "Stray Cat Strut" and everything,
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  those were huge songs in the early days of MTV, and they're still performing, and they were generous enough to allow Noteworthy
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  to perform an opening act. So Noteworthy will be playing--they'll be playing a song from the early or the late 1950s,
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  that early rock n roll sound.
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  SPEAKER 2: So how can people get tickets for that performance?
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  SPEAKER 9: That's at OregonPerformingArtsCenter.com.
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  SPEAKER 2: Excellent. Well, we'll look forward to that performance.
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  So let's turn now to our vocalists. If you could each tell me what you really like about being a part of this group.
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  SPEAKER 7: What I like about being in Noteworthy is that it's really the only part of my life where I get to sing with other people.
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  And I think it's a really special way to make music, and it brings joy to my Friday mornings.
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  SPEAKER 5: Yeah, I think a cappella is like so important.
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  It's so different than everything else that we do.
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  Um, and I really like that you have to rely on the people around you.
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  I feel more connected to everyone when making music with them, because often in choir,
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  you'll have a, you know, a piano playing along with you or something like that.
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  So it's really cool because you all kind of have to be locked in together.
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  SPEAKER 8: I feel like most of the things have been said, but I think it's just so much fun to sing with other people who are musically
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  apt and want to be there, and are also there to have fun and enjoy the music and just love what they're doing.
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  SPEAKER 6: Great.
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  SPEAKER 2: So, um, I heard that you recently released an album.
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  That's so exciting! What inspired noteworthy to record its first ever album and what was all involved in the recording process?
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  SPEAKER 5: Uh, I mean, I think Mr. Mendl was a big inspiration for us.
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  We also went on tour last May. We toured around Oregon, so I think that was also really cool.
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  And it was kind of a great way to like, take all the hard work we had done with the songs and make it something
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  permanent. Um, and the recording process.
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  Mendl made a makeshift recording studio up in the, the PAC booth and it was, it was pretty cool.
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  Lots of, lots of blankets.
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  SPEAKER 9: Each--each person would come and record individually.
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  So last year there were ten people in the group, but one person at a time, and they step into something that looks like a cross
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  between an ice fishing shanty and an outhouse, except with a lot of blankets on the inside to kind of absorb the sound so that
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  there aren't reflections and reverberations.
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  So you can really get each individual voice.
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  SPEAKER 2: So tell me more about why they each had to be recorded separately versus just coming in as a group and doing it.
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  I think a lot of times you think of choirs or, you know, ensembles singing
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  together. Right.
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  SPEAKER 9: And Noteworthy has some really cool live recordings over the years of them performing live and everything.
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  But for making a more studio sounding album, you want to isolate every individual voice so that you can really clean up all
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  of those cut offs. And maybe somebody wants a second take and second try on just something,
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  okay? And that sort of thing. So isolating each individual part and then building it up from like the rhythm section.
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  The bass, like Eli, is one of our bases.
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  You start with--so he was the first person to record.
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  So he was just recording to a metronome that was clicking in his ear and a Midi pitch reference,
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  which is just like a bad sounding piano that's playing the part in your ear.
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  And then as each of the other parts came in, they got to hear all of the other layers build up,
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  and then the solos were recorded last. So they got to sing on top of the full group after they had all individually recorded.
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  SPEAKER 2: So when you went into saying you could hear everything that had been recorded before you to help you.
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  Okay, that makes sense. So what was a highlight or a memorable moment or part of the experience of recording?
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  SPEAKER 7: I think one of the highlights for me of the recording process was just when we got the final product back,
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  and I got to listen on headphones to myself and the rest of the group singing together.
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  That was just a really special moment.
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  SPEAKER 8: It was also cool as we were recording. If you came in one week, there would only be like two parts.
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  And then the next week, if you came back into recording, there's like five more parts added on in your ear.
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  And then in your other year, you could hear yourself singing and it was just like you could hear it build upon itself every time you went in to record.
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  SPEAKER 5: It was really cool because like sometimes on stage singers almost mentally black out when they're performing because it's almost just like you're so in the
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  moment. It was really, really cool. I was--I came in a little bit later for the recording process,
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  and it was so cool to be able to hear my peers like and hear what they sound like.
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  Because often on stage you're focused on what you're singing and how it sounds, and then the music. It was so cool to like step back and hear how other people
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  sounded. And it was like one of the first times that I was like, dang, don't worry.
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  Like I was like, okay.
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  SPEAKER 10: So what has the response
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  SPEAKER 2: been since the album has been released? Um, it's streaming on multiple major platforms.
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  What kind of feedback have you gotten or how has it felt?
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  SPEAKER 5: It's kind of surreal, honestly. Like it's kind of cool to be like, "yeah, we have an album." Um,
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  I've had a lot of people come up to me and be like, "I listened to your album last night!" And I'm like,
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  "hat? Like, what do you mean?" It's. Yeah.
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  You're famous. It's really cool. It's really very cool.
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  SPEAKER 9: I will say at auditions this year, it was quite interesting because everybody who auditioned for Noteworthy this fall,
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  that was about three weeks after the album had been released and they were all coming in going,
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  "oh yeah, I've been listening to the album.
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  And so like, I think I know like the alto part now," and that was just a neat thing where they're actually listening to
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  the people around them.
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  SPEAKER 2: So for our seniors, your final year, your, your final season, um, what does this year feel like?
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  And do you have any plans for singing in your future?
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  SPEAKER 8: It's kind of scary to think that we're like almost out of high school.
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  And then you've got to go to college and get an adult job and like, have money to pay bills.
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  Yeah, Uh, I don't know. I'm just kind of enjoying my last year and like being a part of Noteworthy is kind of like the highlight of my week every year.
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  Um, sorry. Every week, not every year. Um, out of high school, I'm hopefully going to keep singing.
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  I want to hopefully get into a college that has a cappella groups or choirs and maybe I'll minor in music or musical theater.
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  Just I know it's something that I want to keep in my life.
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  SPEAKER 5: So I'm looking at full send going into vocal performance potentially.
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  Um, so I will definitely continue singing hopefully.
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  Um, which is a nice feeling to have, but I think it'll also feel different.
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  Um, but I definitely, wherever I go, would like to continue to sing a cappella if that's starting my own thing or joining one of the arty.
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  You know, it's not like Oregon high school is the only place that knows how to sing a cappella,
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  but it's definitely a little bit of a surreal experience.
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  It doesn't quite feel real yet. Um, but I think I'll definitely hit a hit, a point where I'm like,
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  oh crap, we're doing this right now. But yeah.
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  SPEAKER 2: So finally, my last question for each of you is what advice do you have for younger students in the district?
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  It could be related to music or anything about high school.
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  What advice would you like to offer?
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  SPEAKER 7: I think my piece of advice for younger students would just be to find something that you really like doing,
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  and that makes your life better, and then find other people who like doing that and spend time with them and do it with them.
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  SPEAKER 8: Yeah, just kind of build on that. I think it's you meet your best friends doing what you love because they also love doing that.
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  So you've got something in common. So I think it's just so important to surround yourself with people with similar interests and who love what you love.
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  SPEAKER 5: Yeah. Don't be afraid. I spent a long time like thinking that theater wasn't cool or music wasn't cool,
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  but like, you'll find other people who think it's cool too.
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  And those are the relationships that matter, Not the you know, the girl you don't want to tick off in fifth grade.
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  So yeah, definitely. Just just be yourself and you'll find people who like the real version of
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  you. Mhm.
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  SPEAKER 2: Great advice. Thank you so much for being with me today, Noteworthy.
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  And I have listened to your album already and will continue to enjoy it.
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  So thanks for being here today.
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  SPEAKER 7: Yeah, thank you for having us.
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  SPEAKER 2: You can also listen to Noteworthy by searching Noteworthy a cappella on your favorite music platform.
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  You can find this podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts and links to all episodes are on our website at oregonsd.org.
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  Make sure to subscribe and follow Inside the OSD so you'll never miss an episode.
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  We'll see you next time on Inside the OSD, where it's all about the kids.
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  SPEAKER 1: Don't blame it on good times. Blame it on the boogie...