♪ I got this feeling inside my bones ♪
♪ It goes electric, wavy when I turn it on ♪
♪ Ooo ♪
♪ All through my city, all through my home ♪
♪ We're flying up, no ceiling, when we're in our zone ♪
♪ 'Cause I got that sunshine in my pocket ♪
♪ Got that good soul in my feet ♪
♪ I feel that hot blood in my body when it drops ♪
♪ Ooo ♪
♪ I can't take my eyes up off it ♪
♪ Moving so phenomenally ♪
♪ Room on lock the way we rock it ♪
♪ So don't stop ♪
♪ Got that sunshine in my pocket ♪
♪ Got that good soul in my feet ♪
- My name is Ryan Stuempges.
I am the choir director here at G.E.T. High School.
I think a cappella
brings it back to the roots.
It brings it back to that whole,
"We're just having fun here."
♪ Stop ♪
- Stuempges: Stop. [students laugh]
Yeah, we'll stop there, cool.
- Hailee: We're here to make music,
we're here to make it authentic,
and I think that's what's really made
this small town in Wisconsin
have this successful group.
♪ [a cappella vocalization] ♪ ♪ Ooo oo, ooo oo ♪
♪ Ooo oo, ooo oo, ooo oo ♪
- Ryan: G.E.T. stands for Gale- Ettrick-Trempealeau High School.
- G.E.T.'s really small.
- We have about roughly a hundred, give or take, per class.
- It's just one hallway so that's fun.
You don't get lost.
- Mackenzie: It's not really about the size of your school
that determines how good you're gonna be at something.
I think it's the student body deciding
we're all gonna work hard to be the best we can be.
- Stuempges: What we're doing here at G.E.T.
as far as our entire school,
we want our kids to have the best and be the best.
We just don't settle.
- Ally: We have to work so much harder as a group
to be able to compare to all these big schools
because we don't have as big of a pool to draw from
for talent.
That just kind of drives us to work harder.
♪ Hmm ♪
♪ Give me love like him ♪
♪ 'Cause lately I've been waking up alone ♪
Ally: One of the big reasons we're successful
is our rehearsal process
because we have to learn all of our music at home
and outside of rehearsal.
- Stuempges: Two, three, four.
♪ Whoa ♪ [vocalizing]
- It takes a lot of work to not only learn your song
and learn your voice part,
but to blend with everyone that's singing your voice part.
- ♪ Oh ♪
- ♪ One and two and three and four ♪
[laughing]
I thought I heard him doing an and.
- Okay, fine, all right.
- Stuempges: That first step is all the notes and rhythms.
They'll come back, and we'll pretty much
have everything down.
♪I don't care if I sing off-key♪ ♪ Whoa oh oh ♪
♪ I find myself in my melodies ♪
♪ Whoa oh oh ♪ ♪I sing for love, I sing for me♪
♪ I shout it out like a bird set free ♪
♪ Whoa ♪
Stuempges: Then we'll sing it a second time through,
and I'll ask them to identify all their trouble spots.
See what we're doing here? It's really slow.
One, two, and slow.
[a cappella vocalization]
Again, and go, and.
[a cappella vocalization]
Again, and go, and.
[a cappella vocalization]
[students laughing] That's how quick it is.
- Sam: Stumps is one of those teachers,
he's so, so good at making a group successful
and bringing out the best in everyone.
- You and Sam, yeah, exactly.
You're crushing it, you're nailing it.
- Sam: You know that he cares about everybody
and he does all these things to help you be successful.
♪ For you, I have to risk it all ♪
- Stuempges: One, two, three, four!
The reason why I'm pushing and pushing and pushing is because
my goal is to make it sound
as good as it possibly can first.
[Carter singing in high octave] - ♪ 'Cause the writing ♪
I can't find it. [students imitate his pitch]
- Just do what I did before.
They have to know that they can make mistakes
and they have to know that
you're not judging them,
but you're only there to make them better.
- Carter: ♪ 'Cause the writing's on ♪
- That was it that time.
You can hold that note out, too, like you did before.
- He really gets people up to the level he wants them to be,
and then, keeps raising that bar.
♪ 'Cause the writing's on ♪
♪ The wall ♪
- Stuempges: That was deep, that was good.