The Summers of Sound
If you spend fewer than 5 minutes with me, you’ll know I love to sing a cappella. If you spend another 2 seconds with me, you’ll know how I eat, drink, and breathe (drumroll please) The Vineyard Sound.
The Vineyard Sound — Martha’s Vineyard’s professional all-male a cappella group — was founded in 1992 and is a 501(c)(3) non-profit comprised of ~10 young men hailing from Skidmore College, Wesleyan University, Connecticut College, and the College of William & Mary. I was in The Vineyard Sound — or VS, if you’re into the whole brevity thing — for the summers of ‘15, ‘17, and ‘18. Each summer ten young men clad in Vineyard Vines pastels rent a house on the Vineyard and perform on a daily basis, bringing music, camaraderie, and joy to the island communities.
As well as a full-time vocalist each summer, I was the Social Media Manager in ‘15, the Chair of the 25th Anniversary Reunion Committee in ‘17, and Business Manager in ‘18. I now have the privilege of serving on the Board of Directors. Each summer was spectacular in its own right, and made memorable for its own reasons, but in an effort to keep this concise, I’ll offer three distinctive memories:
Top left: VS ‘15 | Top right: VS ‘17 | Bottom: VS ‘18
One afternoon in early June 2015, a few of the guys and I went to Great Rock beach on a day off. It was quiet, warm, calm… ideal Vineyard conditions in June, before the island gets a tad busy. After swimming out to the Rock, we took a few moments to bask in the sunshine and salt air. I still don’t remember which of us began singing first, and at this point it hardly matters, because what followed was one of the most magical moments of my life. Coming in one after another, the five of us sang a completely impromptu cover of the Beach Boys’ God Only Knows. We didn’t plan it, didn’t direct it, didn’t even comment on it… we simply grew into it. It just happened. A moment of pure magic.
2017 was a challenging year for me in The Vineyard Sound for myriad reasons, not the least of which being that I was Chair of the Reunion Committee, which is to say I was up to my balls in stress planning the best Anniversary The Vineyard Sound alumni had ever experienced. I worked tirelessly from October 2016 all the way up until Saturday, July 29th 2017, the night of the 25th Anniversary Alumni Concert at the Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs. Fortunately, the concert itself was an absolute HIT! We had about ~75 alumni present, including all ten of the original guys from ‘92! Over two thousand audience members from all ages.
It was a truly momentous occasion, eclipsed perhaps only by the raucous mild-mannered after-party. Before things got too silly, the ten of us in that year’s iteration (that is, the ten active members of The Vineyard Sound in ‘17) joined the ten OG members from ‘92 and shared songs, drinks, and memories with one another. To see the fruits of their labor 25 years prior was overwhelming for these guys who never thought we’d make it this far. And to see just how excellent and driven and generous our a cappella ancestors are had me straight-up fan-boying all over the place. In that moment, I realized that I was a part of something far bigger and more special than myself. I realized I was standing on the shoulders of giants.
I had the great privilege and pleasure of returning to The Vineyard Sound in 2018 as one of that year’s Business Managers. Together, Mark Thurner (Co-Business Manager), Connor Bennion (Music Director), and I set out to lead the group to its most successful financial year, as well as completely overhaul our infrastructure in an effort to ease transitions between Business Managers year-to-year. But more importantly, the ten of us grew closer than I could ever have hoped for. The trust we found in one another allowed us to give back to the community that feeds and takes care of us each summer, to share our spirit of brotherhood, tradition, and music with the island.
Early-on in June we were contracted to perform a short virtual performance for a life-long fan. We were asked to sing Signed, Sealed, Delivered and Change In My Life, neither of which are ideal for an 8:00am performance. The ten of us grumbled out of bed, put on our Vines classics, slammed some coffee, and accepted the FaceTime. Our attitude shifted immediately upon seeing our client in what looked like her hospital bed. She was full of kindness and cheer and gratitude for us singing her two favorite Vineyard Sound songs. She told us she’d been coming to our shows for over ten years now and was bummed she wouldn’t be able to make it to an in-person concert this summer, but was thrilled we could sing to her now. We performed to the best of our abilities, gave our well-wishes, and said our goodbyes. It would be the last time we’d see her.
Months later, just after our Farewell to Summer show at the Old Whaling Church, her husband approached me to congratulate us on a wonderful season. He told me his wife passed only a few weeks after we sang for her, and that she couldn’t have been happier to have heard us one final time. I learned in that moment that this group isn’t about how much I can succeed musically/professionally, or about paying respects to the dozens of brothers who’ve come before me. Each summer The Vineyard Sound has the opportunity to bring joy into people’s lives, and if we succeed even just a tiny amount, everyone wins.