Tonic Sol-fa blogs, news, updates and vlogs.

Due to a minor unforeseen illness, today’s show in Ulen, MN has been rescheduled for Monday, May 21st. Sorry for any inconvenience  (but believe us,  you’d prefer it this way).

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Now that weather is warming up (again), it’s time to hit the trails and pathways of central Minnesota with the goal of preparing myself for relentless Tough Mudder obstacle course.  The to-do list grows from monkey bars and three mile jaunts through the woods, to swimming 50 yards in cold lakes (not too cold, of course), running through 100 yards of swampy mud and scaling 8 foot walls.  It sounds fun, exhilarating and ridiculous all at the same time.  A half-marathon does not sound like fun to me in the least, but through in some mud, monkey bars, walls, ropes, tunnels and some freezing cold water and I am good to go.  I am proud to be play a small part in helping out the Wounded Warrior Project and I am looking forward to benefiting from the on-going training by getting in shape and shedding a few pounds along the way.

Mark

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Preparing to record a new album is always an interesting process.  What do I think is the most important element?  Finding the right songs.  Not always an easy task.  Why?  Gather ’round and I’ll tell you.

First of all, let’s say you’re a Tim McGraw or Carrie Underwood or Jason Mraz or even Jared’s personal favorite, NKOTB.  Now in the case of a Tim McGraw (and some of the others listed above), you don’t write much of your own music, so your job (or whomever you trust to pick the right songs for your album) is to listen to hundreds if not thousands of songs that are pitched to you by publishing companies that have seemingly endless catalogs of songs from songwriters worldwide.  Sounds like a pretty good deal, right?  For the most part, it can be (especially if you’re one of the aforementioned artists, whom the publishing companies save all their best songs for,) however it can still be a daunting task.  Now, picture yourself as a somewhat established yet not as well known (as the artists mentioned above) a cappella group who has a few connections with publishing houses who gets to listen to all kinds of songs (not necessarily the ones pitched to the other artists) with full instrumentation in the hopes that you find some that you identify with and you think your audience will like, not to mention, you think you could pull off being a cappella.  Songs we’ve recorded in the past (‘Til Forever’s Gone, Chances, Grace, Something Beautiful, Where Does the Money Come From, Just One of Those Days, to name a few) all were pitched to us with instrumentation, and we had to see if we could come up with the correct a cappella arrangement that still made it sound good.  It’s fun, yet time consuming, and sometimes you aren’t able to make it happen, but as they say, practice makes, um, yeah.

On the other side of the coin are the artists such as Jason Mraz who spend a lot of time writing their own material (and collaborating with others) in the hopes that they have some great inspiration that translates into something both they and the audience will like.  Let’s face it, Jason Mraz better like “I’m Yours”, because if he doesn’t sing it in concert every time, there will probably a bit of an uproar.  We also try to write our own material (as is evidenced on our albums and in our shows,) and it can be extremely rewarding and, at the same time, extremely frustrating.  Not only do you now have to arrange the song, but you are also coming up with the melody and the lyrics.  And, of course, this music will be out there for everyone to hear for as long as music survives, so you always want to try and put your best foot forward.  But there are those darn deadlines as well.  That’s where the frustrating part comes in.  Sometimes you just have to say “this is all we have time for” and move on.  From what I understand, most songwriters have the same issue, from Mozart up to Mr. A to Z himself.  So, hey, at least we’re in good company.

Anywho, what I find to be the most fun part of the process is when you finally get the mix back from the engineer and all the parts you’ve written, arranged, and sung are all in the right place and you have yourself a song!  Sometimes it’s how you imagined, sometimes not.  But for better or worse, it’s all yours.  Kind of like Mark is to Tonic Sol-fa.  I’m pretty sure there’s a compliment in there somewhere.

G

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You are now able to enter the mind of an award-winning blog writer, whose entertaining ramblings have graced the electronic pages of such websites as www.tonicsolfa.com and www.facebook.com/tonicsolfa to name a couple.

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Yesterday, I heard of a small gathering in Ohio of a remaining few WWII B-25 servicemen who took part in Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle’s raid on Japan (Google “Doolittle’s Raid” if you get some time).  Basically, the mission took place a few months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and required U.S. servicemen to pilot large aircraft with enough fuel to get to the homeland islands of Japan…maybe enough to turn around and ditch in the Pacific Ocean, or perhaps fly to China before using every last drop if “luck” held out…all in an effort to symbolically, at the least, strike back in what was to become a protracted conflict – and all of this without considering if B-25s could even take off from an aircraft carrier or could sustain heavy fire, reach their destination in rough weather, etc.   In the end, all 16 aircraft were, lost but the stories of those who survived are incredible.  It’s not that I am trying to shout from my soapbox about warring countries and their ideals, bloodshed, rights or wrongs, etc.  I just can’t imagine the steel it took at age 18, 19, or 20 to march up to that aircraft and get in.

Shaun

Tonic Sol-fa

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It appears as though I’m late to voice my woes regarding our Tough Mudder participation.

Last year I suggested we jump (fall) out of a plane to raise money for our charity. Easy cheesy. Plane takes you up. Gravity takes you down. No real preparation. No necessary change in exercise/diet preceding the big day. There’s even a guy with you pulling the parachute ripcord. It was all good.

This year, the “great” idea (not mine), was to run the Tough Mudder course and raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project. I wasn’t entirely enthusiastic. I was happy to raise money for such a worthy cause, the issue I had was the means to which we were going about it. I watched the TM video, I perused the website, I knew I was no Tough Mudder. I’ve been called a lot of things in my life (this week even), but Tough Mudder has never been one. The course, however, looked tough. Actually it looked downright grueling. Punishing. Exhausting.

Now I don’t particularly like exercising. I mostly exercise because I like (love) to eat. Exercising allows me the pleasure of eating. Get it? With the Tough Mudder looming on the horizon, I am now forced to exercise with more purpose. That purpose is to finish the course by the day’s end, without passing out, needing to be carried, or worse. Now I’m forced to step up my pathetic workout regimen, to prepare for what will surely not be one of my more finer moments. It’s more like a couch potato’s death row.

The silver lining to this dark cloud is the money we’re raising for the Wounded Warrior Project. Please support our efforts in helping our service-men and women as they return home.

J

Tonic Sol-fa

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At some point we’re hoping there will be a stretch of highway in some far corner of the U.S. named after our group for the amount of money we’ve collectively “donated” to the various DOTs around this great country of ours. Chalk it up to career risks of a professional musician. Life on the road is a harsh mistress.

The current award goes to Mark, however, this is not a reward he is receiving.

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I am pumped about joining the Tough Mudder challenge as a team to raise funds for the Wounded Warrior Project. What a great cause and what a great reason to get off the couch and get in shape. Over the past couple of weeks, in preparation for this event (coming up just around the corner in September); I have been attempting to gauge my current level of physical fitness in the greater outdoors of Minnesota. After several two mile “jogs” and a short bought with a mean set of monkey bars, it is clear to me the situation is dire (initially, I was concerned about the obstacles in the course, now, after setting my feet to the pavement, I am more worried about getting to each obstacle in the course). Not to say that there is not progress and hope in this early stage, my jogging has evolved from mostly walking to mostly running and my shoulders are still in their sockets despite gravity’s best effort to knock me off the monkey bars. Today, I am embarking on my first three mile “run” (run a mile, walk a mile, run a mile) over the river and through the woods of Stearns County. My goal by the end of the week is to run the entire course and complete three complete “round trips” on the monkey bars. I look forward to the coming months when we have to figure out our overall strategy as a team and how we will conquer some of the more difficult obstacles on the course. We are grateful for all your support as we take on this challenge and, if you are so inclined, encourage you to check out www.toughmudder.com, find an event near you and form your own team for this great cause.

Mark

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We are always trying to build “team spirit” within TSF and when this exercise is coupled with charitable work…Well, I love the idea! I’ve watched a few videos and noticed that older women and younger men, Jesus look-alikes and all shapes seem to be enjoying this trek through mud, ice water, fire and more. The idea that an obstacle course is about the collective and having a good time, rather than a testosterone-filled macho fest of secret ops woodsmen who live at Anytime Fitness (You know who you are sir) is quite appealing, and September cannot come fast enough for me. That being said, I now must lace up my running shoes and down a protein shake. I don’t know if Mark will be able to carry me over the finish line, so I better start training with a bit more intensity.

shaun

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So……last summer it was “what can we do for charity this year that’s different than year’s past?” Apparently the answer was skydiving. Jumping out of a plane. From 13,000 feet. In the air. Above clouds. Now don’t get me wrong, although I was apprehensive about the prospect, it was something I had always wanted to do but never got around to. I liked the idea that not only was this something helpful for those less fortunate, but it fulfilled a small wish of mine at the same time. So, we did it. Good times (and hugs) were had by all.

This year when discussing the same question, someone mentioned the Wounded Warrior Project as a possible charity. That led to someone bringing up the “Tough Mudder”. I’d heard of this event, but never looked into it. About 10 minutes after it had been brought up, we all had a pretty good understanding of what it was about, thanks to the good old interlink.

Now that we knew what it was about, it was time to decide if we were going to do it. A few questions arose. Can we get our friends and fans to join us? What date can we make work? Will we be able to handle the very intensive course designed by British Special Forces? (one of my favorite groups of special forces by the way). Why does Greg’s car smell like oranges and Jared’s smells like Cheetos? When will these questions end? Who shot J.R.?

With a resounding “Let’s go for it! Seriously? Yeah, seriously – what are you, scared? No, you are! No, you are! Whatever! You whatever! You’re mean! No, you’re mean! Your mom goes to college.” (and that was all just Mark), we were off and running! And lifting. And eating a little better. Seriously – this is Tough Mudder folks. Yeah, seriously – what are you, scared? No? Then join us. Gonna be fun. Gonna be exciting. Gonna be tired. Gonna love it!

Gonna go to bed now. Tired just thinking about it.

G

Tonic Sol-fa

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