Talmage Quartet recounts their early days

Nov. 26—When three friends started singing together in the first grade at the former Talmage School, little thought was given to how those lessons would impact the rest of their lives. About 60 years ago, the trio started with such classics as "I'm A Little Teapot," but under the direction of different music instructors their voices matured and in high school they started singing as a group.

Today, the friends still get together and perform around the state. Their next performance in Abilene is scheduled for Dec. 2 at the Heritage Center's Old-Fashioned Christmas. They plan on three 30-minute sets beginning at 4:30 p.m. with 30-minute breaks in between. On Dec. 10 they perform from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Talmage Museum's Open House.

Arlan Bebermeyer, Bill Gibson and Gregg Noel sang together through their high school years at Chapman, where they graduated in 1976. Immediately after high school the quartet broke up but Noel and Arlan continued to sing together in the Glee Club at Kansas State University.

It wasn't until after college and they were all settled into day jobs that the three friends found themselves performing together one more time. In the early 1980s, Noel was teaching in Riley County where the school was holding a fundraiser. He agreed to sing a few numbers and contacted Arlan and Gibson, but they were missing a fourth member.

They asked Arlan's brother Kalen Bebermeyer, who was finishing up his music degree at Kansas State University, if he would step in. On that day, about 40 years ago, the Talmage Quartet was born.

They did experiment briefly with another name, but that didn't last.

"When we started off we didn't have a name," Noel said. "One of the places we sang ... we were looking at the program and we near the intermission. I said, 'We'll just call ourselves the intermissions. And, and so we went by the intermission,'"

Because they sang a lot of gospel music, that name morphed into Inner Mission.

"We went by the Inner Missions for quite some time until we thought it was time to give credit where credit's due," Noel said. "We grew up in Talmage ... and we really feel like because of growing up in this type of rural community — that was a gift to us and we like to give back."

Giving back means performing all over the state. About 10 years ago the acapella quartet added a band with drums, bass guitar, harmonica and Kalen plays keyboard.

"They cover up our mistakes," Noel said.

Sometimes with the full band, other times with just the keyboard accompanying, the Talmage Quartet travels the state, and a little beyond its borders, to perform anytime they can.

It's the love of music that keeps them performing, but it's a bond of friendship that has kept the quartet strong through the decades.

"We're getting to the retirement age now," Noel said. "All of us are grandfathers now. When we started out, only one of our members was married. We've sang at each other's weddings ... it's been fun."

Music, Noel said, is one thing people can unite under and keep with them for a lifetime. He compared music to tennis and golf, which he described as lifetime sports.

"Music is the very same way," he said. "It's something that you can do the rest of your life, whether you're good at it or not."