What can inspire a man who’s been in a terrible accident to get out of his hospital bed for the first time?
Music, says Amy Butala, accountant for the Kellogg Eye Center and one of four women who make up the a cappella vocal group, Musical Moments.
During one occasion at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ypsilanti, Musical Moments was singing up and down the halls of the Medical Rehabilitation Unit when they came to the injured man’s room. After performing for him, they continued down the hall. Several doors later they noticed he was following them and he continued to tag along the rest of their visit. Later, they learned that he had not been out of bed since his arrival at the hospital.
“We’ve seen some pretty neat things through all of it,” Butala says.
Take the time Musical Moments was invited to sing at the White House during Christmas: It was the holiday after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, so the group adjusted its repertoire to sing a combination of patriotic and seasonal songs.
“We were standing in the White House and singing patriotic songs,” she recalls. “It kind of gave you goose bumps sometimes.”
At another White House performance, “Santa Claus,” a retired Secret Service agent, interacted with the group—dancing for them and joining in on several songs, while they sang a medley of jingles about the jolly old saint—putting on quite a show for the children.
Butala, along with Carole Caldwell, Karen Boyd and Gayl Swickerath formed Musical Moments around 1992. In addition to performing three times at the White House, they have shared their close barbershop-style harmony at national parks in Washington, D.C., and locally at The Henry Ford, Tiger Stadium, Comerica Park and the Ann Arbor Art Fairs, among many other events. They call it their “self-supporting hobby,” because the money they make on the job goes right back into the group.
Musical Moments has performed the pre-game National Anthem at many stadiums, including Skydome in Toronto, where Butala recalls a very near catastrophe.
“They didn’t tell us that apparently everyone that sings the anthem there lip syncs,” Butala recalls with a laugh.
Musical Moments had sent in an audition tape, which Butala says was very rough. But the employee at Skydome assumed that they would be playing the tape instead of offering a live performance.
“I said to him, ‘You’re not playing that tape,’ and he said, ‘Well, nobody sings it live.’ ‘Well, we do!'” she says.
So the employees scrambled to find a microphone in time, and Musical Moments performed both the United States and Canadian national anthems live.
Little snags like this are not the only challenges Butala says have helped her grow as a musician. The group tries to find songs that stimulate and motivate them to further themselves vocally. They have pushed themselves musically and creatively in order to be able to “perform rather than just sing,” she says.
Butala, who plays clarinet, guitar and saxophone, also credits the crowds for enabling her to get past her shyness of performing before an audience.
“When I first started singing, I knew I could hold a tune, but after a while people really boost you up and you start to feel more secure about yourself,” she says.
While the group does not have many current activities planned due to hectic schedules on the part of its members, Butala says, “Anytime we get together it’s like we have to sing. We just have to do it. I’m hoping that if nothing else we at least just for fun get together for social events once in a while.
“Obviously our goal was to make good music, but we really wanted to have fun doing so.”
Butala stresses that throughout the duration of the group’s history, a “wonderful offshoot of it is just being out and meeting a lot of wonderful people.”
