Tim Waurick: The Man Behind the Melodies

Arnold00:00:00

He started singing at age 4 and at age 12 was in a barbershop quartet. And over the years he has worked and learned from many barbershop greats and has achieved international recognition in his craft.He was selected to be the fantasy tenor, unquote, a fantasy gold quartet, and was inducted into the Barbershop Harmony Society's hall of Fame. He is a recording artist with several albums and he's an educator. He's the one behind tim tracks, a music production company.You can watch his Tim tags on social media. Tim Warwick's his name, and he's one of the few barbershop enthusiasts who's managed to turn his hobby into a profession.He's a tenor who's known for his long notes and stratospheric range. Just like this, folks.

Tim00:00:46

No one sings higher no one sings higher no one sings higher no one sings higher than.

Arnold00:01:32

Welcome to St. Louis in Tune.And thank you for joining us for fresh perspectives on issues and events with experts, community leaders and everyday people who make a difference in shaping our society and world. I'm Arnold Stricker along with co host Mark Langston, who is on assignment today. We are glad that you've joined us today, folks.We want to thank our sponsor, Better Rate Mortgage, for their support of the show.You can listen to previous shows@stlandtune.com please help us continue to grow by leaving a review on our website, Apple Podcast, or your preferred podcast platform.We're going to skip our thought to ponder today because our guest has been waiting in the wings and I wanted to mention this was my introduction to our guest. If you missed the opening, you have to go back and catch that. But this was my opening to our guest, Tim Worth. Listen to this.

Tim00:02:25

Cornbread, cornbread, cornbread, corn bread.

Arnold00:03:01

Tim Waurick, welcome to St. Louis in Tune. The hair on the back of my neck still stands.

Tim00:03:07

Thanks, Arnold. Great to be here.

Arnold00:03:09

Oh my gosh. I heard that and I was like, you've got to be kidding me. You've got to be kidding me.I've got a music ed degree just like you and I was amazed at just your range and the fortitude in which you perform. Where did this all start? How did this all start for you?

Tim00:03:30

I started as a kid in middle school. I started singing barbershop music back then.And then over the years I just continued to do it through school, through high school, and then into college.Actually ended up going to Lindenwood University out St. Charles and started singing in a course called the Ambassadors of Harmony and joined a Quartet called Vocal Spectrum. So the Ambassadors of Harmony have gone on to win multiple international chorus championships in my quartet.Vocal Spectrum happened to win the International Quartet contest back in 2006. So we've been together for about 22, 23 years now. So it's been a long time. But yeah, that's how it started. And I just.I've had the opportunity to work with some amazing, amazing people. Dr. Jim Henry, who is a professor at UMSL now, was my professor at Lindenwood for a while.And he's one of the directors of the Ambassadors of Harmony. And just a great coach for us and really helped us shaped my musical abilities in many ways, but worked really hard at it.And yeah, it's been something I've worked at for a long time. Really blessed to be able to keep singing for all these years.

Arnold00:04:34

Acapella work has really made a resurgence over the last maybe 15, 20 years with groups like Take Six. And you recently were singing with Voctive, which is a favorite group of mine. And what a great group of folks.And I want to come back now, come back to that one.But what is it about barbershop harmony or barbershop quartet or singing this acapella like you've done the Stars and Stripes where you're doing all the parts and things like that. What is it about that kind of music that really appeals to our ears?

Tim00:05:07

I think first of all, there's a certain excitement in barbershop music. It's four parts, obviously, acapella.One thing that barbershop does that a lot of other styles of acapella I don't think do as well is complete chords. Sometimes you'll just have a lot of three part chords and other forms of acapella. And in barbershop we use a lot of seventh chords.We make sure that the voicings are really strong. So I think that's just one aspect of barbershop that's really cool. I also think the barbershop is pretty accessible.If you can sing, then you can sing barbershop singing. And at the same time, singing barbershop at the highest level is really challenging. It takes a lot of work and precision.So I think it's really cool because barbershop is accessible to the very average singer, the non professional singer. And at the same time, it's something that just takes an incredible amount of skill to pull off at the highest level.

Arnold00:06:00

So when you were going from my.

Tim00:06:02

Dog is what's that?

Arnold00:06:05

Your dog's trying to sing too? Yes. What's to get in on the action.

Tim00:06:12

Yes. Snoring away. Sorry.

Arnold00:06:15

No worries.When you went from the Ambassadors of Harmony and you were here in the St. Louis area for about 15 years, and you went back to Pennsylvania, and you've traveled around the country and you've traveled internationally in getting all of the groups together. And how do you find a group or how do you click with a group like, gee, we're looking for a first tenor.Or I'm sure you sing first tenor, but you sing all the parts. I know that. But you're mainly a first tenor, correct? Yeah.

Tim00:06:44

The part that I sing in my quartet is the top tenor part. In barbershop, we have four parts. There's the tenor part, which is the highest part. There's the lead part, which is the melody.And that's something that's also pretty. Pretty special about barbershop, is that the lead is the second voice down, and that's the melody. It's almost always there.Often in choral music, you'll hear the tenor part or the top part being the melody. And barbershop is a little different from there. We have the bass down at the bottom, and then the baritone sings the leftover notes.And in Barber shop, the baritone can sing really high or really low. It depends on the song. But, yeah, I only sing with my quartet vocal spectrum. I've subbed in with other groups.I've subbed in with other barbershop groups. Obviously, I'm a sub for voctive, which is so much fun.But, yeah, having traveled around and seen other groups, the way to join it is mainly through finding a chorus. And then you put your own quartets together. That way you meet people and you do it that way.Some people just really enjoy singing in choruses, and some people want to do more and sing in quartets and choruses. And so it's really cool. Barbershops, just. You can barbershop the way you want to. That's sort of how it works.

Arnold00:07:55

Barbershop smorgas. Smorgasbord.

Tim00:07:58

Exactly.

Arnold00:07:59

What was it like singing with voctive? That's a group that we've talked about and actually played some of the music on the show here before.

Tim00:08:07

They're incredible. You have these 11 professional musicians, and everybody is just a master of their voice. They know what they're doing. They know how to do it.And it's just very virtuosic. Like, you have these amazing sopranos that can sing into the stratosphere and basses who can sing as low as possible.And then, of course, the main one of the one of my favorite singers in the group is EJ who sings the tenor one part. And he can sing basically as high as a tenor can ever sing. And it's effortless and free, and it's so good.So for me to have the opportunity to just fit my voice into that group is. Has been an honor whenever I've had the opportunity sub with them a couple times or rehearse with them a couple times a year.So it's a lot of fun to be able to sing with them when I have the opportunity to do it, because they're incredible, just amazing.

Arnold00:08:59

When did you realize that your range was pretty much out of sight? I know you probably go into falls that you can go way, way up there beyond stratosphere. And you also sing.You have the ability to get down in low and some low bass parts. When did you experiment? Or wow, I can't believe I can do that.

Tim00:09:20

It might have been toward the beginning of college was when I just was singing something and I tried to sing at an octave higher and it came out pretty well. And I think it was actually the lead of my quartet. His name is Eric Dowdy. And Eric was. Whoa. Like, that's really high.Like, you could sing like soprano notes and stuff like that. And. And so that was just one of those things. And for a long time when my. I went through a really difficult voice change.So I was able to sing bass in high school because I was having such a difficult time with my voice changing. I was cracking. And there are two things that happen. Number one, I continued to sing barbershop, and I was a tenor in my quartet. So I can.I really wanted to keep singing tenor. So I went from this child kid full voice tenor as a kid into more.Maybe a falsetto tenor, maybe a little more of that mixed falsetto tenor while I was going through my voice change. And it was just one of those things where I kept singing in that range when my voice changed and my voice.My middle school choir teacher was a big help into giving me voice lessons and helping me through that voice change. And so while that was happening, I continued to sing in the really high range.And I think as a result, I kept a lot of the high notes that I had as a child as far as being able to sing really and mix and stuff like that at the same time. Because my voice change was so bad and I couldn't really sing in more of a full voice tenor range.I sang bass or baritone in choir in my regular classical choir in high school. So for A couple years there, I honed my bass singing while I was also working at my high falsetto.And then as the voice changed slowly, it was a long, horrible voice change.

Arnold00:11:10

But.

Tim00:11:14

Realized, okay, wait, I can also sing a little bit higher in the tenor range too, and a little more of a full sound. So I started to work on refining that a little bit too.So it just all worked together over the years between this horrible voice change turned into a real blessing for me as far as range goes, because I somehow kept my bass range and my soprano range and then was able to get my tenor range back into decent shape over the years. And so if I were to actually classify my voice type, I would probably say I'm more of a tenor two than a tenor one.I can sing tenor one notes, but I prefer to sing tenor two because it fits a little more comfortably in my range. Like, on a regular basis, that's what I've filled in. When I filled in with vocative, I've done 10 or two. And so, yeah, that's how that has worked.And as I've gotten older, my bass range continues to grow. And then you just work hard to keep the high range going. So, yeah, it's just one of those things that just happened naturally as I was growing up.And so I really encourage. Whenever I see somebody who's in high school or middle school and they're.You can tell they're either about to go through the voice change or they are in the middle of it, and then they talk about it, I always tell them, keep singing your high range, work on your low range, but keep working on that high range, because you will really be able to keep a lot of those. I think you should be able to keep a lot of those high notes if you continue to use them. Yeah.

Arnold00:12:37

I was going to ask you. I'm an instrumentalist, so I wouldn't have the answer to this question. That's why I'm asking you. You're a vocalist.Is the development of your vocal cords at that time during the change, was that strengthening them? Was.I know you can stretch them, which causes some voice problems, but does doing that during that time of the voice change, is there a physiological kind of situation that goes on there?

Tim00:13:01

I wish I could give you the answer. I don't really know other than I just believe that a lot of people, when they go through their.Through a voice change, they just lose their high range and they stop. They just go. And then they can't do it. So they're just staying low. And then after that's done, they have to redevelop their higher range.That's all I know is that I believe that it is a muscle. And keeping the muscle moving and keeping the muscle in that, able to stretch into that range is, I think, was really beneficial for me.

Arnold00:13:35

This is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston of St. Louis and Tune. We're talking to Tim Warrick.He's a singer, vocal coach, recording artist, music educator, and member of the Barbershop Harmony Society's hall of Fame. What a great honor that was.

Tim00:13:49

Oh, I couldn't believe it. I thought to myself, isn't that what is. A lot of people that go in there are a bit older than me.So when I was told that I was going in, I thought, this doesn't feel right.

Arnold00:14:01

Pinch yourself.

Tim00:14:02

I've got more to do. I feel like I have more to do.And, yeah, interestingly, I was notified that I was going in to the Barbershop hall of Fame prior to me ever putting out a video on YouTube or Instagram or TikTok, Facebook, any of that stuff. All of those tag videos that I've done have come out since I was told I was going into the hall of Fame. It was right at the exact time.Was right around that time when that happened. And I remember thinking to myself, wow, I'm just doing this new thing. I feel like I've got more new things to do.And, yeah, like I said, a lot of older people are the ones that go in. I joked. I was like, is that, like, a hint? Are you, like, telling me it's time to be done? Yeah, but now it's. But it was really cool.And then the following year, my quartet was also honored to go into the hall of Fame as well. So really honored to have had that opportunity, both personally and also with local spectrum.

Arnold00:14:58

That's a huge deal. That's a huge deal, Tim, because you think of how many barbershop quartets are out there, and I know folks, you might not think there's many.I know there's a lot, and it's a fun thing to sing in. And then when you get to the point where you're internationally recognized individually and then in your group, that's. That's tremendous, Tim.

Tim00:15:20

Thank you. It really does mean a lot because they really only induct one to two, maybe three at most people and. Or groups occasionally.Groups tend to go in maybe every five, six years. There aren't there? I think there are a total of maybe 14 or 13 quartets that have ever been inducted into the hall of Fame.And so it's just really a cool honor to have that, to have people think that we've done or I've done something significant in this genre. It means a lot because you don't really set out to do that.You don't really set out to say, oh, I want to go into the hall of Fame and I want to do all these things. You just do what you do, right. And hope it makes a difference and hope that. And you do what you do. Because you enjoy it too. Because I love it.I've always enjoyed it. So it's not something that I've done because I have aspirations of grandeur. It's just it started as a hobby and became a bit more of a profession.But it's always remained a hobby for me as well, which is interesting.

Arnold00:16:17

Now I want to play something. And this is from one of your Tim tracks. And folks, you can see Tim's information. Tim work. I'll give his email. That's not his email.I'll give his website out. It's Timtracks.com T I M T R A C K S dot com and you can catch some of these on also on many social media platforms. But let's listen to this one.

Tim00:16:39

If you miss the train I'm on you will know that I am gone. You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles, a hundred miles.

Arnold00:17:17

I love watching you sing too. And folks, you have to look at it. You have to watch him. He's got all four parts going and you see his face.And what's even better than singing with your siblings is singing with yourself.

Tim00:17:33

I guess it is fun and I love singing and it's fun to sing. Sometimes they're really old songs and sometimes they're newer songs. And I guess that one's kind of in the middle somewhere.The Peter, Paul and Mary song.

Arnold00:17:47

How do you go about doing one of your Tim tracks? How long does it take you to get all four parts? You basically, okay, I've got that one down. I can sight sing that one.And now you've got worked out their phrasing and which one do you record first? And et cetera, et cetera. Walk us through that.

Tim00:18:03

Yeah, the first thing I do is I'll record the lead part, the melody almost always. And so that'll be the first thing I do is.But before that I'll look at the song or I'll look at the piece and I'll just say, okay, what's the process here? What's what Do I want to do with this? And often I will create a little plan for myself. I.When I'm recording a learning track now I have, obviously I have my Tim tags that I put on YouTube, but also I have 1500 learning tracks that I've recorded over the years. When I'm doing a learning track, we'll say no video. I'll sight read it, I'll give it a little bit of a look.I'll make sure I have an understanding of what the overall song is, what the arc is of the song, how I want to work on it musically and expressively at the same time.But then, then I'll record it and I go, I'll record until I'm unhappy and then I'll go back and do it and eventually I get to the point where I'm reasonably happy with it. And then the next, the next one I'll do is the bass.Depending on the song these days, depending on the song, I might do it in the morning, I might do it the next morning because I just.Even though I can sing decently low, like throughout the day, in the morning I feel like I'm just a bit more resonant and my low range is just a little stronger. Over the years, especially when I was younger, I always recorded bass in the morning.And now I still do, but I don't have to as much, but I definitely lean toward that. And then from there I work with the baritone and tenor parts, normally baritone and then the tenor. And that'll be my routine of doing that.Then from there I'll go through and just make sure everything is right. I make sure I didn't miss any notes and stuff like that. So I really try to take good care to make sure that I've not missed anything.Because when you're. Especially when you're sight reading, it's just easy to miss stuff. And then.Yeah, and then from there I just, I try to do a little balancing, make sure the balance is good, add some reverb and some EQ and all that jazz. And that's kind of it. The overall process to record a learning track is probably somewhere around six hours or so. For the videos.I memorize the part and record it and the video and then. Yeah, and then I actually will take the audio and the video and we'll put it all together.Because I like to make sure the audio has all of the reverb. I just, I like prefer it that way. So I always do it that way. And so yeah, the process normally lead then bass Then baritone, then tenor.And that's the overall quick process for what I do for recording these tracks.

Arnold00:20:26

I appreciate that you also put the music on there so you can actually see what's going on.

Tim00:20:31

Yeah, initially I didn't, but then some people were stealing that. They were taking the video that I did and then adding music and putting it on their own channels. What? And I remember one. I remember.Yeah, there's one. And it's still out there. It has well over as 1.5 million views. It's my video, but they put the sheet music on it and came up with a clever title.And it has three times the views that my video has.

Arnold00:20:57

Oh, my.

Tim00:20:57

And at the same time, it definitely gave me exposure. And so I think. I don't think it was done maliciously, but I realized, wait. People really like to look at the music, so let me just start adding it.And so I try to add it to almost every video that I do, just because I think it's another piece that is interesting for people to watch. If people want to watch me, that's fine. Or they want to look at the music, even better.

Arnold00:21:24

You've got a great face, and it's. I can tell you are really into the music.And folks, you got to watch these videos because you really express what's going on, especially when you're doing. I'm going to play this one, especially something like this.

Tim00:21:37

Ice cream. Ice cream.

Tim00:21:42

Ice cream. Ice cream. Ice cream. Ice cream. Ice cream. Ice cream. Ice cream. Ice cream.

Arnold00:22:35

Now you heard this big thump at the end. You have to watch that and see what happened to Tim.

Tim00:22:42

That was. So I had done cornbread, and everyone's like, you got to do another food one.And I was really very thankful that cornbread was featured on America's Funniest Home Videos in earlier this year. And so I thought, now is a good time to do another food one. So I put another food one out for ice Cream.It was the set, the original quartet that sang that the music man, the ice cream bit was the Buffalo Bills. The Buffalo Bills. It was their 75th anniversary of when they won the International Quartet Championship.

Arnold00:23:12

Wow.

Tim00:23:12

And my quartet vocal spectrum, we actually got to do that at the Muni. We sang the part of the quartet in 2009. We were the barbershop quartet there at the Muni. So that was a lot of fun.But of course, had to add a little bit at the end. I had to make the big long note and. And have a little fun. There's actually Ice Cream in the video that's right. You have to watch the video.There's actually ice cream. I went through multiple ice cream cones on this video, unfortunately.

Arnold00:23:37

So how many Tim tracks are out there?

Tim00:23:42

Tim tracks?

Arnold00:23:43

Yeah. How many?

Tim00:23:44

I've done. I know I've done somewhere around.

Arnold00:23:47

Not counting the learning tracks. Not counting the learning track.

Tim00:23:50

The learning tracks is like 1500, but the actual videos, I've done probably about 215 videos.

Arnold00:23:55

Okay.

Tim00:23:56

Over the past few years, it's been just about four years that I've done this. I do one a week. Occasionally I'll do a bonus one, but for the most part it's one a week.And yeah, almost four years ago is when I started putting out these videos.

Arnold00:24:10

That's a lot of work. We're going to take a quick break and we will be right back, folks. This is Arnold Strick with Mark Langston.You're listening to St. Louis in Tune on the U.S. radio Network. Everyone in St. Louis promises a better mortgage rate. But what you really need to turn that perfect house into your dream home is a better mortgage.At Better Rate Mortgage, we open the door to so much more. Whether you're purchasing your first home or taking cash out to make your dream home even dreamier, our door is open. Come on in and get started.Today, we'll show you how. Call Sean directly at 314-375-3293 or online@betterratemortgage.com Remember, at Better Rate Mortgage, a better rate is just the beginning.Betterratemortgage.com MLS IDH 401335 an equal housing lender.

Arnold00:24:59

This is Arnold Stricker of St. Louis in tune on behalf of the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation. In 1857, the Dred Scott decision was a major legal event and catalyst that contributed to the Civil War.The decision declared that Dred Scott could not be free because he was not a citizen.The 14th Amendment was also called the Dred Scott Amendment, granted citizenship to all born or naturalized here in our country and was intended to overturn the US Supreme Court decision on July 9, 1868.The Dred Scott Heritage foundation is requesting a commemorative stamp to be issued from the US Postal Service to recognize and remember the heritage of this amendment by issuing a stamp with the likeness of the man Dred Scott. But we need your support and the support of thousands of people who would like to see this happen.To achieve this goal, we ask you to download, sign and share the one page petition with others. To find the petition, please go to dredscottlives.org and click on the Dred Scott petition drive on the right side of the page.On behalf of the Dred Scott Heritage foundation, this has been Arnold Stricker of.

Arnold00:25:58

St. Louis in June.

Tim00:26:07

Do.

Tim00:26:13

Every time that I look in the mirror all these lines on my face get clearer the past is gone it went by like.

Arnold00:26:40

Welcome back to St. Louis in Tune. This is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston.We're talking to Tim Warwick, singer, vocal coach, recording artist, music educator and member of the Barbershop Harmony Society's hall of Fame. Aerosmith needs to listen to this. What do you think, Tim?

Tim00:26:58

This was a lot of fun.

Arnold00:27:00

This isn't just four. This is what, eight?

Tim00:27:04

Oh, yeah. Somewhere around eight or so. Maybe even a couple more, if I remember correctly recorded it. It was originally done by. Arranged. Arranged.The vocal arrangement was done by Gary Lewis and it was originally done for the. There's a show that we always have all the champion quartets. We always do a championship show at the international convention every.That's held every year in a different city. And that song was sung. That was one of the songs we did when we were in Cleveland. We did a little Rock and Roll hall of Fame tribute there.And yeah, by the way, just so you all know, the International Barbershop Convention is going to be in St. Louis this coming July, the first week of July. And more information is@Barbershop.org that's a little ad there. And I make nothing off of that, by the way.But for those of you interested in checking out the best the barbershop go, either barbershop.org or eventually more information will be available for the AIC, which is the championship organization. And that'll be held Friday night. I believe it's Friday night. Is it July 4th? Maybe I'm wrong on that, but yeah, that'll be held almost.Let me see here. Looks like July. The. Where are we? Okay, sorry. There we go. July here in St. Louis. I'll be singing on a show down in the city.I think the venue is just about to be announced. It should be really a great show. And I'll also be singing in St. Louis this coming December. It'll be December. The I'm giving you the day here.December 12th, 13th and 14th as part of the Ambassadors of Harmony Christmas shows.Every year, the Ambassadors of Harmony puts on an amazing Christmas show, holiday show, and my quartet, vocal spectrum will be singing on those shows. There's one Friday night, one on Saturday afternoon, one on Saturday night and one on Sunday afternoon.I think more information is probably ambassadorsofharmony.org I believe it'll be at the Two Hill.

Arnold00:29:01

Okay.

Tim00:29:02

Definitely worth checking out. It's a lot of fun and really great. Gets you in the spirit of the season, for sure.

Arnold00:29:07

Yeah, we will advertise those on the POD page.

Tim00:29:12

Yeah, please do. Because they're great. They're my. One of my favorite shows of the year are those Ambassadors of Harmony Christmas shows.

Arnold00:29:20

Talk a little bit about the learning tracks that you do and get into some specifics because I'm sure there's some people who are listening who are like, yeah, I want to excel a little bit more in the barbershop quartet realm. Or maybe there's some up and coming folks who would like to delve into it a little bit deeper. What is.What do those provide and what exactly do they do for people?

Tim00:29:45

The learning tracks themselves, those. So those are meant as educational tools. It's to help people learn their part.So if you ever sing along with a song on the radio, and then eventually you know the song, you can just sing it because you've learned it by ear. That's what learning tracks do. They really assist in learning your part. So especially in barbershop, it gets a little challenging.Especially the baritone parts are a little all over the place. So it really gives you the opportunity to hear parts.My goal is to create a recording that isn't just the right notes and words, but hopefully a bit more of the expression that we would be going for, some of the dynamics and hopefully the best vocal quality we can come up with. So that's a goal is to have a. A tool that you can use to learn your parts. And so that's what the goal of learning tracks are.They can be used for people who don't read music. So if you can't read music, you can still learn your part if you can learn it by just listening.There are tracks where you have your part in your left ear and the other three parts in the right ear. There are some where I have an offer where you don't have your part at all.

Arnold00:30:55

So you.

Tim00:30:55

If you've learned it, you can strengthen it by just singing against those recordings. I've used those often when I've filled in with groups or whatever.I will take the part missing track where it has just three parts, and then I'll sing my part with it to help me replicate the feeling of singing with a quartet. And then, of course, I also have the part predominant where you can just listen to your part mostly loud and learn your notes.Now that works for people who don't read music at all. So there are so many people out there in great groups, like the best groups, and they don't know how to read music at all. They just learn this way.

Arnold00:31:30

Wow.

Tim00:31:30

But then it also can really help. For me, I would use it to just listen and I can sight read. So I will look at the music and I will play the track at the same time.And it speeds up my process because. Right. I don't. I just. I can hear it and I can look at it and I get it really quickly. Yeah. Learning tracks are.The goal is to really enhance the learning process. A, it'll help everybody learn their note faster.And then B, as they start singing in their chorus or quartet, the hope is that you come in with a higher level of understanding of the song, maybe a higher level of expression, maybe some good vocal tools, so that when you come in, it's actually better than it could have ever been if you had just stood around with the music and started singing through the song.

Arnold00:32:14

What a great service you're offering with that. That's available on TimTrax.com.

Tim00:32:20

Yeah, everything. That's all available on TimTrax.com and, yeah, it's something that I've been doing now for almost 23 years, which is crazy.

Arnold00:32:28

Holy smoke.

Tim00:32:29

A friend of mine asked me to do it because he was. I do them for high voices, too, for SSAA or women's voices. He directed a woman's chorus and he was trying to record the learning tracks for them.He was trying to help them learn their music because a lot of them couldn't read it. And so he eventually came to me, he said, hey, you can sing. Hi. Can you do that? Do that for me? Because it's not going so well.And that was how it all started. And then word of mouth spread. Eventually a website came up and off we go. So, yeah, it's been a long time and a lot of recording over the years now.

Arnold00:33:01

Where do you come up with all these arrangements? I know there's barbershop quartet arrangers out there. Have you ever arranged anything?

Tim00:33:09

I have arranged a few songs, but not a lot. I would say that my. I'm primarily just recording other people's arrangements.There are great arrangers out in the barbershop farming society, and many of them. So, for instance, we use. One example is Dr. David Wright, who used to be.I know for a long time he was a math professor there at Washington University, was the chair of the math department at one point. And David is The greatest barbershop arranger of all time, in my opinion.

Arnold00:33:38

Wow.

Tim00:33:39

Done a lot of the arrangements for my quartet through the Ambassadors of Harmony and many other groups throughout the world. So someone. So there's either two processes. One, a group will go to David and say, hey, David, can you arrange this song for me?And then he'll do it, or B, he'll already have done it for somebody over the years. And the group will say, oh, we really like that arrangement that David did. We think that'll fit for our group.Let's buy that and then let's have Tim record the tracks for it. So that's the process as a group will come to me with an arrangement already intact from an arranger, and they'll say, can you record this?Often it's brand new. Often the arranger just finished doing it.And then sometimes people will have an older arrangement that someone had done previous years, and they'll say, hey, actually, we want to sing this song now. And often arrangers will make that piece available for other people to sing.So that's how that process works of me getting the music and getting the arrangement. Very rarely am I the one that says, hey, I want to record this song, because I have people coming to me to commission me to do learning tracks.So that's how this has worked over the years. If someone will come to me and commission me and say, oh, we'd like you to do the learning tracks for this song. And I'll.Then I'll record them and eventually after a period of time, I'll put them up on my website for resale and people will then find them and they'll go to the arranger and say, oh, we want to sing the song too. And it's just how it works. So, yeah, pretty fun little model that we have there going.

Arnold00:35:10

You found a great lane. It seems like this was something that was not out there and people were hungry for something like this and really needing something like that.

Tim00:35:19

Yeah, a lot of.Like I talked about, barbershop is so accessible to the average cigarette, to the person who has never taken a voice lesson, who's never sung in a choir, but it's AKA same barbershop. But maybe they don't know how to read music at all.They have this tool where they can listen to it and they can learn their part and come in and actually know what their. Know what their part is, even if they couldn't tell you what note it is on the page.

Arnold00:35:44

Now, you've answered a question for those who aspiring barbershop quartet singers or those who were involved in currently with some of your Tim track things and some of the advice that you've given. What advice do you give to this?The budding singer, whether they're going to be involved in barbershop or not, or whether they're going to become just a regular chorus singer in their high school or maybe going on to college or maybe wanting to sing an opera or something like that. What advice do you give Tim?

Tim00:36:13

Number one, I would say find a great voice teacher and work with them.If you want to sing for the long haul, that is the best way is to find a good voice teacher who helps you sing freely and easily and where it doesn't hurt, if it feels good and it's. It works well. And I would definitely say get a voice teacher. And then from there I would say just try to take good care of your voice.There are all types of things environmentally that can impact your voice, whether it be allergies or acid reflux or alcohol or different things can really affect your voice.So just try to get a gauge of what impacts your voice and try to work through that and understand what that is and yeah, and don't beat your voice up because you only get one and so take care of it. Scream a lot at a When I go to a baseball game or a football game or whatever, I clap a lot. I don't scream.

Arnold00:37:13

Why?

Tim00:37:13

Because I don't want to hurt myself.

Arnold00:37:15

Wise We've been talking to Tim Warrick. He's a singer, vocal coach, recording artist, music educator, member of the Barbershop Harmony Society's hall of Fame.You can find out more about tim@timtrax.com t I m t r a c k s.com and also check him out on social media. He's on Facebook TikTok. He's on Instagram. He's on YouTube. I will post all those on the podcast page. Tim, thank you.Thank you very much for coming on St. Luis and tune. Greatly appreciate talking to you and listening to all your insights about barbershop quartet and barbershop harmony.

Tim00:37:50

My pleasure, Arnold. It's just been great to be here and great to just chat and hang out.

Arnold00:37:54

Sounds great. Thank you, Tim.

Tim00:37:56

Thank you.

Arnold00:37:56

Wow, folks, what a wonderful guest and musician Tim Warrick is. He's a great guy. Want to encourage you to go to his website, contribute to him. He does. This is his business. This is how he makes his livelihood.And if you feel so inclined, he's got a Patreon site which we will post on the podcast page. Please Feel free to donate to that. It's important to support excellent things. Tim does an excellent job in what he does.When you see excellent things around, it's important to take time, review them, listen to them, watch them, acknowledge them, and thank the people who've done them. Because it's important to do that. I want to play one more song here that Tim has done.

Tim00:38:40

O Danny boy the pipes, the pipes are calling from glen to glen and down the mountainside the summer's gone and all the roses fall falling it's you, it's you must go and I must bide and I must bide but come ye back when summer's in the meadow or when the valley's high and white with snow It's I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow. O Jenny boy, O Jenny boy, I love you so.But when you come and all the flowers are dying, if I am dead, as dead I well may be, you'll come and find the place where I am lying and kneel and say.

Tim00:40:54

And.

Tim00:40:54

Of ae there for me and I shall hear those soft you tread above.

Tim00:41:09

Me.

Tim00:41:12

And O my grave will warmer sweeter be for you will bend and tell me that you love me.

Arnold00:41:49

And.

Tim00:41:50

I shall sleep in peace until you come to me, O daddy boy, O daddy boy, O I love.

Arnold00:42:17

You.

Tim00:42:21

So.

Arnold00:42:29

Want to thank Tim War for his time today on St. Louis in Tune.Folks, we appreciate you taking time to spend this hour with us and listening to Tim talk about his career and the things that he's doing to encourage singing and barbershop harmony around the world. That's all for this hour. We want to thank you for listening.If you've enjoyed this episode, you can listen to additional shows@stluntune.com consider leaving a review on our website, Apple Podcasts, Podchaser, or your preferred podcast platform. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and continue to grow.We want to thank Bob Berthisel for our theme music, our sponsor, Better Rate Mortgage, our guest Tim Warrick and co host Mark Langston. And we thank you listeners for being a part of our community of curious minds.St. Louis in tune is a production of Motif Media Group and the US Radio Network. Remember to keep seeking, keep learning, walk worthy and let your light shine. For St. Louis in tune, I'm Arnold Stricker.