History

In the Spring of 1998, Jason, Chad & Richard formed a quartet called Millennia to compete in the College Quartet Contest. That group was short lived since immediately following the contest their lead singer had to retire from the group. They were left looking for a new lead. One evening after a Singing Buckeyes rehearsal they started singing some tags with a 19 year old baritone named Mike. After a few hours of tag singing and a part switch for Chad, Impulse was born.

From our inception, Impulse has always had several driving missions. Diversity in our musical repertoire has always been a primary focus. Our shows display a myriad of musical genres consisting of classic barbershop, 50's doo-wop, folksongs, contemporary a cappella, gospel, Gregorian chant and more! We want to be known as more than another barbershop quartet, and we find that our audiences always appreciate the variety.

One of our other missions as a quartet is to excel in competition. After just 4 short months together, Impulse competed in it's first Johnny Appleseed District competition. We shocked the crowd with our youthful energy and natural blend to finish as the 1998 Novice Quartet Champions, and 8th place District Finalists. We worked the following year to increase our show repertoire and to learn new music. That fall, 1999, we made another solid performance and took 7th place, again a District finalist.

While our placement didn't improve for the 2000 District competition we made great strides as a quartet. We worked on the fundamentals and fine tuned our chapter show. During 2001 we reset our sights on competition. We finished a strong 5th at the JAD prelims that spring and began working on our first CD release that summer. In the fall of 2001 all our efforts came to fruition as our CD came off the press and we took the silver medal at the JAD District competition with an average score of 78.4, just 33 points from first place.

We spent the next year focused on returning to the district contest to accept nothing less than the championship pin. It truly is an amazing feeling to be waiting back stage, listening to all the names get called, and hearing your's as the last one read. It's even more special to have had the chance to do it with a group of guys who are great friends and have grown together as a quartet. It was an honor to serve the 2002 year as the JAD District Champions.

After the contest, Mike informed us that he was getting married and had planned to move to Chicago where his wife was working. Jason discovered that his wife was pregnant with their soon to be second baby boy. And Chad annouced that his wife had taken a job in Cleveland and they would be moving too. After much discussion we vowed to keep it together despite the changes. I guess when you have a good thing...it's hard to give it up.

After the elusive international contest slipped us by in April of 2003, we were thrilled for the chance to go sing at the best barbershop weekend around, the Buckeye Invitational. It was the perfect venue for us since the audience gets an equal say in the outcome (we've always had more luck winning the crowd than the contest judges). Mike became the first Buckeye Harmony Camp graduate to return to win the contest. Therefore, when we took home the Grand Champion title it truly capped what had been a great year.

In 2004 we finally qualified to sing at the International Competition in Louisville, Kentucky. It was a dream come true and the thrill of a lifetime to share the stage with the very best and perform in front of 10,000 fans. We came in seeded 53rd and after all the dust settled, had moved up to 43rd.

In February of 2005, after many discussions Mike and Chad decided to trade parts. Mike would be the new lead and Chad would move to baritone. We spent the next several months getting acquainted with the switch. It proved to be a very exiting change for us as we went back to International in Salt Lake City and moved up from 43rd in 2004 to 28th in 2005.

We continue today to focus on delivering a professional performance every time we entertain. Our shows continue to be characterized by the musical excellence and the high energy that our audiences have come to expect.