Friends of Music at Guilford's biennial "A Cappella à la Carte" event is scheduled for this Saturday, June 6, at Guilford Community Church. The evening is divided into three distinct parts: a short meeting, an all-community potluck, and an a cappella concert, this year featuring the Shoulder Narrows sextet of BUHS singers. The general public is invited to attend free of charge charge, though donations are certainly very welcome to support the organization.

The pre-dinner course from 6 to 6:30 pm is optional for the general public. It's Friends of Music's Annual Membership Meeting, described as "mercifully brief and merry" and consisting chiefly of verbal reports of the past year's activities and plans for next season. Members in attendance, and anyone interested in joining on the spot, then vote in a secretary who tenders the slate of trustee nominees and proposes ratification of the past year's actions by the board.

The potluck dinner follows at about 6:30, offering a wide array of specialties by Friends of Music trustees and potluck favorites from everyone else in attendance. The church property is alcohol-free, so lemonade, seltzers, and water will be available during dinner, and sodas are welcome, too. A generous array of delectable desserts and tea or coffee are saved for the post-concert reception.

The evening’s special musical entertainment begins at 7:30 pm and features Shoulder Narrows, a male sextet who sing for the love of it rather than under the direct sponsorship of Brattleboro Union High School. They are so accomplished and popular, however, that they are regularly invited to perform for school music nights. There’s also an independent girls’ group, Spiralia; the school’s co-ed Madrigals group is the only one that offers school credit for participation.

Friends of Music recently hosted Shoulder Narrows for a performance at Guilford School, as part of the organization's music enrichment initiative there. In between songs, the boys were promoting music opportunities at BUHS with their audience of Guilford students in grades 5 through 8. They also shared that they can work up a basic arrangement of even a somewhat quirky song in as little as one hour, which impressed both the young people and the adults in attendance.

Current members of Shoulder Narrows are Riley Goodemote (their manager and an aspiring music educator), Desmond Peeples, Clark Glennon, Arthur Davis, Eben Viens, and Jacob Ungerleider. Here’s a bit more about the group, provided by Goodemote:

"Shoulder Narrows was started in 2004 by male students at BUHS that wanted to sing a cappella music in an independent group away from the school. They made up some of their own arrangements of popular songs, and they all played with the music that they made. The nine original members have all graduated (many have moved on to sing a cappella at the college level), but they started a group that is still independently run and is still singing good music.

“Today, the group’s six members sing a mix of indie rock, pop, jazz, and a little bit of everything else in between. Most of them are multi-instrumentalists and strive to bring aspects of instrumental playing to their vocals. Consequently, their arrangements tend to lean away from the traditional vocal chamber ensemble or barbershop sound toward emulating the piano hits and guitars in original recordings of the tunes they cover. They all collaborate in the writing and arranging of songs and still just enjoy playing around with the music they make. The group is a great tradition that has been passed down for a number of years, and as long as the joy of music persists, it will continue to be passed down.”

A brief and enjoyable meeting, a friendly community potluck, and a lively a cappella concert are a compelling combination, especially when admission is by donation. Guilford Community Church is just over a mile south of Exit 1 off I-91. From Route 5 near the Guilford Country Store, turn into Bee Barn Road and then go left immediately after the red barn. Parking is all around the church and by the Bee Barn.

For further information, call Friends of Music at (802) 254-3600 or visit online at www.fomag.org.