- Let's do flowers.
Can we go on * poppy, petunia, poppy, petunia, gladiola *
- Choir: * Poppy, petunia, poppy, petunia, gladiola *
- Not too bad.
And for your last warm up, can I have-- let's do "Danny Boy."
- At Jefferson Middle School in Madison,
Garrett Debbink leads the after-school choir.
- Here we go!
[piano music of "We Found Love"]
- Nice and loud.
-* Yellow diamonds in the light *
- I started it when I got here six years ago.
It's called Loud and Clear.
We always do the pop stuff, the newer stuff.
Acappella has a little bit more of a draw
and it's what the kids are into.
- From modern pop...
- * Can you feel that? *
* We're playing with love tonight *
- ...to more old school.
[Choir singing in German]
- Lots of energy first tenors.
Don't lose that pitch.
- Garrett also directs the Madison Maennerchor.
[Choir singing in German]
- Being able to be a director
for a choir that's been around for 165 years
is really something special.
* * [ending note]
Cool, that'll be good.
- A choir founded in 1852 to be exact by German immigrants.
Four years after Wisconsin became a state.
- They would go to work and then they would go to the bar.
And this was their entertainment.
They would have a couple drinks and sing songs.
I think it's a really interesting history
that we've kind of lost.
- The men's choir originally
came to the new world with old world ways
and forged a rich tradition around the state and in Madison.
- Most of it is four-part men's choral music.
So it's tenor one, tenor two, baritone, bass.
-When Grover Cleveland visited Wisconsin in 1887,
it was the Madison Maennerchor
that serenaded the U.S. president
in German.
Today the songs are still sung in German.
- Announcer: Please welcome Madison Maennerchor.
[applause]
* * [tuning note]
[Choir singing in German]
- My German is actually very rough.
I've been learning but it's not a prerequisite at all.
[Choir singing in German]
So I'm looking at measure 5, second verse.
Wie aucht hat nicht zur die nacht zeit nicht
It was extremely intimidating.
Some of these guys have been singing these songs
longer than I've been alive.
And to then show up and be like, I know how these songs go.
Eventually I did kind of step into the role
as someone with music and choral and directing background.
* *
Everyone take a seat.
We sang this one on Friday and it sounded great.
So same thing.
If you weren't--
If you weren't there on Friday, don't muck it up for us.
[laughter]
- German choir culture in Wisconsin
has withstood the test of time.
[Choir singing in German]
[applause]
- I think it's one of the more unique things about this choir.
It was a tradition back in Germany.
As time has gone on, this tradition,
a four-part male choir singing,
has actually, to my knowledge, mostly disappeared
and has really stayed alive
with the descendants of German immigrants here in the states.
[Choir singing in German]
- Here in Madison, it could also disappear.
This is the oldest German men's choir in the state.
Old in two ways.
- Choir: * In a one-horse open sleigh *
Most of the guys are old enough
to be my grandpa's or at least my dad's age.
I'm pretty sure I'm actually the youngest person in the choir.
The choir's not getting younger.
[Choir singing in German]
- Garrett's goal is to grow the choir
and strike a chord in finding that balance
between the old and new
through singing, socializing, sausage and sheepshead.
- I think that's one of my favorite things.
No matter who you are, there's a place on Thursdays
from 8 to 9:30 that you can show up.
- It is creating that sense of community
where people feel welcome.
Where people have fun.
I get to do that for a living.
And I think that's one of the best things.
[Choir singing in German]
[applause]