Barbershop Singing

Joe08867

Just a quick question.

Do any of you guys sing barbershop?

I ask because I have for about a year now. It is pretty fun. And with the holidays we go out as a group and sing to Nursing homes and Hospitals.

Tonight I will be singing at the Borders in Bridgewater NJ from 7-9pm. If anybody is in the area and wants to say hello we will sing a song.

Just tell the short stocky guy Joe(ME) that Mathew Polk sent me.

petrym

Hi Joe,
Yes, I sing Barbershop... a lot! I'm a 13 year SPEBSQSA/BHS member. My current chapter is in Fremont Nebraska, and am in a quartet called "7th Avenue Revue." We're doing a Christmas Benefit for the Salvation Army on 15Dec07 and going to hospitals and nursing homes the following Monday.

I find Barbershop a tremendous hobby/obsession that is very rewarding; have you watched Jim Henry's keynote speech at HarmonyU 2007 yet? (text for the time challenged) It explains exactly what Barbershop means to us and how it shapes our lives.

Michael
Experiencing those Gold Medal moments...

Joe08867

Hey petrym,

I am also a SPEBSQSA/BHS member with Hunterdon Harmonizers.

I am a little older then you (34) i've only been a member for about 1.25 years. I sing lead in a quartet called The Chordhouse Steps. We have been doing some little gigs around my area for the Christmas holiday. It is cool how my quartet got formed. I went in for my audition with the Director, Assistant Director, and Music coordinator. I passed the audition with flying colors and before I left the room I was in a quartet. They were nice enough to give me about two months to get a feel before we started planning to sing out as a foursome. Which we do more and more often.

We just did a lights of love for our local hospital as a fundraiser for them. After we did our show we walked around the hospital singing to the nurses and patients. It is amazing how much joy it brings to people.

Next week we are doing a tour of a few nursing homes in our area. It really gives me a sense of what the holidays are all about.

You are right-on with you description of Barbershop being an obsession. I was originally a drummer in a rock band. We decided to take a break so I figured I would check out the barbershop thing. I still play the drums but BHS has really taken up my spare time.

Have you gone to Harmony College? I went this year and took How to B a Gr8 lead. My instructer was Allen Gasper from Saturday Evening Post. What a great course. If you get the chance I would take one of the Gr8 courses.

petrym

Joe, PM sent.

petrym

Joe, did you ever get that PM I sent?

Joe08867

Sorry about that petrym. I did and thought I had responded. i am not attending HU this year. It sounds like you guys are real good. Going up 5points is a big step. Was it mostly do to vowel targets or sync?

Are you guys competing in contest this year?? You should. It is great for experience and constructive criticism.

My quartet is competing in Scranton PA in a couple weeks. I mentioned our name earlier. We are one of Three quartets from the Hunterdon Harmonizers competing. There are a total of 12 quartets in this contest.

We are doing two parody songs. One is to Red roses for a Blue Lady and the other is to Taking a Chance on Love. They are football parodies that I hope go over big. They should at least be funny. Hopefully the parody part doesn't kill us to much with the judges.

I think my fellow quarteters are trying to do a bit of a FRED thing. What a wacky ride it has been with these guys.

petrym

Hi Joe,

Our improvement was primarily in the confidence department, oh, and going to HU was HUGE!

We're going to HU again this year and will compete this fall - hopefully with another 5 points improvement.

Good luck with your parodies... you'll get a big boost in the Presentation category.

A really cool site is the Barbershop Music Database, lots of great stuff to check out.

Michael

Parker

Hi Joe,
I will meet you this weekend in Scranton. I am the photographer for the Mid-Atlantic contests in May. Scranton is the first of four and I will go to all of them. Think about it, I'm doing my job and all of these great guys are singing for me while I work. I covered the JAD contest in Cleveland a few weeks ago and there was some awesome singing going on. I look forward to hearing you guys.

I sing with the Fostoria Lake Plains Chorus. We just had our annual show on Saturday. We had around 1,000 people attend. Our guest quartets were Hot Air Baffoons and Allies (7th last year). JAD kicks out some great talent. The winning chorus was the Alliance out of Columbus and they are headed to Nashville seeded 5th.

I stumbled across this site looking for info about Scranton. I'll bookmark it and stop back now and then. It's always fun talking to barbershoppers. Feel free to send me an email at parkerhorton@mac.com

pmckeealaska

I've never sang barbershop myself, but grew up with it. My Dad was in the Vocal Majority for 30 years. They have won International many many times and are probably the single greatest barbershop chorus in history. Lots of good memories listening to them.

Joe08867

Vocal Majority is an awesome group.

They have also been quite a large chorus at times. That helps alot.

My chorus is only 45 guys. We are a medium size chorus. We competed once in International but that was before I was a member.

petrym

There seems to be a threshhold for large chroruses and higher scores. I've visited the Ambassadors of Harmony (a great bunch of Joe Barbershoppers, fortunate to have outstanding leadership) and several of their guys told me that once you cross about 80 guys on the risers, it's much easier to cover taking an occasional extra breath here and there, that way you don't lose the continuity of sound. Any number less than that and if three guys singing the same part breathe at the same moment, it's pretty obvious outside where the judges and audience listen.

Joe08867

You are exactly right Petrym. Our Director tells us to space the breathing with each other. We try to plan them out with each other. And when it works it is great but sometimes you can hear a sudden drop in sound.