My Journey : Seeking Community

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It’s hard to believe, but I’m already in my 10th year with the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS), which is one of the pre-eminent organizations in the world of a cappella singing.

In the summer of 2015, my wife and I were living in Virginia with our son. I was freelancing from home and cooking for the family, but circumstances were changing. Our son had recently been accepted to a prestigious high school, and my wife had just been offered a professorship in Montreal starting in 2017. To help our son finish high school in Virginia, I had to step up… or rather, step out… of the home.

I needed to get a full time job. But having worked remotely from home for 7 years since relocating from Texas to Virginia, I had lost my social skills. I needed to get involved in my local community again. One summer evening, after pondering the most joyful activity I could imagine, and how I might best contribute to the local community, I had one of the clearest eureka (a-ha!) moments in my life.

Tatsuya--far left--with the members of his quartet 4Give n 4Get

 

I realized that the best thing I could do while having the most fun, was to join a men’s a cappella group. The rest is history.

You can see my full testimonial here.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/first-person-barbershop-quartet-1.6823150

By Tatsuya Oyama 

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