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High Jinks

I was in this extremely popular a cappella group at Brown from 1981-1984. We were really, really good. I doubted that for a moment after listening to CDs of some current groups in the Ivies and Stanford where my daughter attended. Those albums are slick, amazingly well produced, feature complex arrangements and hugely gifted voices, draw on wide-ranging repertoires, and add crazy-complex beat box magic. The recordings below exhibit very few of these characteristics. 
      But you know what the early-80s High Jinks had that is more important? Heart, and a commitment to vocal authenticity, that's what! If someone in a group now hits a note a little flat, they can just select that segment later in the mastering program and raise the pitch; we, on the other hand, reimagined such a 'mistake' as a purposeful not-restricted-to-some-Western-harmony-box improvisation and celebrated it! And talk about vocal authenticity - we believed that The Voice (not a TV program, mind you) is all you really need. Naked, real, not processed like a Velveeta "food product." In fact, we believed so much in the vitality, beauty, and creative potential innate to the human voice that we usually refused to even use microphones. We recorded several of the songs below WITHOUT MICROPHONES. Chew on that, current robo-groups.
     So I feel pretty good about these songs, and you should, too. A few of the guys went on to start Rockapella and the GrooveBarbers. Another Jink from this era, Paul Schneider, is writing some excellent books. 
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  • Home
    • Brian's Story >
      • Brian in Plain Prose
      • 1Haiku
      • 2DustbowlNoir
      • 3StreamOfConsciouness
      • 4BrownWordle
      • 5ChicagoLimericks
      • 6ZaireJesterStory
      • 7FranceIdeologues
      • 8LosAngelesSchräg
      • 9Hagiography
      • 10HeavenSpokenWord
      • Brian Summarized
      • Narrative CV
  • Songs
    • Brian's Songs
    • Brian Singing Others' Songs
    • IziBongo
    • High Jinks
    • Lori Tapia >
      • The Places We've Been
    • GlenOak
    • Stan Hamm
    • Beth Hamm Elliot
    • Vintage Enns, Hamm, Schrag
  • Reflections
    • First Moments in Heaven
    • Spiritual Musings
    • Father of the Bride
    • HD Journaling
    • Schräg
    • Being the Fool
    • Academia
    • Restless Legs Syndrome
    • Lynelle's Eternal Dance
    • In Memoriam >
      • MarilynSchrag
      • Elwyn-Schrag >
        • EdnasCoda
        • Thanks Dad
      • EdBartlett
  • Projects
    • Anchor Beads
    • Butter Dish
    • Travel Kit
  • HD
  • Kingdom Arts
  • Blog
  • FAQ
  • Contact