As of June 1st, 2009 Rat Race changed forever.  Pierce went off to Ohio for school and had to leave the quartet.  Rat Race is proud to be singing with our new tenor, Ron Higgins. 

This page is dedicated to the first year of the quartet's existence....we hope you enjoy this stroll down memory lane.

Our first performance was the Hanover Homeshow in March 2008.  Chris Henderson coached us before our debut...we sang both of our songs.  Boy, were we nervous.

Our last performance with Pierce will be the 7th Annual Upper Valley A Cappella Showcase.

We learned 15 songs and of those we threw out 4 because they didn't really fit us.

The first song we learned was Wait Till The Sun Shines Nellie.

The last song we learned with Pierce as our tenor was a medley of Aura Lee and Love Me Tender.

RR loved to perform for local barbershop chapters.  We had the chance to do 5 such gigs- Burlington, VT, Keene, NH and 3 for the North Country Chordsmen in Hanover, NH. 

Thursday was Jeff's blue shirt day....a true RR tradition.  One day he did not wear a blue shirt- yup, we sang like crap that day.

Our first big RR family outing was a roadtrip to Alton Bay....that is where we developed the "sugar packet under the table in the hat" trick.

For performing at the New London Rotary Banquet we got some really cool coffee mugs.  The only problem is that they have gold paint....no putting them in the microwave.  Yes, Dan tried anyway.

Gaye's new quote- "magically delicious!"

Dan was our quartet shopper- he bought us 4 shirts.  None of them cost more than 4 bucks a piece.  Big spender.....

Our logo was a cartoon picture of a tired pink rat.  Cool.

Gaye bought us all "Rat Race" games....in little tiny rat boxes.

In July of 2008 Pierce, Jeff, Dan and our friend Steve drove from Grantham, NH to Ithaca, NY to sing with Chris.  Chris was away at grad school and couldn't come home so we went to him.  Jeff bought us pizza.

The highlight of our coaching trip to NY was of course singing for Sweet Madeline- Jeff's infant granddaughter.  She got her beautiful looks from Deb's side of the family, obviously.

Our favorite Rat Race tradition was our chili parties.  We would get together on a weekend, rehearse for a couple of hours and then have a chili feast!

Chris' sister designed our business cards.

We had a chance to compete twice: in the NED Prelims in Burlington, VT we placed 8th overall and in the Granite and Pine Division contest in Bedford, NH.  we placed 4th.  We had a great time meeting so many wonderful people and learned a lot from our eval sessions.

We all got quartet nicknames:  Dan was Lead Rat, Chris was Rat Bari, Pierce was Squeaky and Jeff was Low Down.  Jeff was also called Slow Down for a while, but thankfully he outgrew that name.

Our great coaches were Chris Henderson, Steve Barden, Gaye LaCasce and Lisa Henry.

Jeff was completely in charge of the quartet for 3 hours on April 11th from 2:00 p.m. till 5:00 p.m.  He was so happy and the rest of us were scared.

In August 2008 we traveled to MA to spend the weekend getting coached at Harmony College Northeast.  This was our first real exposure to the big world of barbershop.

Chris started a youtube page and a checking account for Rat Race...yes with "Rat Race" checks.  We are studs.

Jeff's jokes.....there is so much to say about this, but not without further embarrassing Gaye.

At our rehearsals we always worked super hard, but laughed just as much.  Jeff's 2009 New Year's resolution  was to make Dan laugh so hard at each rehearsal that he couldn't continue to push us like a Drill Sergeant...well, at least for a few minutes.

Lisa and Gaye were quite worried about all the puppies around the world.  This is of course an inside joke, but feel free to ask them about it.

At our Quail Hollow performance Pierce ran into Chris so hard during one of our songs that he almost knocked him out.

The folks at the Novell building in Hanover enjoyed our holiday performance so much they invited us back to sing for them again in the spring.  What a pretty fireplace.

Jeff bought us all hats and t-shirts with our logo on it.  Was he trying to buy our affection?  If so, it worked.

The chorus kids at Lebanon High really enjoyed our performance at their Solo and Ensemble concert in April 2008.  We sang How Can I Miss You If You Won't Go Away.

We once again shared the stage with the singers from Lebanon High at their Big Combined Choral Concert.  That night we debuted Restroom Door.

We performed at the St. Patrick's Day Celebration at Jeff's church in New London.  What does SPEBSQSA stand for?

What a warm reception we got from the kind folks at Lebanon Towers, but Pierce wore the wrong shirt and screwed it all up. 

Grammy Rat was so fun to sing for at her birthday party.  At this performance we found out that Grampy Rat was a barbershopper.   We also quickly realized that there are no men in that family (besides Grampy Rat of course) who can actually sing.  How sad.

We got the chance to share the stage with The Honeymooners (and far too many mosquitos) at their 2008 Lebanon on the Green concert. 

Pierce bought Dan the "Duke Diet Book".....yes, Dan sings The Duke of Earl with The Honeymooners, but Dan thinks there was more to this purchase.

Jeff was officially elected the quartet pinata for obvious reasons.  When he was busy however, Chris took over his duties.

www.ratracequartet.weebly.com was born.