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→Trivia and Lore
==Trivia and Lore==
===How GQ Came to Be===
GQ's story actually begins with a proto-GQ started by Erica Hyman '98 and Bryan Frederick '98 their freshman year that was comprised of frosh that did not get into any other a cappella groups. They did not hold auditions, seeing that it was "part of the problem," which unfortunately led to the group not working out that well. Rehearsal attendance was an issue and the musical ability of certain members was questionable. The group was not even an official college sanctioned club, lacking even a real name. Despite these issue, the group did manage to pull together and perform two songs ("Zombie Jamboree" and "Goodnight, Sweetheart") on [[WCFM]] that spring. Then, in a moment that has gone down in GQ history, the radio host asked the group what their name was, and Bryan answered without thinking “Good Question.” The host responded, jokingly, “Wow, great name for a group.”
The next fall, Erica and Bryan disbanded the proto-group and held private, invitation-only auditions a couple weeks after the existing groups had held theirs, drawing mostly from folks that had tried out for the [[Frosh Revue]] and didn’t get into any other a cappella groups, as Erica was music directing [[Frosh Review]] that year. That first year, the group consisted of nine members, with Bryan and Erica the only sophomores and the rest freshman. That group was actually good, and so they did need a name to perform and advertise. Erica and Bryan had been joking since the spring that they could just keep calling ourselves Good Question, but they were determined to come up with a better name, though one that was not a pun on either “Eph” or musical terminology (see [[Ephlats]] and [[Accidentals]]). In Bryan's words, "We failed spectacularly," and the group has been Good Question to this day (often abbreviated with its kick-ass initials).
Because of the Frosh Revue connection, there was a pretty heavy emphasis on skits and choreography in those early years, and while that emphasis has come and gone, one part of GQ’s founding ethos did persist: "our goal was to take the music seriously, but not take ourselves too seriously." (Bryan Frederick) Since then, through good times and bad, GQ has kept to this goal, and hopefully will for years to come.
===Group Song===
Like most of the a cappella groups on campus, GQ has a group song, which it uses to officially end every rehearsal and that is sung as the penultimate song at every concert (with hand motions!). The group wanted a song that would be upbeat, short, and "straight up ridiculous," which reflected the group dynamic then and now. In 1998, Adam Bloom '99 came up with the idea of doing a Janis Joplin song in "barbershop quartet style," and Mercedes Benz spoke to him as reflecting the song qualities that GQ wanted. The rest, of course, is history.
===Solos===
In its history, GQ has never* had members audition for solos, avoiding the political frustrations that arise from competition in the group as well as freeing up time to actually rehearse the music. For the first couple years, the music directors would assign solos at their discresion, however that has since changed. Now, the group decides together who will solo in a given semester, prioritizing the first-years and the seniors, and then those people who are soloing (or dueting, as the case may be) will choose what songs they would like to sing (subject to ratification by the group/directors). This leads to a very diverse set of songs each semester that showcases the unique musical interests of all of the group members.
*Once in 1997, the group had auditions for a solo, and it turned out so horribly that they agreed to never do it again.
After the songs are decided, the music directors meet with the arrangers and decide who will arrange each song and by when it will have to be arranged. In certain circumstances, the group may ask an alum to arrange a song for the group.
===Official GQ Haiku===
