The Musical Duo
Tom and Mary Kay Aufrance
We grew together in music, just as we did in life. As soon as we discovered our musical and theatrical talents, we careened off the beaten path together. We just about gave up our day jobs, as our music took us on many roads!
Thanks to Haerr Trippin' for capturing us performing at South Lake Tahoe Public Library
Some of the roads were pretty dry and dusty. And hot! Like when we were the musical act doing old time jigs, reels and songs between acts of the Nevada Gunfighters Theatrical Acting Troupe! The Gunfighters have a popular act, and although the bullets were blanks, their six-shooters still shot out clouds full of gunpowder, and we sang the songs of the American West through it all during every show! For that act, we called ourselves Slim and Minnie. The rewards were regional fame, friendships, and we even woke up one day to find our photo on the front page of the Reno Gazette Journal daily paper! All just for having fun playing music and singing for people!
The Motley Madrigals perform Renaissance music with flair at Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival at Sand Harbor on Lake Tahoe
Traveling through Nevada and Northern California for county fairs, Renaissance festivals and contra dance gigs; our musical adventures really just started as a lark, when one of our friends in the Tahoe Choir said, Hey Tom and Mary Kay, do you want to start our own Renaissance Faire singing group? A couple months and lots of practice later, our 12-member group The Motley Madrigals was booking shows at Tahoe and Northern California fairs. To entertain amidst the beauty of the vocal harmonies of the group, we added slapstick spoofs on Shakespeare, and audiences responded enthusiastically.
Our first CDs started as promotional items, for sending to event directors to prove we would sing in tune, but then the CDs sold well at events and online, so we kept recording.
But when Mary Kay started getting into playing the accordion, the Ren. Fairs were no longer a fit. That's because the accordion wasn't invented until about 300 years after the Renaissance!
As a result, our focus turned to Celtic Music, with a change of name from the The Motley Madrigals to Gairin, a Gaelic mash up meaning "a wee bit-o laughter" or "table margarine," depending on which Irish source you consult!
Within a month of forming Gairin, we found ourselves on stage at the Reno Celtic Celebration, backing up the famous Seamus Kennedy and iconic Celtic Rock group Tempest!
We also love to play tunes! And fast! Our "Local Honey Band" really got around, especially when we hooked up with the fantastic and popular fiddler Bob Kastelic, and several other area musicians, playing at contra dances in Northern Nevada and California.
So now, here we are with five albums, two music books, arrangements and sheet music for sale on Sheet Music Plus, and our music licensed by film and radio through Getty, Tunedge and Pond5.
Lately, we have branched out to a wide variety of popular favorites, from
Motown to Adult Contemporary and Jazz Swing. It's Out-of-Band music on folk
instruments and with blended vocals.
From Choirs to Festival Gigs
Applause and flowers for Mary Kay Aufrance, Susy Grubb, Tom Aufrance and the Tahoe Choir at our performance of Amahl and the Night Visitors at St. Theresa Catholic Church
Indeed, our current performances are quite a bit different from our choral work. Those experiences are precious and gave us our foundation as vocalists and musicians. A high point of our choral experiences was performing in Gian Carlo Menotti's opera "Amahl and the Night Visitors" with Tahoe Choir and classical ensemble at St. Theresa Catholic Church and South Lake Tahoe College Theater, South Lake Tahoe, California. Performing with a cast of professional musicians, music educators and community members, Mary Kay sang the part of Amahl, and Tom sang as Caspar the King. Especially wonderful was performing with our beloved vocal coaches, professional vocalist Susy Grubb and Linda Mitchell Tahoe Choir Director. Due to it's location near Hollywood and World Class casino shows, there are many exceptional musicians and singers in Tahoe Choir. Afterwards, one review called Mary Kay's performance "The Best Amahl Ever, No Kidding!"
With Tahoe Choir, we sang many challenging works, such as Beethoven's "Mass in C Major," for which Tom Aufrance sang the Tenor solos, plus Morten Lauridzen's "O Magnu Mysterium," and all the standard choral works. We also performed choral versions of contemporary music, such as Cole Porter's, George Gershwin's, and especially enjoyed performing our duet of "Once Upon a Dream" from the movie "Sleeping Beauty" in an all Disney show.
Tom is up front and center in this image from the Tahoe Choir performance of Beethoven's "Mass in C Major" conducted by Jeri (J.J.) Klausen with full orchestra. Soloists: John DeMasi - bass, Susy Grubb - soprano, Tom Aufrance - tenor, and Mary Ann Helman, alto.
We also sang with University of Nevada Reno Choir in performances of Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana," Georg Friedrich Handel's "Messiah" and more classical works. Then, we sang with Carson Chamber Singers, an elite group that is part of the Carson Symphony, and Marquette Choral Society of Marquette, Michigan. In Nevada, Tom even enjoyed a surprise performance of singing the Tenor solos in the "Messiah" at the Trinity Lutheran Church, Gardnerville, Nevada, when the scheduled performer called in sick. Videos of some of these performances are on our YouTube channel @tuneytwosome.
We performed as the opening act before the Reno Symphony at several annual 4th of July Celebrations in Genoa, Nevada, performing All-American music from the birth of the country to current times. That was a truly primo gig!
Musical Influences
We credit traditional music lessons and also two unlikely performers who have had a great influence on our success. "I was fortunate that Katharine DeBoer, world class classical vocalist and head of the University of Nevada Reno Vocal Department taught me how to find my voice," says Mary Kay. Tom also likes to credit veteran carnival performers Bill the Magician and Spike the Fire Juggler, "They reminded us that any 'act' is ultimately all about connecting with people. We have always been serious about making beautiful music; however, going on stage as "characters" sometimes allows us to connect better with more audiences.
Wherever we perform,we find a way to engage the audience and select musical moods that connect and entertain.
Occasionally Teaching Music
We have done a little teaching. In Carson City, Nevada, we started the Tuneville Session Players at the request of the Brewery Arts Center Chairman of the Board in Carson City, Nevada. Also, for five years, we were instructors helping out our fantastic violinist friend Sue Jesch with the Carson City Symphony Strings in the Schools program, working with 60-80 music students of all ages from grade school on up.
Mary Kay developed a workshop that got the students to form their own Celtic bands. All the bands performed as their grand finale. So, ten new Celtic bands debuted that day! Each band was featured during the crowd-pleasing performance for friends and family.
Mary Kay is particularly proud of her most recent 80-year old accordion student,
who reached his ambitious goal of learning to play Lady of Spain at the Cotati
Accordion Festival! Later, since this particular student was a famous carver
of cowboy caricatures, he surprised her with his thank you - one of his original
wood carvings depicting Mary Kay playing cowboy accordion as Minnie of our
duo Slim and Minnie.