keep the whole world singing - amazon web...

KEEP THE WHOLE WORLD SINGING

Enter and win! Use your Priority Code at www.spebsqsa.org/members

November/December 2001

November/December 2001 • The HARMONIZER 1

Features

November/November/November/November/November/DecemberDecemberDecemberDecemberDecember

2001VOLUMEVOLUMEVOLUMEVOLUMEVOLUME

LXINUMBERNUMBERNUMBERNUMBERNUMBER

6

Departments22222

LET’S HARMONIZEImagine: Barbershop is corrupting thepurity of non-barbershop a cappella!

55555THE PRESIDENT’S PAGE

Two years, many victories, and muchwork left to do

44444LETTERS

More on the roots of barbershop66666

TEMPOCrowe, STP and bbshop: whadamix

New Hall of Fame inductees

1010101010HARMONY HOW-TO

Can’t stay in pitch?Don’t pitch Biffle’s tuning tips

3434343434CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES

Two chapters, one book, thousands of chil-dren singing the old songs

3636363636STAY TUNED

Lukewarm movie, great background musicBreathtaking barbershop backdrops

4040404040THE TAG

“We’ll Build A Rainbow”

Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America

Embarrass a teen for $... and other good reasons for getting yourSinging Valentines program runningTOVAH BURSTEIN & HARMONIZER STAFF

The scream said it allAn outsider’s look into the psyche ofNorthbrook on its winning dayLORIN MAY

1414141414

1818181818

2222222222

2626262626

How Northbrook did itYou don’t stick with it as long as they havewithout having fun along the wayRICH NELSON

Jay Giallombardo18 medals and counting, an interview withour newest Gold Medal directorJEFF SELANO

HARMONY HALLISN’T going away,

but traditional bar-bershop is, accord-

ing to famed ar-ranger Burt Szabo.He tells how basiccharacteristics ofbarbershop—even

some that we sup-posedly all agree

on—are disappear-ing from the con-

test stage.

1212121212

2 The HARMONIZER • November/December 2001

LET’S HARMONIZEDarryl Flinn, Executive Director ��

TI had a dream, dear ...he dream was so vivid, but really, it was the silliest thing. I dreamed that I was along-time member of SPAMNIBS—The Society for the Preservation of Acappella Music, Not Including Barber Shop.

In my dream, we had the most unique thing going for us. I dreamed we sangdoo-wop, rock, Broadway, all of the ’50s and ’60s gems, and we just loved to singjazz and big band swing numbers. I recall that everything we sang was in thatvery up-to-date, a cappella style.

As my dream unfolded, I could sense among our “in-crowd” a restlessness withour purpose or our reason for being, and would you believe ... we began dabbling

in barbershop harmony! I could see our most important groups, ourheroes, and our musical leaders as they began arranging and singingthe old songs. “How ridiculous is that,” I thought, “to sing these oldsongs with simple melodies, understandable lyrics, and harmoniesthat could be sung by the common man?

The saddest part of my dream was that we were hearing from allover North America that our folks would hire groups to perform ontheir “not including barbershop” shows, and that those same groupswould take the money, then proceed to perform a preponderance ofold-fashioned barbershop harmony. How tragic! They must not haveknown that we were specifically selling a non-barbershop show. Ouraudiences didn’t know how to react and our members seemed some-how disappointed.

The next part that I remember was knowing about an informalgroup within SPAMNIBS (they were called “NIBBERS”) who werelooked on as conservative prudes or even radicals. In my dream,some of the former “giants” who were known guardians of the “NIB”style, were shunned and castigated by the “in-crowd.”

But then ... my dream suddenly got happy when I saw theSPAMNIBS leaders re-write the rules with the promise of tighteningup the “NIB” style. They agreed by definition to penalize any and allringing chords. Maybe in my next dream, I’ll find out the rest of thestory.

After I awakened, I rejoiced for my beloved Barbershop HarmonySociety, for the recent restatement of the description of our style andfor the integrity of our performers, arrangers, and judges.

I thought about our unique style and wondered: If it is the “old songs” and ourunique style of harmonizing them that has been the catalyst to change lives, tocreate an unspeakably wonderful fellowship and to provide the joy, the fun andthe achievement we share as a barbershop family—is it worth preserving? Apretty important question, don’t you think?

Let’s harmonize(a good old-fashionedbarbershop song)

Is it worthpreserv-ing? A

pretty im-portant

questions,don’t you

think?


AFFILIATE ORGANIZATIONSAUSTRALIAN ASSOC. OF MEN BARBERSHOP SINGERS (AAMBS)

John Wareham, President51 Robinia Parade • Springfield NSW 2250 • Australia

BARBERSHOP IN GERMANY (BinG!)Kurt Gerhardt, President

Av. Des Nerviens 141/53 • 1040 BrusselsBRITISH ASSOCIATION OF BARBERSHOP SINGERS (BABS)

Ron Willis, Chairman‘Long Orchard’ Runsell Lane • Danbury • Essex • CM3 4NZ • UK

DUTCH ASSOCIATION OF BARBERSHOP SINGERS (DABS)Johan Kruyt, President

Columba #13 • IJsselstein 3402 HD, The NetherlandsIRISH ASSOCIATION OF BARBERSHOP SINGERS (IABS)

Chick Curry, President42 Glenmaroon Road • Palmerstown • Dublin 20 • Ireland

NEW ZEALAND ASSOC. OF BARBERSHOP SINGERS (NZABS)David Birdling, President

1 Orissa Crescent • Broadmeadows • Wellington 604 • New ZealandSOCIETY OF NORDIC BARBERSHOP SINGERS (SNOBS)

Jan AlexanderssonRegeringsgatan 74 • 111 39 Stockholm • Sweden

SOUTHERN PART OF AFRICA TONSORIAL SINGERS (SPATS)Evan McGillivray, President

12 Marlborough Avenue • Craighall Park • Johannesburg • 2196Republic of South Africa

SOCIETY HEADQUARTERSSPEBSQSA

6315 Harmony Lane • Kenosha, WI 53143-5199262-653-8440 • 800-876-SING (7464)

Fax 262-654-4048 (Music, Marketing, Executive)Fax 262-654-5552 (Membership, Harmony Marketplace,

Conventions, Accounting, Harmony Foundation)Email (name)@spebsqsa.org

(Example: Jack Singer = [email protected])Hours: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. (Central Time) Monday - Friday

The official charity of SPEBSQSA, coordinating the Society’s charitable mission to “preserveour musical legacy through support of vocal music education in our schools and communities.”

Call 1-800-876-7464 x8447 for donation, gift-planning, grant or sponsorship information.

HEADQUARTERS OFFICE STAFFEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

DARRYL FLINN (8543)DIRECTOR OF MUSIC EDUCATION & SERVICES

DR. GREG LYNE (8549)DIRECTOR OF FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION

FRANK SANTARELLI, CPA, CAE (8450)HARMONY FOUNDATION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

DIRECTOR OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

GARY STAMM, CAE (8446)MANAGING DIRECTOR OF MEMBER SERVICES

EV NAU (8478)E-BUSINESS STRATEGIST

BRIAN LYNCH (8554)PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER

REED SAMPSON (8592)EVENTS MANAGER / STAFF COUNSEL

JOHN SCHNEIDER (8444)LIBRARIAN, OLD SONGS LIBRARY

TOM BARR (8545)MEMBERSHIP SPECIALIST

DICK BEK (8459)MUSIC SPECIALIST / QUARTET DEVELOPMENT

JIM DEBUSMAN (8566)C&J / QUARTET REGISTRY / HC-DC

LANI DIETER (8551)MANAGER OF MEDIA PRODUCTION & SERVICES

RUSS FORIS (8586)DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

LARRY GILHOUSEN (8448)MANAGER OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

SCOTT HOGE (8485)MUSIC PUBLICATIONS EDITOR

JOE LILES (8553)PUBLICATIONS EDITOR

LORIN MAY (8567)MUSIC SPECIALIST / YOUTH OUTREACH

BILL RASHLEIGH (8560)MERCHANDISE OPERATIONS MANAGER

NANCY THORN (8487)ASSISTANT TO THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

DEE VESEVICK (8542)MUSIC SPECIALIST / CHORUS DIRECTOR DEVELOPMENT

KIRK YOUNG (8541)

HARMONIZER STAFFLORIN MAY (EDITOR), JULIE SIEPLER (ASSISTANT EDITOR)REED SAMPSON, BRIAN LYNCH (CONTRIBUTING EDITORS),

[email protected]

SPEBSQSA BOARD OF DIRECTORSSOCIETY PRESIDENT

CHUCK WATSON

784 McCall Court • Columbus, OH 43235SOCIETY EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

ROGER LEWIS

20125 12 Mile Road - Battle Creek, MI 49014SOCIETY TREASURER

JERRY BRAY

3062 Deering Dr. NW • Salem, OR 97304SOCIETY IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT

ED WAESCHE

6 Vista Lane • Melville, NY 11747SOCIETY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR / BOARD SECRETARY

DARRYL FLINN

RALEIGH BLOCK

2033 Wild Cherry Lane • Kalamazoo, MI 49009WAYNE BROZOVICH

4546 Glenbrook Lane • Palm Harbor, FL 34683BILL CODY

501 Slaters Lane, Apt. 1014 • Alexandria, VA 22314DENNIS COOK

6019 N. Belmont Way • Parker, CO 80134GARY GARITSON

645 N. Hickory Hills Dr. • Columbus, IN 47201HANK HAMMER

2622 Leakey • San Antonio, TX 78251ROBERT HOPKINS

163 Arrowhead Way • Clinton, NY 13323ROBERT HOUSE

8738 Lake Ashmere Dr. • San Diego, CA 92119ARTHUR MAYNARD

452 Birchwood Road • Medford, NY 11763DON PYPER

4564 East Road • Port Stanley, ON N5L 1A7BILL STOCK

522 N. Jackson Street • Belleville, IL 62220

The Harmonizer (USPS No. 577700) (ISSN 0017-7849) isthe official publication of the Society for the Preservationand Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing inAmerica, Inc. (SPEBSQSA). It is published in the months ofJanuary, March, May, July, September and November at7930 Sheridan Road, Kenosha, Wisconsin 53143.

Periodicals postage paid at Kenosha, Wisconsin, and atadditional mailing offices. Editorial and advertising offices areat the Society headquarters. Advertising rates availableupon request. Publisher assumes no responsibility for return

of unsolicited manuscripts or artwork.Postmaster: send address changes to editorial offices of

The Harmonizer, 7930 Sheridan Road, Kenosha, Wisconsin53143 at least thirty days before the next publication date.A portion of each member’s dues is allocated to cover themagazine’s subscription price. Subscription price to non-members is $21 yearly or $3.50 per issue; foreign subscrip-tions are $31 yearly or $5 per issue (U.S. funds only). ©2001by the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement ofBarber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc.

SPEBSQSA Vision StatementThe Society is to be an ever-growing fraternity of barbershop-style singers,

leading the cause of encouraging vocal music in our schools and communities.

Volume LXI Number 6November/December 2001


[email protected] ��

I

More origins evidenceMore support for black origins ofbarbershop theoryn the July/August issue of The Harmonizer, JimHenry explores evidence suggesting African-Ameri-cans originated barbershop quartet singing. (Thearticle was brought to my attention by my brother,Daniel, a member of the Baystatesmen BarbershopBaystatesmen BarbershopBaystatesmen BarbershopBaystatesmen BarbershopBaystatesmen BarbershopChorusChorusChorusChorusChorus of Norwood, Mass.) I’m aware of anotherearly example of close harmony quartet singingidentified as a black musical idiom.

Ethelbert Nevin (1862-1901) may be largely for-gotten today, but in his time he was a fabulouslysuccessful American composer of “salon” (light clas-sical) music. In 1899, Nevin composed a pianopiece entitled “At Home,” which describes a JuneNight in Washington, D.C. A poem used as an epi-graph includes the following: “Outside the garden /A group of Negroes passing in thestreet / Sing with voicesthat swim like great slowgliding fishes”.

The piece consists of alilting 6/8 interrupted by aninterlude in African-Ameri-can style. One section ismarked “Banjo” and anotheris marked simply “Quartet.”The range of the writing is un-equivocally that of male voices.The tune is mildly syncopatedby the pattern: eighth, quarter,eighth. The harmonies lack thechromatically altered tones thatwe associate with barbershopharmony. It is possible, however, that Nevin mayaccurately reflect an earlier, simpler style of malequartet singing.

If any reader should wish to examine it, it is in-cluded in my anthology American Piano Classics(Dover ISBN 0-486-41377-2).

JOSEPH SMITH

New York

NoDoz in printell, thanks a lot; I started reading the “Road toNashville” at bedtime, and of course hadda stay upuntil I had devoured the entire thing! Super idea.

JIM BAGBY

Bari, Rural Route 4


THE PRESIDENT’S PAGEChuck Watson, SPEBSQSA President � �A

Thanks for two great years; there’s much left to do

It’s hard tobelieve thatnearly twoyears havegone by—what a tre-mendousthrill it’s

been.

s I write my last column as Society presi-dent, it’s been nearly a month since ourworld changed dramatically. Sadly, welost one Barbershopper, ColonelCanfield D. (Bud) Boone, a relativelynew member of the Centreville (Vir-ginia) Chapter. Our hearts and prayersgo out to his family. Our thanks andprayers also go to the many workers whohave tried to bring order back into thischaos, including at least one New Yorkpoliceman who is a Barbershopper.

It’s hard to know just how many of uswere indirectly affected bythe events of that tragicday, knowing family orclose associates who mayhave been more directlyaffected. I know that eachof you, in your own way,will see to it that musicbrings us together as wepick up the pieces. Music iswhat we have to offer anddo very well, and, as we’veseen, music heals manywounds.

It’s hard to believe thatnearly two years have goneby—what a tremendousthrill (and a lot of hardwork) it’s been to be yourpresident. My only wish isthat we had been able tomake more progress on ourway to becoming a largerSociety. In fact, we’vetaken a step back. How-ever, at the same timewe’ve lost members, we’ve

started a number of new chapters.Our goal was 100 new chapters by the

end of this year. We have chartered morethan 30 new chapters and have nearly 40

licensed sites. That’s progress, but notwhat we’d hoped for. What happened? Wedidn’t work hard enough getting new sites.I cannot place any blame on our headquar-ters staff, which has worked hard to getnew sites. However, it takes a lot of coop-eration from regular members to make ithappen.

Have you done your part in obtainingnew members? Have you looked around tosee if there is a need for a new chapternearby? It takes you to make it happen. It’salso not a one-year effort, but requires aconstant awareness and a desire to Sharethe Dream. Thanks to all who have beenin there pitching to get new members andchapters.

During the past year, we’ve been able totake pride in the broader role of HarmonyFoundation in “Keeping The Dream Alive”by channeling funds into our communitiesin support of the music development ofyouth. We’re not alone in this effort, andas the largest men’s singing organization inthe world, we’re making a difference.

It was indeed a thrill last January tohear the efforts of one major youth pro-gram in Florida that produced good har-mony among the schools and resulted inan outstanding high school quartet con-test. Those champions blessed us withtheir presence again in Nashville. And,this was just one of many programs aroundthe United States and Canada that hasbeen underwritten by Barbershoppers toyield outstanding results.

At this time, Judy and I would like towish all a very happy holiday season andthe best wishes for a Happy New Year.Thank you all for your help and commentsduring the past two years. May God blessyou.


TEMPO � � �Timely news

“I It’s Hip to be Square.” That Huey Lewis and theNews song describes what seems to be a trend thesedays: Barbershop quartets entertaining with topstars in today’s music scene.

Case in point:TTTTToo Squareoo Squareoo Squareoo Squareoo Square, a quartet in the Wilkes Barre

(Pennsylvania) Chapter, performed on the samebill as the Stone Temple Pilots at a rock concert

held Aug. 4 inLatrobe, Pa. LeadWalter Griffith,tenor Ed Asbury,baritone JackMuchler and bassTom Roberts per-formed six sets offour songs each.

Then there waswhat Mike Conklinof the Chicago Tri-bune (Aug. 17, 2001)described as “Fourwhite guys in their60s, dressing in blacktuxedo pants, white

dress shirts and red vests, bringing down the Houseof Blues by singing ‘Oh, Please Mr. Columbus Turnthe Ship Around’—a cappella.” Those four whiteguys were members of Milwaukee’s Shear DelightShear DelightShear DelightShear DelightShear Delight:tenor John “Bo” Gibson, lead Frank Marzocco,Dick Grahn, bass, and Ron Schilling, baritone.They made history as the first barbershop quartetto sing in the Chicago House of Blues. And theydid it for 1,300 mostly screaming women.

Turns out Russell Crowe—the Oscar-winningactor who also has a band named 30 Odd foot ofGrunts—asked for a barbershop quartet to join thewarm-up acts for one of the band’s August perfor-mances at Chicago’s House of Blues. Shear Delightgot the call because they were one of the only quar-tets that directory assistance could find in thearea—and they actually answered the phone theSunday morning the call came. The House of Bluesmanager booked them sight unseen and they were abig hit. In fact, Crowe asked the group to comeback for a second night.

“It was crazy. They were yelling, ‘We love you’and all kinds of things to us. If I was 30 yearsyounger, I would’ve jumped into the crowd,”Marzocco told the Tribune. “Every time we men-tioned [Crowe’s] name, they got even more ex-cited.”

These quartet performances brought barbershopharmony to a new audience in unusual settings.See, it is hip to be square!

Rock groups make barbershop retro-hip

EVER HAD WOMEN SCREAM whileyou perform? They do when you’reopening for Russell Crowe.

The Harmony Classics packet is designed as ashow package and contains accompanyingscript for adaptation by your ensemble. Allchoruses and quartets seeking a fun and re-warding show package will enjoy learning andperforming the following songs:• “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” (up-tune opener)• “Lazy River” (easy-beat)• “Little Pal” (heartfelt barbershop ballad)• “This Little Light of Mine/Do Lord Medley” (solo

opportunity in a gospel setting)• “I’m Sitting On Top Of The World” (great

closer)

“Harmony Classics” is a barbershop show winner• “Hello, Mary Lou” (We’ve included thisone just in case you’d like to plug it in yourshow also.)

The cost of the Harmony Classics musicpacket is only $6.75 (stock no. 6068). You canorder the learning CD that contains part-pre-dominant cuts for all voice parts for just $15

(stock no. 4884). If you’d prefer cassette learningtapes, they can be purchased individually for $5(tenor, stock no. 4885; lead, stock no. 4886; bari,stock no. 4887; and bass, stock no. 4888), or allfour learning tapes for $18 (stock no. 4889).

To order, call the Harmony Marketplace at800.876.7464 x8410.

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS invited TooSquare to sing for their audience.


CONVENTIONSINTERNATIONAL

2002PORTLAND

June 30–July 7

2003MONTREAL

June 29–July 6

2004LOUISVILLE

June 27–July 4

2005SALT LAKE CITY

July 3–10

2006INDIANAPOLIS

July 2–9

2007DENVER

July 1–8

MIDWINTER

2002RIVERSIDE, CALIF.January 20–27

2003ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.

January 19–26

2004BILOXI, MISS.

Jan. 25–Feb. 1

HARMONYCOLLEGE /DIRECTORSCOLLEGE

2002Missouri Western State

CollegeST. JOSEPH, MO.

July 28–August 4

Champions inducted into hall of fameBarbershop harmony gained another measure of truerecognition with the induction of SPEBSQSA 2001champions Michigan JakeMichigan JakeMichigan JakeMichigan JakeMichigan Jake and the Northbrook NewNewNewNewNewTTTTTradition Chorusradition Chorusradition Chorusradition Chorusradition Chorus into the Vocal Group Hall ofFame. Sweet Adelines champions A Cappella Goldand the Melodeers chorus were also inducted. Barber-shop champions will beinducted each year.

There was positivesentiment among theother inductees, too.“I've always thoughtbarbershop should berecognized,” said DaveMahoney, one of theoriginal Four Aces.

Ceremonies wereheld at the VGHOF inSharon, Pa., Oct. 4.Formal inductions wereconducted in the after-noon, and that eveningthe new Hall of Famemembers staged an out-door concert. Theshow lasted more thanthree hours, and featured a wide range of music.Michigan Jake was given two slots on the show—theonly group to have that opportunity.

Mary Wilson of the Supremes was the emcee formost of the induction ceremonies, assisted by co-hostGreg Loescher of Goldmine magazine. Wilson alsoopened the evening show with an a cappella rendi-tion of “The Star Spangled Banner.” Other groups

inducted included, The Pied Pipers, The Weav-ers, The Chordettes, The Four Aces, The FourFreshmen, The Lennon Sisters, The McGuireSisters, Gladys Knight & The Pips, TheLettermen, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles,The Vogues, The Bee Gees, The Eagles and

The Oak RidgeBoys.

Without ques-tion, one of thehighlights of theevent was hearingthe originalChordettes performtheir signature song,“Mr. Sandman.”The ladies also sangsome great barber-shop harmony on“Runnin’ Wild” and“Wait ’Til The SunShines, Nellie.”

The Vocal GroupHall of Fame nowfeatures a separateBarbershop Hall of

Fame, located in its own building directlyacross the street. The barbershop facility wasopened in August.

Sharon is on the western border of the state,halfway between Pittsburgh and Cleveland.VGHOF, 98 East State St., Sharon, PA 16146;phone 800-753-1648; and on the web atwww.vocalhalloffame.com

A big welcome toour newest chaptersLiberty, MO Chartered 7/11Troy, AL Chartered 4/2Columbus, GA Chartered 2/26West Jefferson, NC Licensed 5/21Portland Metro, OR Licensed 6/12White Mountains, AZ Chartered 3/23Sutter Creek, CA Licensed 8/27Cambridge, OH Chartered 3/16Eastern Cabell County, WV Chartered 3/16Athens, OH Chartered 4/13Indiana, PA Chartered 4/24North Summit County, OH Licensed 4/24New Martinsville, WV Licensed 4/24Bradford, PA Licensed 2/16Grand County, CO Chartered 4/25

Convention updateIt is not yet a done deal, but we’re working on hav-ing The King Singers The King Singers The King Singers The King Singers The King Singers with us in Portland. They areinterested in putting on a workshop on Monday af-ternoon and a concert on Tuesday night. If youhaven’t had the opportunity to witness their vocalmastery, you won’t want to miss this show. Staytuned and be ready to get your order in as soon astickets go on sale.

Portland has a light-rail system all through itsdowntown area and convention attendees will beable to use this rail system free during our conven-tion week. This will allow you to move at your ownpace to many convention hotels, to the Conven-tion Center and also to the Rose Garden, site ofthe contest sessions. There will still be busing tothese venues from any outlying hotels.

Look for full details about the convention in theJanuary/February 2002 issue of The Harmonizer.

Michigan Jake and The Lennon Sisters muggedfor the camera backstage at the Thursday nightconcert.


It seems innocent enough. You’re a couplecopies short of sheet music, so you think you’lljust photocopy them. A friend volunteers tovideotape a performance, and you plan to sellthe tapes and donate the proceeds to charity orjust plain give them away. You want to learn asong, so maybe you’ll pop the learning tape inyour dual cassette deck and record it.

No big deal, right? Wrong! Each action vio-lates copyright laws. Copyright laws exist to encourage and protect cre-ativity and expression of ideas. Violating them is a big deal—and expen-sive. (Just ask Napster.) For example, fines for arranging, selling an ar-rangement, or photocopying without permission range from $20,000 to$100,000 per copy.

If you’re recording audiotapes, you’ll need a mechanical license. The2001 statutory rate is 7.55¢ per song, per copy. The rate is expected torise next year. For video recordings and filming—even if you’re givingthe tapes away—you’ll need a synchronization license. There is no stan-dardized fee for this license; they can range from 10¢ per copy to $300 ormore just for use of a song.

Most publishers collect these fees through the Harry Fox Agency inNew York. For detailed information, go to the Society websitewww.spebsqsa.org/arrangements/copyright and download the “CopyrightLaws & SPEBSQSA” brochure or call 800-876-7464.

TEMPO � � �Don’t hit that “Copy” button so fast

Get chapteraccidentinsuranceIn February, a brochure was sent to all chap-ters outlining low-cost insurance for chaptermembers to be provided by the chapter. AllU.S. and Canadian chapters are eligible. Thepolicy includes accident medical expense andaccidental death and dismemberment cover-age, including dental. Premiums are due an-nually and there is no deductible. The cost is$1.60 per member plus a $5 administrativecharge per chapter. The chapter must coverall eligible members. To request another bro-chure/application or for more information,contact Frank Santarelli, director of financeand administration at 800-876-SING x8450,or [email protected] ■


HARMONY HOW-TO ��

S

Bill Biffle, Harmony College“Tune it or Die” instructor

inging truly in tune is a lofty goal, but it’s one of the most important skills any musician canmaster. All music—but especially our music—must be pristinely in tune to be really good.Below are some tips that will help you achieve better intonation

The first—and most important—step is to become a better singer. Your voice is your in-strument. If you don’t have adequate control of it, you simply can’t sing in tune. Learn tomake a well-supported, freely produced, fully resonant tone throughout your full range at ev-ery volume level. How? Take voice lessons. If you wanted to learn to play the oboe, you wouldprobably find a teacher. Your voice presents the same challenge. Just because you’ve been us-ing it your whole life doesn’t mean that you have the skill to make the fine adjustments re-quired to truly sing in tune.

Here are a few “tricks of the trade” every singer should know.

• Choose solid barbershop songs and arrangements that have a good percentage of barber-shop seventh chords.

• Choose music that’s well within the capabilities of the singers in the ensemble.• Sing with an engaged, active, “lifted” face.• Maintain the placement of your tone in a high, forward place. This, together with a steady

flow of air that’s free from muscular interference, will give essential “ring” to your tone.• Sing clear, recognizable vowels and match them

within the ensemble.• To the extent you can, without creating undue vocal

tension, match the tone quality (timbre) of thevoices.

• Lift the pitch of every root and fifth (in the chordbeing sung, not in the key of the song).

• Sing each repeated pitch slightly higher than the previ-ous one.

Leads• Listen primarily to your part while singing, concentrat-

ing on maintaining the key of the song. Practice this athome by singing your line while stopping frequently tocheck the tonal center (key) against a pitch pipe.

• Mark every “do,” “re,” “la” and “ti” in the entire arrange-ment. Lift the pitch of each of these notes slightly.

• Lift the pitch of all raised accidentals.

Basses• Mark every fifth in the chord that’s in your line. Sing

Learn how to carry a tune in a bucketOr, the principles of singing in tune and locking barbershop chords


these pitches slightly higher thanyou’re used to. (Again, this is thefifth of the chord being sung, notof the key the song is in.)

• Sing your line like a melody, liftingand connecting each the note.

Baritones and tenors• Sing all fifths and roots of the

chord slightly more fully than theother notes.

• Slightly lighten your tone andlessen your volume as the notes gohigher.

Other helpful stuff• Get in shape. Singing is an athletic

act. If you tire, you’ll sing out oftune.

• Hear in your “mind’s ear” the pitchbefore you sing it. At the least, do

this at the start of every phrase.• Break the tyranny of “high” and

“low” notes. There is, after all,nothing inherently high or lowabout any note. On the pianothey’re “right” and “left” notes. Ona violin, they’re “in” and “out.” Trypointing down to “high” notes andup to “low” notes.

• Learn to truly listen as you sing.Build your awareness of the soundsthat you and the rest of the en-semble are making. It’s a learnedskill; learn to do it.Last, seek continual improvement

as a singer and as a musician. Sing aswell as you can every time you sing.Better singing produces better intona-tion.

Go and sin no more. ■

Before you learn anarrangement, think:

• Can the lead(s) sing themelody all the waythrough, finishing in theproper key?

• Does any part containlots of awkward leaps?

• Does any part containnotes that are too highor too low to be sung eas-ily?

• Are there any suddenshifts in the “key feel-ing”? (Check out thechorus of “Always”!)


Hearts & Dollars … SingingValentines fill chapter coffers

Some chapters may net more incomefrom their Singing Valentines program thanthey do from their annual shows. There’scertainly far less expense associated withthe Singing Valentines program.

Now is the time to dust off this year’srecords, get the chairman and committeeactivated and prepare for Thursday, Feb.14, 2002. Here are a few reminders for bothveteran and first-time programs.• Be sure the chapter has a copy of the

Singing Valentines Manual (stock no.4058 / $10).

• Register your chapter atwww.singingvalentines.com.

• Select quartets and get them rehearsing.If you are using non-registered quartets,i.e. groups formed just for the occasion,audition voices to combine singers intothe best possible foursomes.

• Plan advertising and promotion well inadvance. Look for free radio and TV airtime to promote your program.

• Be sure to get photos of deliveries to im-portant community figures and politi-cians; alert the media to those deliveries.

• Re-establish contact with florists andcandy suppliers.

• Order any other supplies needed for theprogram.

• Arrange for special phone lines for or-ders, if needed.

• Determine whether you need to lease cellphones or if members will volunteer touse their own. Communication is vital ondelivery day.

• Determine reimbursement for mileageand gas for drivers.

• Plan a post-delivery party for all thepeople involved.

Singing Valentines need not be ahassle. But in order to avoid problems, youmust plan well and well in advance. Anyunusual deliveries or particularly emotionalValentines make great stories for The Har-monizer, especially when accompanied by atop quality photo. It’s the day for love, solove what you’re doing, and your custom-ers will love you. ■

stood there on the badminton court frozen in my stance. Theracket dropped from my hand and I could feel my face turning alovely shade of tomato red. I could’ve easily been sliced up and putin a salad. The birdie from my badminton game dropped to my feetunnoticed as four tuxedoed men, followed by half my high school,strode into my gym class.

Closing my eyes, I thought back to my morning. My father hadgiven me a ride to school like always, but today it had been differ-ent. Today he wasn’t wearing his usual button-up shirt and khakipants. He wasn’t carrying a million papers and didn’t have hisstethoscope tossed on the passenger seat. Today he was all doneout in a tux, and I thought I saw a little makeup here and there.

Now he was standing in my gym class with three of his barber-shop buddies, each sweet note dancing in the air above my head. Ithought to myself “I will never forgive him for this one” as hewinked at me and continued his song “Heart of my Heaaaaaart ...”

When he’d finished his serenade, he chuckled to himself as aPolaroid was snapped and a rose presented. Then, just as suddenlyas they came, they left, their polished shoes clicking on the coldgym floor. I tried to go back to my badminton game unnoticed, buta million people flocked around me and I was trapped on all sides.I tried to camouflage my face behind my bright red rose, but theyattacked.

“Toooooooovahh!!!” someone screeched a distorted form of myname. “Oh my gosh, that was like the cutest thing ever Tov,”another girl proclaimed. “Hey Burstein, wasn’t that your dad?” thegym teacher asked. The questions poured out, and I got the nerveto look at the people who’d encircled me.

What I saw amazed me: People looked at me, their faces stickyfrom falling tears. Guys looked on in awe, and teachers from sur-rounding classrooms had left their rooms to come hear the end ofthe song. My song.

I didn’t feel so odd after that,and eventually my gym class re-turned to their nets and rackets.But the rest of the day I was ap-proached by people about thatsong. Teachers and students fromevery grade came up to me to tellme a story about their dad or totell me how much it touchedthem to see such a wonderful giftor just to say they thought it wassweet.

I began to feel pretty specialand on top of that—I realized it wasn’t just me who got a gift. Myfather’s singing had touched so many people that day it was amaz-ing. I was proud of my little Polaroid of my father, me, and hisbarbershop quartet. And quite honored to have their voices ring-ing off the gym. But I still think I should use this as an opportu-nity to issue a warning: Dad, just wait till I get you back!

– Tovah Burstein 15-year-old daughter ofSandy Burstein, proud bass

Here’s the Polaroid taken justafter the “incident.”

IWhy we sing, reason #61: To embarrass our kids ...... or not. In any case, it’s time to get your Singing Valentines program off the ground

Great travel deals!

www.harmony-travel.comwww.spebsqsa.org

Call 800-876-SING x8410to have a list of tours mailed to you!

Discounts on Portlandconvention airfare

Arranged through Travelex, a Harmony Travel partner

5-10% savings for individuals

20% savings possible for groups of 10 or more

Call 800-882-0499. Mention thePortland Convention

From the Society’s official travel service

Alaskan CruiseCruise the Norwegian Sky for the

Inside Passage to Alaska

Week after the Portland con-vention! Cabin space is going quickly—bookearly! Complete cabin categories available onrequest.

Alaska via small shipInside Passage Cruise & Land Tour

Board the Spirit of Endeavour for a 14-day, 13-night combined tourout of Seattle. This is a smaller cruise ship that can get to areasthat other ships can’t! Call for details!

Paddleboat River CruiseCruise on Queen of the West, America’s

newest sternwheeler cruise shipJune 22-29 (week before Portland convention)

Travel America’s most historic and scenic rivers, theColumbia, Snake, and Willamette. Retrace the Lewis& Clark Route, Oregon Trail and explore the Colum-bia River Gorge. Enjoy over 1000 miles of cruising!From $2295 per person, double occupancy (15% be-low brochure price, all shore excursions included.

5-day Caribbean CruiseHosted by PLATINUM

Plus: Showtime!They’re retiring after the 2002International Convention in Port-land. Hear one of the best of thebest, one last time. From Miami,over the Memorial Day WeekendMay 23–28, 2002

Farewell Cruise

PLATINUM

Call toll-free 866-HARMONY to speak

directly with Travelex, our wholesaler


��

AAs I inched along the aisle, kick-ing knees and almost hitting a girlwith my camera bag, I knew I wasfailing at my attempts to be subtle.But I didn’t care—I had to get inposition for the one last shot I re-ally wanted. I wanted to click theshutter on a well-known face afterRoger Lewis uttered those criticalwords:

“And your silver medalist is …”I said nothing as I settled into

an empty seat in front of New Tra-dition Chorus director Jay Gial-lombardo and his family. Inside thecrowded auditorium, people weremilling about as they waited for thelast performing chorus to be an-nounced. In this section, nearlyeveryone was wearing white—ei-ther a crisp pseudo-military jacketor, among family members, a white“Eight is Enough” T-shirt.

A lot of history was behind thatslogan.

The “Eight” referred to the num-ber of consecutive silver medalsNorthbrook’s New Tradition Cho-rus has earned in internationalcompetition, not to mention fivebronze medals before that. The chorus had come asclose to the gold as two and four points, but hadn’tyet cracked the Masters of Harmony/Vocal Major-ity/Alexandria Harmonizers winning rotation. The“Enough” on the shirts referred to the frustration ofconsistently being that good, yet never winning thecontest outright.

All the buzz I’d heard leading up to the contest ledme to place my bets on Northbrook—that’s why Ispent the morning following the chorus around witha camera. But I had Jim Bagby following Alexandriathis morning as well, just in case. Now, I was wonder-ing whether either of us would write a story about thechampion, after watching the Toronto Northern

Lights positively slay the audience with the most dra-matic ballad and funniest parody of the contest. Thewhite suits in this section saw that performance, too.I knew I wasn’t the only person sitting here who wasn’tcertain the silver streak would end at eight.

“We’re going to do what we always do”When I met up with the chorus at the hotel ball-room earlier that morning, the mood was upbeat andrelaxed. As the men put on their uniforms beforetheir vocal warm-up, I chatted with a few chorusmembers about how they felt.

“Really good. We’re ready,” was a typical response.There was confidence in their eyes and voices when

Lorin MayEditor of TheHarmonizer

JACKETS OFF, to keep their uniforms wrinkle-free during the long ride to thecontest site, chorus members maintained their focus. Each man’s militarydress uniform included his name badge, “NT” patches, and a ribbon for eachappearance he’d made on the International stage. Each uniform also includedan additional gold ribbon, for the medal each man expected to take home.

A longwait ...They were confident,but they weren’tcounting on anything


they said it, but also a reluc-tance to say much morethan that. No one seemedinclined to make bold pre-dictions or predict audiencereaction, and there wasn’t asingle word about the judgesthe whole morning. If theywere thinking about thattype of thing, they weren’ttalking about it. Every word,every moment together wasfocused on the things theycould do something about.

After a long vocal warmup, Jay entered the ballroom and addressed the chorus.

“Today’s a great day,” he said softly but enthusiasti-cally. “We’re going to do what we always do.”

That was pretty much the whole pep talk. No bigspeeches or chest-thumping to be seen from him orany member of the chorus. For the next while, theyran through a variety of sections and did some full run-throughs, heard a reminder or two about what they’drehearsed, and—who would’ve thought—just did whatthey always do. Hardly an adjustment. Other than someinstructions about not being thrown off by the acous-tics of the arena, they were given nothing special to

remember—just a reminder toperform on stage the same waythey were performing at this mo-ment.

The instructions were fol-lowed. I watched them performthe set multiple times in thehotel ballroom before watchingtheir actual performance fromthe wings. I saw no change—up or down—in the energylevel, the facial expressions, orthe vocal timbre. It was as funto watch the tenth time thismorning as it was to watch thefirst time. The music was as pre-cise and stirring as the twirlingguns, and I still couldn’t getover how cool 139 guys lookedin those military uniforms.

The only difference with theon-stage performance was thatinstead of a smattering of ap-plause in the ballroom, the re-sponse was a deafening roar. Itwas the roar of thousands whoappreciated not only a great per-formance, but a crowd that inlarge measure hoped this wouldfinally end a streak of silver med-als that was getting a bit old.

“Thanks, but we’ve heard that before”After the performance, I followed the chorus back toget its portrait taken. The mood was no different frombefore the performance—upbeat but anything otherthan overconfident. If anyone was predicting theireventual placement, I didn’t hear it. Eventually theywere ready for the two shots taken of every competi-tor: one with and one without the trophyplaced in front. I took out my notebook inanticipation of recording comments or mur-muring that I supposed would come whenthe trophy was placed in front.

Not even a peep. The trophy sat in frontin total silence before and after the cameraclicked. I got the feeling that no one wantedto jinx the performance.

My suspicion was confirmed after theyfinally broke formation and I approachedone younger member. “The buzz I hear back-stage is that you outdid Alexandria,” I toldhim. His facial expression didn’t change.

“They’re defending champions,” he re-plied, unmoved. “We may have to out-singthem by 30 points to win by a couple ofpoints.”

At first, the response struck me as a bitcynical, albeit understandable. Then Ilooked at the ribbons on this uniform,which indicated this was his third perfor-mance on the international stage with thechorus. That meant he was there in Ana-heim, where he got to hear the crowd gushin the halls after their “Les Miserables”package. Again and again, friends and strangers toldthem it was their year and they’d probably won thegold. That gushing continued until the announce-

A FEW MEMBERS went out of their way to wish theirfriends in the Alexandria Harmonizers good luck asthey passed in the halls before performing. When it wasNorthbrook’s turn in the “on deck” position (below), theydid a mostly silent run-through of their set.

LEGENDARY COACHDON CLAUSE, who hadbowed out of the Societyspotlight for severalyears, returned to promi-nence in a highly influen-tial role as the NewTradition’s main coach.

THE VOCAL MAJORITY wasperforming or helping out ev-erywhere you turned in Nash-ville, and the VM’s incompa-rable “Beatnik Mike” Bortslikewise represented his cho-rus at Northbrook’s pre-con-test warm-up. He delivered aHaiku: “Yah, eight is enough /This is the year for Northbrook/ Turn silver to gold.”


��

“Your fourth-place bronze medalist … The Am-bassadors of Harmony!” More applause from thewhite shirts. I set the focus on a lady who was the samedistance away as Jay.

“Your third-place bronze medalist … The Alexan-dria Harmonizers!” Whispered comments rippledthrough the white coats. Two of Northbrook’s eightsilvers were to Alexandria’sgold. Not this year. I put myfinger on the shutter andgot ready to turn and shoot.

“Your silver medal-ist … the TorontoNorthern Lights!”

Click!A loud scream went

up from the Torontosection and murmursagain rippled throughthe white coats. Jayhardly flinched. Wait aminute—weren’t yousupposed to do some-thing? His wife looked

like she could hardly con-tain a premature explosion.His son rested his elbows onhis knees and plugged hisears as if to hold in the steamthat wanted to erupt out.

Come on, Jay! Certainlyyou don’t think you tooksixth? What are you think-ing about?

Then he quickly stoodup and immediately satdown for no good reason.Aha, there’s the pent-up en-ergy. I wound the cameraand decided to forget aboutsubtlety. I stood to shoot.

“And your 2001 Interna-tional Champion … TheNew Tradition Chorus!”

The ensuing scream saidit all. It wasn’t the screamof a few moments of pent-up emotion—it was years of frustration from near missesvanishing forever, with euphoria filling the void. Itwas the sight of a monkey leaping off one man’s back,a signal that “Got a second?” jokes had gotten theirlast snicker.

The scream photo turned out to be blurred by move-ment, but it was worth at least a thousand words to-ward expressing what it felt like to no longer be thebest chorus never to win it all. Nearly two decades ofhard work could be summed up in two of the mostbeautiful words these men had ever heard:

International Champion. ■

ment that the performance was good enough for theirseventh consecutive silver medal. They finished twopoints—1/15 point per judge, per song—out of firstplace.

The look now on this young man’s face spoke vol-umes: Thanks for thinking we gave a gold-medal per-formance, but we’ve heard that before.

Weren’t you supposed to do something?That’s why I wanted to be near Jay when the second-place winner was announced. Whatever the result, Ifigured the picture of him wouldcapture the emotions of the wholechorus.

After the last chorus finished, wewere treated to a stirring perfor-mance by The Vocal Majority.Then, Roger Lewis finally came onstage to announce the medalists.An entire section of white shirtssat up in attention.

“Your fifth-place bronze medal-ist … The Great American Cho-rus!” The section joined in the ap-plause and offered some attaboys for their fellow Illi-nois District competitors. I double-checked all mycamera settings one more time.

THE BACKSTAGE VIEW wasn’t the best seat in the house, butit did drive home one point to the eyes and ears: This chorusperforms exactly the same way it rehearses.

The trophystood in frontof the chorusin silence, be-fore and after

the cameraclicked.

AND THE SILVER MEDALIST is ... not theNew Tradition. Even after hearing Toronto an-nounced, Jay Giallombardo would not cel-ebrate until he actually heard “Gold Medal”and “New Tradition” pass through RogerLewis’ lips. When those words came, the emo-tions were unrestrained.


date membership number chapter name (if applicable)

Name nickname

Guest name nickname

address city state/province ZIP/postal code

work phone home phone email

circle payment method: VISA MasterCard check money ordercard account # expiration date (MM/YY)

Mail with payment (checks: payable to SPEBSQSA) to: SPEBSQSA, 6315 HarmonyLane, Kenosha, WI 53143-5199. When you receive confirmation, please keep it asyour receipt. Registration fee includes a convention badge, a reserved seat at allcontest sessions and a souvenir program. If you register for more than one person,please furnish complete information for each person on a separate sheet and attachto this order form. All registrations received prior to June 1, 2002 will be mailed.Those received after that date may be picked up at the convention registration areabeginning Monday, July 1, 2002. Mailings will be made during the latter part of May2002. Registrations may be transferred to another person, but they are NOTrefundable. No phone orders, please.

❏ Check here if any physical needs require special accommodation for you to fullyparticipate in the convention; convention staff will contact you to make arrangements.

June 30-July 7, 2002

2002 International Convention – Portland

ytitnauQ epyT etaR latoTtludA ae09$ $

.rJ rednu()21

ae54$ $

snoitartsiger8hcaerofH&P3$ddaderedro

$

LATOT)sdnuF.S.U(

$

roinuJ55$,tludA501$:20021.naJretfaecirProinuJ06$,tludA511$:noitnevnocehttaecirP


n Nashville, the New Tradition Chorus achievedits long-sought-after goal of winning the chorus cham-pionship. Placing second consistently was never asgratifying as many might think. After all, second ispretty good and eight second places is consistentlypretty good. But our goal was to perform at a highenough level to win decisively. The question was howto do it. During our long campaign toward the gold,we evolved as a chapter. We tried a lot of differentideas, but these are some that got results.

Savor the little victories. In the early days, win-ning was our primary goal. That single-minded focuscaused some members to overlook sources of satisfac-tion along the way. We changed our focus to “Enjoythe Journey.” We strived to make each practice, run-through, or performance better than the last. This gaveus little victories each time we rehearsed or performed.

Focus on positives, not negatives. We recognizedthat performing excellence depends as much on men-tal focus and discipline as it does on physical singingskills. We incorporated ideas from Olympic gold med-alist Lannie Bassham’s book, With Winning in Mind.Some of those concepts include “Self-image and per-formance are always equal,” and “To change your per-formance, you must change your self-image.”

Negativity was replaced by positive reinforcement,from our director on down. It’s a simple thing, goingfrom “You guys are flat.” to saying to yourself, “I always

sing on the high side of a note unless the position inthe chord forces me lower.” In the heat of final prepa-rations for Nashville, music director Jay Giallombardowas consistently positive in his musical leadership aswe absorbed more and more detail about the perfor-mance plan.

Learn to sing better. We constantly cultivate ouridentity as singers. Our chorus warm-up has changeddrastically. We went from ten minutes of vocalizing to30 minutes, including a review of good singing tech-niques. This included reminders each practice of sing-ing posture, breath support, vowel matching, certainproblem vowels, desired voice placement, incorporat-ing resonators and vowel compliments.

This was very beneficial because most of us initiallysee ourselves as average singers. We need to be con-stantly reminded of the things that a professional singerwould do automatically. This improves the physicalsinging skills, as well as our self-image as singers.

Find a common emotional reference. To en-sure that all members perform a song from the sameperspective, we often listen, with eyes closed, to a nar-ration of the conditions and emotions that led to thecreation of the song. This enables us to use a commonfield of reference, which then can be interpreted byour own emotions as we strive to reflect a unified mes-sage.

A solid emotional plan was critical in selecting our

Rich NelsonAward-winning

editor of theNorthbrook

chapter bulletin,Harmony Gazette

WEEKS AFTER WINNINGthe international chorus

contest, The New TraditionChorus had already tackledanother goal—recording its

new Christmas CD.

IEnjoy the journeyWinning contests is great, but the path to achievement can be a reward in itself

Enjoy the journeyWinning contests is great, but the path to achievement can be a reward in itself

TOM NICHOLSON


��

contest set for Nashville, as it has beenin past years. We decided to go back tothe “Soldier Package” of 1993. Sixty per-cent of the current chorus was not onstage in Calgary, so for many this was anew package. As we planned this year’sperformance, we were concerned aboutbeing able to re-capture that momentat the end of “Baby’s Prayer At Twilight”as it happened in Calgary in 1993. Weopted instead for a powerful version of“White Cliffs Of Dover.” “SomethingAbout a Soldier” would go first with allits spit and polish; the ballad would con-clude the set with its powerful emotionand vision for the world. We had thepackage.

Get solid outside help. Over thepast several years, we’ve been able tobenefit from some of the wonderfulcoaches in the Society and owe a greatdeal to them. These coaches helped usincrease our skills by encouraging us tokeep learning and helping us see the bar-bershop craft from new perspectives. EvNau ensured that SP matched the phraseof the song. Jim Casey, through indi-vidual and group singing lessons, showedus how to maximize resonators and tosing within the unit sound. SteveJaimison gave us new techniques for gen-erating energy and introduced the con-cept of complementary vowels. DonClause, the man with the golden ear,fine-tuned phrases and interpretation toenhance audience enjoyment. GerryGeis introduced us to new techniques

of getting inside the character of a song.Greg Clancy reminded us of our past ac-complishments in presentation and in-spired confidence in us that “if we winsinging, we’ll win the contest.”

This year, as in the past, we alsoreached beyond the Society for coach-ing help. Mark Raymond is a Chicago-area rifle corps coach who helped us de-velop new rifle and flag routines. Markjoined the chapter and coached our frontrow, as well as performing himself. Whenthe rifles first flew in rehearsal, a greatroar went up from the chorus. We knewthe audience would explode when thispresentation was combined with themusic.

Improve chapter administration.Several recent presidents pushed thechapter to new levels in specific areas.Back in 1995, President Mike Barry mo-tivated us to sell more tickets to ourshows, which improved our financialcondition and increased the satisfactionwe received from sharing our music withmore people.

In 1997 and ’98, President Stan Spen-cer broadened our perspective of a suc-cessful barbershop chapter to includewhat he called the three M’s: Music,Membership, and Money. This focushelped to keep our eyes on the bigpicture—Who are we today? Who dowe want to be tomorrow?

Work as a team. The chapter hasmany jobs to be done, both creative and

administrative. The tendency in manyvolunteer organizations is for a dedicatedfew to take on way too much work. Backin the mid-’90s, our music team trans-formed the musical leadership of thechapter into a true teamwork process.That approach has spread to several ar-eas of chapter administration, includingour presentation team (while we getwonderful coaching on executing a plan,virtually all of our presentation plans aredeveloped in-house), uniform team,show committee, and membership team.These are all big jobs that take the com-bined efforts of several dedicated people.

Maintain continuity in leadership.Incoming officers start attending allboard meetings immediately upon be-ing elected, giving them two to threemonths to become familiar with presentboard programs and attitudes, beforethey actually take over on Jan. 1.

Nourish your support network.Our Sweet Traditions women’s auxiliaryconsists of spouses, girlfriends and friendsof the chorus. It has made a huge differ-ence to the spirit and finances of thechorus. The money they have madethrough their bake and craft sales at ourconcerts has provided the money to (1)purchase our own risers; (2) obtain a verygood quality sound system, which we useduring practice; (3) acquire digital re-cording equipment used to create learn-ing tapes.

This year in Nashville, as at manyprevious international contests, theSweet Traditions put on a pep rally forthe chorus to express their support.These pep rallies are one of our stron-gest traditions surrounding our partici-pation in international contests. We arevery proud of the Sweet Traditions andappreciate their unwavering support.

Focus on membership growth. Fol-lowing the principal of the “three M’s,”we put as much emphasis on sustainingand growing membership as we do on ourMusic program.. In addition to routinenew member recruiting, we hold severalspecial events a year. Last summer, wecompiled a list of about 60 present andformer members who were sitting on thesidelines for one reason or another. Thatfall, we had a reunion night that broughtback several dozen New Tradition alumnifor a rehearsal and a night of fun. Manyof these men re-joined the chorus and

MotivationPerhaps the most frequent question members hear is, “How do you stay moti-vated to continuously perform at a high level, year in and year out?” How doyou motivate or encourage regular attendance, thorough learning of your part(outside rehearsal), individuals working to improve their singing?

The chapter leadership recognizes that barbershopping is a hobby. Excel-lence requires hard work, but for people to attend every week and invest thekind of effort they do, it has to be enjoyable. Every week, we work to make thatrehearsal a positive, satisfying experience in its own right. Good music andpositive feedback are a hard combination to beat. Add some talented musicalleadership and the positive feedback is virtually self-fulfilling.

For another thing, we are constantly preparing for something. There aren’tany periods that lend themselves to slacking off or getting out of the habit ofcoming to practice. Each year, we have a spring show, a holiday show, districtcontest and the international contest. Then there are usually two or three per-formances around Christmas, and other performances during the year. We alsohave at least one weekend retreat, and perhaps a CD recording. Members’ fo-cus is constantly on a forthcoming event. If you miss a practice, you get theuneasy feeling you’ve missed out on something. We don’t learn a new songjust for the sake of learning it. We learn it because we are going to perform itat an upcoming event.


competed with us inNashville.

We embraced andimplemented the SweetAdelines’ “Ready, Set ...Grow!” program and itworked extremely well.It worked well becausewe set up start dates atthe beginning of the yearand recruited for them.This gives prospects achance to experience thebarbershop-style singingin a non-threatening en-vironment. Our retentionof those who have gone throughthe program has been very good.

We are fortunate to have a terrificmember running the program in RobCalhoon. Rob is an orchestra teacherand is skilled at imparting knowledgewithout intimidation. The bottom lineis that we are feeding new members intothe chorus who have gone through sev-eral weeks of barbershop fundamentals,and are able to hit the risers running.

Know how to introduce new mu-sic. We try to provide the tools so thatriser time is not spent learning notes andwords. High-quality learning tapes andmusic scores are provided prior to con-

Placing secondconsistently was

never as gratifyingas many mightthink. After all,second is prettygood and eight

second places isconsistently pretty

good.

tests and performances.These are the typicalpart-predominant for-mat similar to the Soci-ety tapes. They alsodemonstrate the ex-pected interpretation,dynamics and balance.They are much morethan just notes andwords. We might do arun-through reading themusic, but generally wetry to give out the tapesand music a week or twoprior to actually work-

ing on the new song. This en-ables members to be prepared to focuson phrasing, interpretation and blend-ing with their neighbors.

There used to be a major focus on get-ting off the music—“No music on therisers after the third week.” That hasshifted to encouraging continued use ofthe music, not as a substitute for learn-ing notes and words, but to take noteson performance details during rehearsal,so that these too can be more quicklycommitted to memory. One aspect of ourcommitment to excellence is the com-mitment to detail that it requires.

Have fun while you work. Make

no mistake, singing in this chorus is aheck of a lot of fun. A long-time Chi-cago area Barbershopper relocated closerto our chapter in Northbrook a few yearsago and decided to sing with us becausewe were much closer to his new home.Not realizing he changed choruses be-cause of the move, I asked him why ittook him so long to join us. His answerwas, “I would have done it sooner if I’drealized you had so much fun.”

On rehearsal nights, the fun doesn’tstem from social chatting. We try tocover that during our 15-minute breakand during other events. Our idea of funis seeing an audience touched by theemotion of a song. The fun is in touch-ing people’s lives in a way that only mu-sic can. The fun is striving to producethe best sound we can as a team.

“Team” is the key word here. The ap-plause is for what the team has accom-plished, not an individual. Yet in orderto reach that accomplishment, each in-dividual has taken more responsibilityupon himself for the team sound, as wellas chapter responsibilities.

It was obviously the thrill of a life-time to be on stage in Nashville whenthe curtain went up Saturday eveningfor our acceptance package. The key toour sustained success is finding and en-joying the thrills along the way. ■


Jeff: Barbershoppers all over the world would likeJeff: Barbershoppers all over the world would likeJeff: Barbershoppers all over the world would likeJeff: Barbershoppers all over the world would likeJeff: Barbershoppers all over the world would liketo know what it must be like to fire your chorusto know what it must be like to fire your chorusto know what it must be like to fire your chorusto know what it must be like to fire your chorusto know what it must be like to fire your chorusback up after coming in second eight times in aback up after coming in second eight times in aback up after coming in second eight times in aback up after coming in second eight times in aback up after coming in second eight times in arowrowrowrowrow. What do you tell them?. What do you tell them?. What do you tell them?. What do you tell them?. What do you tell them?Jay: Some do respond to a fiery let’s-go-get-’em speech.Others respond more as to what we have selected tosing for a given event. Our musical leaders respondwhen having some ownership in the preparation ofthe members. So, all these things must be done tokeep the chapter focused on the particular goal athand.

Fortunately, we have a well-rounded program atNorthbrook, which includes two chapter shows peryear at Christmas (four performances) and in theSpring (three performances), many other engagements,and recordings. Contest is most important to us andtakes a strong focus in planning and preparation. Themembership works very hard April to July to presentour “unique” packages.

Mostly, it’s little things along the way that encour-age people to stick with it. I can be pretty demand-ing, but I always attempt to be positive and recognize

accomplishment. So far, the guys have stuck with me.

Jeff: Of the eight times you have come in second,Jeff: Of the eight times you have come in second,Jeff: Of the eight times you have come in second,Jeff: Of the eight times you have come in second,Jeff: Of the eight times you have come in second,which was the one you really thought you had won?which was the one you really thought you had won?which was the one you really thought you had won?which was the one you really thought you had won?which was the one you really thought you had won?Jay: I think we won every one of them! And I amserious. Others have said we “won” two or three. Ofcourse, the gold medal winners are quite convincedthat second was our rightful spot!

Jeff: Which one of them was the hardest loss forJeff: Which one of them was the hardest loss forJeff: Which one of them was the hardest loss forJeff: Which one of them was the hardest loss forJeff: Which one of them was the hardest loss foryou and for the chorus?you and for the chorus?you and for the chorus?you and for the chorus?you and for the chorus?Jay: I don’t think of second as a loss. As for not tak-ing the gold, I would say Miami and Anaheim weretough because they were so close, four and two pointsrespectively out of 2800 or so. I nearly lost it lookingat the tearful faces of those who wanted, so badly, forus to take first place. But we wish the victors well andwill try all the harder the next time.

Jeff: What do you honestly feel is the common de-Jeff: What do you honestly feel is the common de-Jeff: What do you honestly feel is the common de-Jeff: What do you honestly feel is the common de-Jeff: What do you honestly feel is the common de-nominator among all those eight consecutive sil-nominator among all those eight consecutive sil-nominator among all those eight consecutive sil-nominator among all those eight consecutive sil-nominator among all those eight consecutive sil-ver medals?ver medals?ver medals?ver medals?ver medals?

Jeff SelanoSinging judge,bass for Riptide

This June interview captures Jay Giallombardo’s thoughts before joining an exclusivefraternity as only the fourth quartet gold medalist to direct a gold medal chorus

PHOTO: TOM NICHOLSON


Jay: I believe the chorus membership exhibited anattitude to strive for excellence for each package. Theattitude encompassed that winning was possible, butit wasn’t the primary focus. We learned to focus andworked on improving musical skills and emotional de-livery. The desire to win, to continue to improve, andto be inspired by the possibility of winning certainlyhad a motivating effect, but the striving for excel-lence and reaching the audience in performance wasat the forefront of our minds for every performance.

Jeff: The famous Grandma’Jeff: The famous Grandma’Jeff: The famous Grandma’Jeff: The famous Grandma’Jeff: The famous Grandma’s Boys got their start ass Boys got their start ass Boys got their start ass Boys got their start ass Boys got their start asfour high school kids hanging out singing togetherfour high school kids hanging out singing togetherfour high school kids hanging out singing togetherfour high school kids hanging out singing togetherfour high school kids hanging out singing together.....How did you get your start?How did you get your start?How did you get your start?How did you get your start?How did you get your start?Jay: Grandma’s Boys formed in 1968 as a pickup quar-tet that had formed as a result of our high school pro-duction of The Music Man. We got together to sing ata Memorial Day Singfest for one of the local commu-nities. When school was out for the summer, I sug-gested that we go to the 1968 international conven-tion in Cincinnati. The quartet sang in the lobbies,hallways, and “ringy” washrooms, and we sang everynight at Purdy’s Corral whenever there was a lull inthe action. When we returned home, we learned thesong “Grandma’s Boy” as a theme song and adoptedthe name. In August, we sang another outdoor bar-bershop show where we met Bob (Moose) Haeger,brother of Buzz (tenor of The Four RenegadesThe Four RenegadesThe Four RenegadesThe Four RenegadesThe Four Renegades fame)who was emceeing the show. He encouraged us to com-pete in the fall Illinois District competition. We didand, much to our surprise, won the competition, firsttime out. That put us on an 11-year journey to theinternational championship.

Jeff: Many were mesmerized by the TJeff: Many were mesmerized by the TJeff: Many were mesmerized by the TJeff: Many were mesmerized by the TJeff: Many were mesmerized by the Toy Soldier setoy Soldier setoy Soldier setoy Soldier setoy Soldier setin Cincinnati. How did that terrific package comein Cincinnati. How did that terrific package comein Cincinnati. How did that terrific package comein Cincinnati. How did that terrific package comein Cincinnati. How did that terrific package cometogether?together?together?together?together?Jay: In July of ’77, inspired by the highly visual perfor-mances of 139th Street Quartet139th Street Quartet139th Street Quartet139th Street Quartet139th Street Quartet and Most Happy Fel-Most Happy Fel-Most Happy Fel-Most Happy Fel-Most Happy Fel-lowslowslowslowslows, I wrote and arranged both Toy Soldier songs, andJohn and Hank developed most of the choreography.We performed the uptune that April on an afterglow(without costumes). Needless to say, after the afterglowaudience erupted in a standing “O” at 1 a.m., we knewwe had something unique. We then learned the ballad,“All The Little Toy Soldiers” and honed the package infull costume on a couple of show performances in June.

At the ’78 convention, in the second round, weunleashed the set on the unsuspecting crowd. I canstill hear the roar that went up after the uptune. Thecrowd would not let us start the second song. Theapplause went on for what seemed like an eternity (40seconds, as I was told by one avid fan). We finally didsing the second song and received a long-sustainedstanding ovation on our exit. Needless to say, it was apretty good hit! Ironically, we laid an egg in the finalsand lost to Bluegrass Student Union Bluegrass Student Union Bluegrass Student Union Bluegrass Student Union Bluegrass Student Union by a mere 39points. Secretly, I think we were glad to be able tocome back and do it again in ’79, this time in thefinals, to leave no doubt.

Jeff: TJeff: TJeff: TJeff: TJeff: Taking in the whole convention, what’aking in the whole convention, what’aking in the whole convention, what’aking in the whole convention, what’aking in the whole convention, what’s yours yours yours yours yourgreatest memory of winning in 1979?greatest memory of winning in 1979?greatest memory of winning in 1979?greatest memory of winning in 1979?greatest memory of winning in 1979?

Jay: I’m proud of the fact that we won five of thesix rounds in ’78 and ’79. I remember great elation, asense of relief, the accolades, and admiration of ourmany fans. That year, the quartet finals were Fridaynight, so we had all day Saturday to enjoy the win atthe convention. Ithad been a longhaul since our for-mation in 1968. Itwas most reward-ing to have ourdreams come truein winning thechampionship.We had a wonder-ful year withcountless showsand several TVperformances. Forevery show, thechapter would re-quest a cameo ofthe Toy Soldierset. We werehappy to oblige!

Jeff: WhoJeff: WhoJeff: WhoJeff: WhoJeff: Whothought up thatthought up thatthought up thatthought up thatthought up thatcrazy “I Had Acrazy “I Had Acrazy “I Had Acrazy “I Had Acrazy “I Had ADream” song?Dream” song?Dream” song?Dream” song?Dream” song?How did it comeHow did it comeHow did it comeHow did it comeHow did it cometogether?together?together?together?together?Jay: That piece ac-tually came fromthe Injunaires, a12-man vocalgroup from theDartmouth GleeClub where Jeffand Hank at-tended in the early’70s. I created afour-part arrange-ment and we re-corded it on our second album. It was great fun andepitomized our particular brand of lunacy as our after-glow closer.

Jeff: I heard that Grandma’Jeff: I heard that Grandma’Jeff: I heard that Grandma’Jeff: I heard that Grandma’Jeff: I heard that Grandma’s Boys didn’s Boys didn’s Boys didn’s Boys didn’s Boys didn’t get invitedt get invitedt get invitedt get invitedt get invitedto sing the following August at Harmony College.to sing the following August at Harmony College.to sing the following August at Harmony College.to sing the following August at Harmony College.to sing the following August at Harmony College.Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Jay: Whoa ... where did you dig up that little tidbit?Sadly, it is true. This was a highly politicized time.The Society suffered from a coach/judge conflict ofinterest issue, there were camps and factions, therewere the “Kibber” zealots. [KIB=Keep It Barbershop.Ed.] We’d get to a show and inevitably some nudnikwould come over and say, “Don’t forget to Keep It

WITH EIGHTEEN MEDALS in international com-petition, Giallombardo will likely try for his19th medal in Portland—as a quartet competi-tor. He recently started singing bass with pe-rennial quartet finalist Excalibur. In addition tofour bronze, eight silver and one gold medal asdirector of The New Tradition Chorus, he won abronze, silver and gold medal as bari ofGrandma’s Boys, and two bronze medals asbass of Chicago Chord of Trade.

TED RICCHIS


Barbershop.” We’d smileand say sure and go outand do our regular show.Usually, the audience wasstanding at the end, so wenever heard much afterfrom the Kibbers.

Most Kibbers thinkthat they are helping topromote barbershop.They often don’t realizethat foisting their narrowperspective of barbershop on others doesnot promote good fellowship and har-mony. Performers are forever testing outmaterial on audiences. We were tryingto do our best to entertain the audi-ence. Unfortunately, the quartet wassingled-out for some retribution by thedirector of music services, Bob Johnson,who broke a long-standing tradition ofhaving the current champs sing at Har-mony College. Somehow, Bob seemedto have acquired the mistaken impres-sion that we were out to undermine bar-bershop.

No doubt that we offered some in-novative show material at the time, butby today’s standards it seems pretty or-dinary stuff, for the most part. I do be-lieve we had to pay the price for ourmusical beliefs. But, I’m proud we stoodour ground, as I believe we opened thedoor a bit for other quartets to followour model.

Jeff: What’Jeff: What’Jeff: What’Jeff: What’Jeff: What’s your musical background?s your musical background?s your musical background?s your musical background?s your musical background?Jay: My dad was the hymn leader at ourchurch, which included only a cappellacongregational hymn singing (no organ,no choir). So I was part-singing at aboutage eight. I enjoyed singing a differentpart for each stanza of the hymn to theamazement (or annoyance) of thepeople around me. From about age 10-15 my interest was in folk music withduos, trios, and quartets. I played gui-tar and a little bass. At age 15, I heardthe ’62 convention film at a local movietheater, and I was hooked.

As I was taking music theory in highschool, I started writing and arrangingbarbershop. I immersed myself in vocalgroup recordings, barbershop, MillsBros., Hi-Los, and the Four Freshman.I would “lift” many of the charts andtags from the available barbershop re-cordings and bring them to my highschool buddies to sing. I continued for-mal musical studies at Boston Univer-

and a singing style that focuses on tight“lock and ring” qualities. Compare con-temporary a cappella groups, gospel anddoo-wop, with even non-contestable bar-bershop singing and the difference isclear and obvious to most. The desireto stand in a foursome and strive to ringa few simple chords will never be lost.

There is a difference in singing foryour own fun and attempting to enter-tain the broad tastes of an audience. Ibelieve the Society should continue tocultivate the vision to recognize thesedifferent perspectives and provide en-couragement for a diversity of activi-ties.

Jeff: Where do you think we will be inJeff: Where do you think we will be inJeff: Where do you think we will be inJeff: Where do you think we will be inJeff: Where do you think we will be in50 years?50 years?50 years?50 years?50 years?Jay: Well, I’ll be 101 and still kickin’.By then I should have 59 silver medals!

I believe the Society will continueto thrive as long as we embrace the no-tion of style in its general, non-techni-cal form. I would hope we would evolveto a point where the judging system re-linquishes a larger degree of control overstyle to more natural forces and filtersthat are commonly used in the real mu-sical world: “the test of time.” In the’70s, the judging system was given a taskof “guardianship” of the style in the fearthat the style would be lost. Generalcharacteristics of the style is the right

“degree” for adjudication.I would like to see more evolution in

chorus singing and in the adjudicationof chorus singing. Choruses are stillseen as big quartets. It is actually a to-tally different medium, currently withvast, untapped potential.

I hope that we will never equate con-tests with shows. Contests are uniquesnapshots of the best of show perfor-

GRANDMA’S BOYS, 1979 international champion,were Jay Giallombardo , John Miller , HankBrandt , Don Barnick .

I nearly lost itlooking at thetearful facesof those thatwanted, so

badly, for usto take first

place.

sity (bachelor of music educa-tion, ’72) and Northwestern(masters of composition/theory, ’73). I taught highschool choral music for threeyears before becoming a free-lance musician (full-time bar-bershop coach, arranger andperformer).

Jeff: YJeff: YJeff: YJeff: YJeff: You have penned soou have penned soou have penned soou have penned soou have penned somany arrangements thatmany arrangements thatmany arrangements thatmany arrangements thatmany arrangements that

have become a permanent part of thehave become a permanent part of thehave become a permanent part of thehave become a permanent part of thehave become a permanent part of thelandscape. Regardless of arrangerlandscape. Regardless of arrangerlandscape. Regardless of arrangerlandscape. Regardless of arrangerlandscape. Regardless of arranger,,,,,what is your favorite arrangement ofwhat is your favorite arrangement ofwhat is your favorite arrangement ofwhat is your favorite arrangement ofwhat is your favorite arrangement ofall time and why?all time and why?all time and why?all time and why?all time and why?Jay: I admire the works and writingstyles of many arrangers. Larry Wright,Buzz Haeger, Mike Senter, Jay Wrightwere the first arrangers I emulated inthe ’60s. I also admire many arrange-ments of my contemporaries, but likeany arranger, I must admit preferencefor my own stuff. Each piece has its ownvirtues, and once complete, takes on alife of its own at the “voice” of the per-formers. Among my favorite arrange-ments are: “Anthems/Ode To Joy,” “IHeard You Singing,” “Jazz Baby,” “Trib-ute To World Peace,” “What Child IsThis,” “When I Fall In Love,” “WhenThe Toy Soldiers March On Parade,”and “William Tell Overture.”

Jeff: Where do you thinkJeff: Where do you thinkJeff: Where do you thinkJeff: Where do you thinkJeff: Where do you thinkwe are headed as a barwe are headed as a barwe are headed as a barwe are headed as a barwe are headed as a bar-----bershop singing society?bershop singing society?bershop singing society?bershop singing society?bershop singing society?Jay: We have moved awayfrom rigid stylistic stan-dards to a more open andhistorical perspective ofbarbershop. This is a goodtrend. Although there areforces that tend to want torestrict that evolution,natural musical expressionworks against this. Thereare some general character-istics of the barbershopstyle that remain constantand do define the kind of music we sing:1) Four-part consonant harmony, 2)Tenor above the melody, 3) Traditionalchord vocabulary 4) Interesting embel-lishments to enhance the song.

As long as we keep a general view ofthe style, we will never stray too far.There are natural forces that tend tokeep the style centered. Simply put, the“centering” force is traditional harmony


mance. The do-or-die intensity of a con-test performance can never be matchedin a show. A show is like a track meetwith lots of different events. A contestis the 100-meter dash, all out, winnertake all. I hope we never lose that as-pect.

Jeff: YJeff: YJeff: YJeff: YJeff: You have been known to “pushou have been known to “pushou have been known to “pushou have been known to “pushou have been known to “pushthe envelope” when it comes to thethe envelope” when it comes to thethe envelope” when it comes to thethe envelope” when it comes to thethe envelope” when it comes to thebarbershop style. What does thebarbershop style. What does thebarbershop style. What does thebarbershop style. What does thebarbershop style. What does thephrase “Keep it Barbershop” mean tophrase “Keep it Barbershop” mean tophrase “Keep it Barbershop” mean tophrase “Keep it Barbershop” mean tophrase “Keep it Barbershop” mean toyou?you?you?you?you?Jay: A metaphor might be helpful here:Barbershop is a productive valley ringedwith high protective mountain borders.Leave the valley and you are in anotherland. “Pushing the envelope” means thatyou are “hiking in the hills and on themountain trails”; when you are donewith the journey, you come back to thecenter of valley. Musicians need to goto the edges sometimes for variety’s sakeand rejuvenation; there they can alsoget a better picture of the valley.

As for the slogan “Keep It Barber-shop,” I believe this was the result of awell-intentioned motive gone astray.“Keep It Barbershop” puts the defini-tion of the style in the hands of a veryfew who say, “This is what barbershopis by the way we define it.” It ignoresour decades of history and the broadmusical perspective of others who candefine barbershop for themselves. It alsoignores a large part of the barbershopculture who do not particularly embracethe style as defined in the ’70s and ’80s.Lastly, we should always be suspect ofany concept that can be reduced to amere slogan!

Jeff: Who have been your two great-Jeff: Who have been your two great-Jeff: Who have been your two great-Jeff: Who have been your two great-Jeff: Who have been your two great-est influences during your years as aest influences during your years as aest influences during your years as aest influences during your years as aest influences during your years as aBarbershopper?Barbershopper?Barbershopper?Barbershopper?Barbershopper?Jay: I have been fortunate to have anumber of strong male influences in mylife. First is my father, three-timeNCAA All-Around Gymnastic Cham-pion (Papa Joe now is 84), who instilledin me a championship attitude of hardwork and perseverance.

Musically, it was Mac Huff. WhenMac Huff was quartet promotion spe-cialist for the Society, I had a specialmentor/protegé relationship with him.Mac passed on to me a considerableamount of knowledge of barbershopperformance technique. He coachedGrandma’s Boys for three years, and heinvited me to coach quartets at Har-mony College and to teach a coachingclass. Mentoring is so important for the

development of any young individual.I believe our musical leaders today havea special calling to be mentors to thosein barbershop.

Jeff: If you had to guess what yourJeff: If you had to guess what yourJeff: If you had to guess what yourJeff: If you had to guess what yourJeff: If you had to guess what yourlegacy will be on this great musicallegacy will be on this great musicallegacy will be on this great musicallegacy will be on this great musicallegacy will be on this great musicalstyle and art form, what would it be?style and art form, what would it be?style and art form, what would it be?style and art form, what would it be?style and art form, what would it be?Jay: A father once said to me, “I triedto get my son in barbershop. He wasn’tinterested until he heard Grandma’sBoys!” The gentleman with his wife inan elevator at an international conven-tion said, “We were there in Minne-

apolis when you did the Toy Soldiersong. That was the greatest thing wehave ever seen!” Or the lady who said,“I was in Calgary ... when the little boywas given the flag ...”. And then Iwatched her as her eyes welled up allover again, overwhelmed with emotionand unable to finish her sentence. TheCalgary performance was over eight yearsago, yet people still remember and re-act as if it were yesterday. That’s enoughof a legacy for any performer. If there’smore though, that will be for others tosay. ■

II read with great interest Music CategorySpecialist Roger Payne’s explanation ofthe Music category in the May-June 2001issue of The Harmonizer and admit I amstill mystified. It’s a perfectly clear de-scription of the current philosophies andemphasis of our Music judges; the per-plexing part is why those trends wouldbe considered a good thing.

The new Music category:One step forward, two steps back

The old Arrangement category indeedhad its flaws, but the Music category thatreplaced it has some gaping holes. Paynesays that current emphasis in the Musiccategory is on “how much wonderful bar-bershop music the performer wrings outof the arrangement.” The problem? If toomuch emphasis is given to a strong per-formance, then a group that is high in

skill can sing an arrangement that is lowin essential barbershop characteristicsand still win a medal.

Another problem is that Music judgesnow wear two hats and judge in twobroad areas: (1) the song and its arrange-ment and (2) performance. This dualityof purpose is not only perplexing to com-petitors and listeners, but assures thatneither half of the judging task is beingaddressed adequately by the judges.

Have you ever tried wearing two hatsat the same time? This remark may infu-riate some Music judges, but a very highperformance level too often obscuresweaknesses in a song or arrangement.Haven’t we all heard such performancesof borderline or questionable material?Several come to mind, including “JeanieWith The Light Brown Hair,” “AlleyCat,” “You Are My Sunshine,” “Do YouHear The People Sing?”, “California,Here I Come,” “The Way You Look To-night.”

Perhaps it’s all wonderful choral mu-sic, but how well do these selections ex-emplify the barbershop style? I believe

Burt SzaboNoted barbershop

arranger

the failure of the Music category to an-swer this question satisfactorily exposesa serious weakness that is urgently in needof attention. Listen to recent contestrecordings and decide for yourself.

The current Music category placesheavy emphasis on barbershop charac-teristics “expected to remain inviolateover time.” What does this mean? Sim-ply, that those characteristics, most ofwhich are noted in Payne’s sidebar, “Whata Music judge generally looks for,” areexpected to be not only present, but un-mistakably and fundamentally inherentand obvious, and will saturate the musicheard from the contest stage. Let’s ex-amine some of these “inviolate charac-teristics” whose definitions are increas-ingly watered down or ignored by manyarrangers and Music judges, plus a ne-glected characteristic that deserves thehighest prominence.

Ever-present melodySince the first four fellows sang togetherin that long-ago tonsorial parlor, theyharmonized to a melody. Most Barber-


shoppers still considermelody to be a para-mount feature of thestyle. Some melodic al-terations became tradi-tional and have longbeen accepted. Minorchanges of pickup notes,or changes to eliminatesome awkward melodicintervals, have likewisebecome unreservedly ac-cepted, including under the Arrange-ment category.

Today, however, under the guise of his-torical accuracy, we hear lengthy portionsof music containing no discerniblemelody. Or, we hear a newly createdmelody—sounding much like jazz impro-visation—which is only loosely reminis-cent of the original. Certainly, some rareexamples of this may be found on pre-Society recordings and even on early So-ciety recordings. But when did suchwholesale recomposing move into themainstream of the barbershop style?

The reader may be interested in re-cent comments by two Music judges:• “I don’t really assert that preserving

melody has anything to do with thebarbershop style.”

• “I think we are in the process of a ...much needed devaluation of melodyas it pertains to the barbershop style.For many years it has been put onmuch too high a pedestal, in conflictwith the basic nature of our style as itdeveloped on the street corner.”Kind of scary, isn’t it?

Consonant harmonies that employthe barbershop chord vocabulary

Early ear singers sang consonant harmo-nies, easily tunable and ringable chordsthat generated clouds of overtones. To-day, the ever-increasing use of less con-sonant sounds—major seventh chords,minor seventh chords (some with flat-ted fifths), suspended fourths—rendersour music less stylistically barbershopthan it used to be.

Some members applaud this move-ment with the trend of 21st century acappella music. But doesn’t this tacitacceptance of dissonant sounds taint thestyle of the music that Barbershopperslove to sing? Aren’t we in danger of los-ing something precious when the Musiccategory allows this to happen? Others

say change is unavoid-able, as barbershop mu-sic has always beenevolving.

Let’s review this mat-ter of evolution. Conso-nant harmonies comefrom the ear singers(woodshedders) of the1910s, ’20s and ’30s—long before the Societywas formed in 1938. It

was then perfected by Society quartetsof the ’40s and later. The so-called evo-lution by trial-and-error ear singing cameto an end when arrangers started mov-ing notes around on manuscript paper,and we all began to sing from composedarrangements. Because of this shift,today’s style evolution is of a far differ-ent nature than that of 60 years ago.

I believe the best barbershop arrange-ments have always been, and hopefullywill continue to be, those that soundmore “ear related” than “eye related,” andmore stylistic than those contrived inthe fertile imaginations of highlyskilled—but over-zealous—arrangers.

I recently reviewed an arrangementprepared for contest by one of ourSociety’s premier arrangers. In only 88measures of music, there were more thantwo dozen instances of incompletechords, unnecessary doublings and out-right non-barbershop chords, plus sev-eral measures of unharmonized (unison)melody. Is this where our music is head-

ing? Let us hope not.

Appropriate and artistic choice ofvoicings, chord progressions and

implied harmoniesArrangements intended for contest per-formance still depend on solid root/fifth-based voicings, with a minimum of third/seventh based voicings. Hopefully thiswill always be so. However, more andmore leniency is being allowed by Musicjudges regarding chord progressions andimplied harmony.

With ear singers, “I Want A Girl” al-ways sounded like “I Want A Girl,” nomatter how creative they were withswipes, bell chords or key changes. Now,many arrangers seem to violate the im-plied ear harmony recklessly and, if I maysay so, irresponsibly. They are desperateto find sounds other than those favoredby Barbershoppers for more than three-quarters of a century, all in the name ofcreativity.

Some prominent arrangers say that thesong’s implied harmony is too restrictiveand does not allow them to musicallyexpress themselves. This abandonmentof implied harmony means we now hearsongs in competition that do not wearthe mantle of barbershop comfortably.

Many melodies of the ’30s and ’40sand later may not easily fit the barber-shop style, given the more modern har-monies chosen by their composers. Nev-ertheless, many barbershop arrangers tryto harmonize those songs with chords

Have we solved recent judging flaws or only concealed them?I eagerly await the judging of fall contests. The Contest and Judging Commit-tee has made grand statements that the troublesome feature “CommonGround” among the three categories has been eliminated. However, uponreading the new material, I believe that Common Ground is very much aliveand well, but masquerading under assumed names.

It remains to be seen whether the questions and concerns surroundingour Society’s judging practices will be addressed in the fall round of contests,and whether any of the three categories will truly be charged with preservingthe identifying hallmarks of the barbershop style, or whether the transforma-tion of the barbershop style into an all-encompassing a cappella style will con-tinue unabated.

It appears that SPEBSQSA, Inc. is being bested by other organizations inattempting to preserve the barbershop style of music. Many of the songs andarrangements heard in Nashville would have been negatively scored if heard ina Sweet Adelines or Harmony, Inc. competition. Most female contestantswould not even consider taking them into a contest because they know suchsongs and arrangements would surely lose many points as they would beconsidered poor examples of the barbershop style.

Because we nowsing from com-posed arrange-

ments rather thanby ear, today’s sty-listic evolution isof a far differentnature than thatof 60 years ago.


that consummate musicians likeGershwin, Rodgers and Hart, Kern,Arlen and others never used with theirsongs. The melodies are encumbered withan unlikely harmonization in order toexpand the contest repertoire—againunder the guise of historical accuracy andcreativity. Is this another example of“non-barbershop creep”? What does thisforeshadow for barbershop contest mu-sic of the future?

Chord progressionChords have moved and resolved accord-ing to predictable patterns for centuriesdue to acoustic principles and the inher-ent tendencies of some intervals in thosechords—particularly the minor seventhand the tritone. Codified as “The Circleof Fifths,” these natural chord progres-sions have been used since the days ofBach and were used by most Americanpopular song writers until the 1950s,when rock music upset the long-en-trenched concepts of harmonic move-ment. But note: the harmonic style ofbarbershop music was solidly in placelong before the 1950s. Almost all musicafter the middle of the 20th century wasmore or less disregarded by ear singersfor very obvious reasons.

Now, barbershop music is being trans-formed by those who ignore our tradi-tions, by those who bend and twist laterpopular music to their will by forciblyimposing ill-fitting chord progressionsupon the melodies, by making use of morechord successions—sequences of harmo-nies that do not move in conventionalways and which sound vaguely foreignto the barbershop ear.

You can hear such non-Circle of Fifthschord successions in some of the over-long and pointless tag exercises that serveonly to display an arranger’s skills inmanipulating harmony and lyrics. By theway, the elevation of the tag to a posi-tion of supreme importance is in directcontradiction to the once well-under-stood notion that the song is the mostimportant part of a barbershop arrange-ment. In Dave Stevens’ words: “The onevital, primary single factor that loomsabove all others in importance is themusical vehicle ... the barbershop song”(Barbershop Arranging Manual, p. 27).

Other a cappella styles are wonder-ful—just don’t call them barbershop

Is it possible that the Music categorychooses to accept the weakening of the“inviolate characteristics” of the style inorder to accommodate the desires ofsome to facilitate its transformation intoa different kind of 21st century a cappellamusical language? I must point out thatthere is no such thing as “21st century acappella style.” Contemporary a cappellamusic embraces such a variety of me-lodic, harmonic, rhythmic and lyric fea-tures as to have virtually no style of itsown. It is jazz, salsa, rap and much more.The music is identified by an “anythinggoes” attitude—anything goes as long assomeone can perform it.

I have no problem with contempo-rary a cappella music on that score. Muchof it is darn good—some is outstand-ing—and most of it is highly entertain-ing. But, will the new century bring usjazz-barbershop, reggae-barbershop,Latino-barbershop, Afro-barbershop,rock-barbershop and all the rest? I thinkwe must agree—it won’t be good oldbarbershop.

The “old” Arrangement category,which some performers, arrangers andjudges so gleefully condemn, indeed hadsome faults that needed addressing. Butunlike the “solution,” it did have theoverriding aim to preserve a style ofmusical expression that was solidifiedbefore the founding of SPEBSQSA andthat many felt was in danger of slippingaway bit by tiny bit. It is noteworthy

Our definition of “dissonance” keeps shiftingIt’s been said by music historians that sounds which are at first dissonant

(incomplete, unharmonious) to our ears become, after repeated exposure, con-sonant (complete, harmonious). At one period in the early development of har-mony, only the perfect fifth and perfect octave were considered consonant;thirds were dissonant. After a couple of centuries, the ear accepted them asconsonant.

At first, major-minor seventh chords (our barbershop seventh chord) wereuncomfortably dissonant. With the passage of time, these chords became ac-cepted as consonant, pleasant sounds. And it’s a good thing, too, since bar-bershop music without seventh chords is inconceivable.

During the 20th century a variety of major seventh chords, poly-chords,ninth, llth and 13th chords, and chords with suspended fourths became partof the vocabulary of classical, jazz and popular music. Barbershop ear singershave resisted these sounds for reasons all too familiar. The occurrence ofthese harmonies in too much barbershop show music and their occasionalappearances in contest music are perfect examples of the “non-barbershopcreep” that is infiltrating and contaminating the barbershop style. It does notbode well for the future of barbershop music.

that the latest version of the Music cat-egory description contains neither theword “preserve” nor “preservation.”

The forgotten “inviolatecharacteristic”

The list of “inviolate characteristics” isin dire need of one addition that justmight assure that the cherished tradi-tions of barbershop harmony will be en-joyed for another generation or two.Because the barbershop style arose andflourished as catch-as-catch-can “earmusic,” I believe it should be incumbentupon our judging system, and specificallyupon the Music category, to attempt topreserve this now-vanishing feature ofthe style.

There must be harsh penalties for de-parting from the barbershop style when:• an arrangement loses or seriously frays

the delicate thread connecting it tothe ear music of our predecessors.

• an arrangement showcases composi-tional technique at the expense ofimplied harmony.

• the song and/or the implied harmonyhave been severely modified to makethem fit one another.To do anything less will only hasten

the demise of barbershop music in theearly years of this century. I probablywon’t be around to mourn its passing,but won’t it be a shameful tragedy if thesimple purity of “ear barbershop” is sur-rendered forever because we have notbeen vigilant enough in preserving oneof its most defining features? ■


Like all peace-loving people throughout the world, Bar-bershoppers were shocked and deeply saddened by thehorrific and tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001. We wouldlater learn that one member of our own barbershopfamily was killed in the attack on the Pentagon. As westruggled to understand the unexplainable, Barbershop-pers around the world responded with expressions ofcondolence, with prayers and other personal actionsand, above all, with love. But we must not forget thatour friends throughout the world lost citizens of theirrespective countries, too. Reports were that as many as62 nations lost sons and daughters. And, although theattacks were carried out in America, their impactstunned the world.

The fellowship of barbershop harmony singers hasprobably never been stronger than right now. What awonderfully American, joyous and uplifting musical artform our beloved Society brings to all who hear us sing.

The response of Barbershoppers extended beyondwords and feelings. Hope and determination and re-solve grew stronger in the days that followed the at-tacks. In America, Barbershoppers lifted their voicesin harmony to support relief efforts and to promoteunity within their respective communities. Music—barbershop harmony—was heard throughout the coun-try, even in Manhattan, near the area that has come tobe known as “ground zero.” We believe that spirit iswhat we should truly honor. What follows is only asmall sampling of what various chapters did.

NEW YORK CITYSaturday, Sept. 15, members of the Coastal ChordsmenChorus of Bridgeport, Conn., made a trip to New YorkCity to sing, and were joined by members of the BigApple Chorus. Six men and two women came fromConnecticut; seven men from New York joined them.The Coastal Chordsmen’s commitment to the reliefeffort included a fund-raiser at Tomlinson MiddleSchool for a Fairfield, Conn., for a family that lost itsfather in the tragedy.

Eight days later, 37 members of the Big Apple Cho-

Reed SampsonPublic relations

manager forSPEBSQSA

The horror of the events of September 11 didn’t really bring the world’sbarbershoppers together—it reminded us of how close we already were

In memory of Col. Bud BooneWe lost a barbershop brother and a true

American hero in the September 11 attack on thePentagon. Colonel Canfield D. (Bud) Boone was arelatively new member of the Centerville, VirginiaChapter and had really taken to our wonderfulhobby. His wife, Linda says, “Bud loved barber-shop so much.” She has advised CentervilleChapter President Chuck Harner that the familydoes not need financial assistance. She has re-quested that anyone caring to make a donation inBud’s memory send a contribution to one ofthese charities:

Harmony Foundation, for the Keep a MelodyRinging Memorial, 6315 Harmony Lane, Kenosha,WI 53143

The American Red Cross, PO Box 37243, Wash-ington, DC 20013

Survivor’s Fund, c/o Community Foundation forthe National Capital Region, 1112 - 16th StreetNW, Suite 340, Washington, DC 20036

rus, plus wives and friends, augmented by “Bill the trum-peter” (all the way from Boston) spent nearly sevenhours, on foot, in a non-stop marathon of inspira-tional song, trudging from 14th Street downtown tobut a block or so from ground zero on West Street.There were 14 separate performances. Their audiencesranged from as few as two firemen at one of the firehouses that had been decimated by the tragedy, to thou-sands of New Yorkers at the Greenwich Street barri-cade, at the solemn wall of remembrance at St. VincentHospital, and at the remarkable memorial site at UnionSquare Park.

A longer account of these events, as related by cho-rus member Raymond Yeh, can be seen on the Web atspebsqsa.org/harmonizer.

VIRGINIAThe Alexandria Harmonizers took part in a com-


Harmony Hall received dozens ofcards, letters, calls and Emails fromaround the world in the days followingSept. 11. For example, a customer andmember of BING! (Barbershop in Ger-many!), called the Harmony Marketplaceand, as luck would have it, spoke withour newest Society employee. He said hesimply needed to tell her, an American,that he had gone to the U.S. Embassy inBerlin and placed flowers at the gate.

Barbershoppers elsewhere called sim-ply because they wanted to talk to talkwith an American, someone whom theyalready considered a friend. Here is asampling of other messages received.

All members of the ladies barbershopchorus, Champagne Cork, from CorkCity, Ireland, send their condolencesand deepest sympathy to all members

of SPEBSQSA and Sweet Adelines fol-lowing the terrible terrorist atrocities ofTuesday last in New York and Washing-ton. We feel we have been drawn closerto you through barbershop singing,which we all enjoy so much. Our gov-ernment has declared tomorrow, Friday,a day of national mourning in solidaritywith the American people. We suggestthat your motto “Keep the Whole WorldSinging” was never as relevant as it isnow, and we pray that God will give eachone of you the courage to live that mottoto the best of your ability. We sing withyou and for you: “God Bless America.”

Clare Hunt, DirectorCarolyn Corbett, Chairperson,

On behalf of, and at the request ofChampagne CorkCork City, Ireland

munity memorial service, singing for an audience thatheld American flags and lighted candles. Speakers in-cluded members of Congress. The choir from T.C. Wil-liams High School also took part in the program. TheAkron (Ohio) Chapter was joined by the ETC YouthShow Choir in a salute and tribute to the victims. Fundswere collected for the relief effort.

ILLINOISThursday, Sept. 21, the Northbrook Community Net-work presented “An Evening of Unity and Reflection.”The program included community leaders and studentsreflecting on the events of Sept. 11. The 2001 cham-pion New Tradition Chorus participated, performingseveral patriotic songs and concluding with “God BlessAmerica,” where the audience joined the chorus forthe refrain.

As has been reported across the nation, joining inthat song had a cathartic effect on all who were present,performers and audience alike. In a letter following theevent, event organizer Marcia Doniger said, “Becauseof you, our evening was one of joy and reflection. Yourmusic lifted our spirits at a time when many felt italmost impossible. The New Tradition Chorus will al-ways be remembered as part of our healing process. Asfar as we are concerned, you will always be first place inNorthbrook.”

Saturday, Sept. 30, the New Tradition Chorus pre-sented its swan song performance as retiring choruschampions at the Illinois District Fall Convention. Theplanned program was set aside in favor of a patrioticpresentation. The chorus sang its international con-test set, followed by three patriotic selections. Therewere six standing ovations, including one that beganduring the second refrain of “Proud to be an Ameri-can” and continued for more than a minute after the

Today is a National Day of Mourn-ing in Canada for the victims of the ter-rorist attacks on America and the fami-lies impacted by this tragedy. As a resi-dent of our nation’s capital, I will standwith thousands of Canadians, our gov-ernment leaders, the Ambassador of theUnited States of America and his staff,Americans who are working and visit-ing here, members of the internationaldiplomatic corps and communities, andtheir families, on Parliament Hill as wepay tribute to those who lost their livesin the Sept. 11 attack on the USA, thefamilies of the victims, the rescuers, andAmericans world-wide. Our nationalcapital area is adorned with Americanflags. Today you cannot buy an Ameri-can flag in any city or town in Canadabecause the vendors are all sold out! Beassured that Canadians stand with their

Ground zero: A Barbershopper’s first-hand accountTuesday, Sept. 11, 2001I am a genuine eye/ear witness. I saw it all. My apartment is

one block from ground zero. I was watching out the windowwhen the second plane hit. My building was rocked.

Lower Manhattan is shut to the world, but I have phone andInternet access. I ventured down to the street, one block from theWorld Trade Center. The streets are about one to two inches thickwith gritty white ash and paper trash. It looks like a volcano zonewith ash covering everything.

The street is mostly deserted, except for baffled firemen and afew policemen, who don’t know what to do. There are ambulancesparked in front, but no crews to be found. The people outside areaimless. No crying, no panic, no hysteria, no looting. Mostly de-serted (evacuated). The front door of my apartment building wasblown out and is shattered in the lobby. The lobby is two inchesdeep in ash.

The air is thick with gritty particulate stuff that stings youreyes, but aside from smelling smoky, it doesn’t seem to be poi-sonous. Every few minutes, there is a small explosion, which maybe gas lines or other stuff lighting up.

From one block away, I can see the base of the south WTCtower. All that is left is some black structural steel, perhaps threeto four stories high, leaning northbound like the Tower of Pisa.The WTC was silvery-white. What remains is a blackened founda-tion. The visibility doesn’t allow one to see what must be an un-believable mound of rubble from 108 stories of building collapse.There are a few large girders strewn around the block that fell outof the sky. There are no injured to be seen. Presumably they havebeen evacuated, or are buried.

There has to be 50,000 buried within a few hundred yards ofhere. Surely some of them are still alive. Ironically, the sun is try-ing to peep through the smoke and soot.

Mark Bower, Big Apple Chorus, New York City

Dozens of letters of support came from barbershoppers throughout the world


Statement of ownership,management and circulation

The Harmonizer is a bi-monthly magazine pub-lished by the Society for the Preservation andEncouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing inAmerica, Inc., 6315 Harmony Lane, Kenosha,WI, 53143. (Lorin May, editor, 262-653-8440).Annual subscription price: $21

Column 1: Average # of copies each issueduring preceding 12 monthsColumn 2: # copies of single issue publishednearest to filing date

Total copies ............................. 33,253 ... 32,985Outside County copies (U.S.) . 29,742 .... 29509 Paid, in-county ............................. 0 ............ 0 Sales through dealers .................. 0 ............ 0Other classes mailed through USPS ....................... 2,879 ..... 2,845Total paid circulation ................ 32,021 ... 32,269Free DistributionOutside County ............................... 0 ............ 0 In-County ................................. 121 ........ 121 Other Classes mailed through USPS .............................. 8 ............ 8Free distribution outside mail ...... 100 ........ 100Total free distribution ................... 325 ........ 325Total Distribution .................... 32,471 .. 32,719Copies not distributed ................. 150 ....... 150Total ...................................... 32,321 .. 32,569Percent Paid and/or requested ... 99% ...... 99%

end of the song. Members of the IllinoisDistrict Quartet Champions Associationjoined the chorus and a color guard infront of a large America flag to lead theaudience in the closing rendition of “GodBless America.”

TEXASThe Vocal Majority did a show Sept. 19to raise funds for the American Red CrossDisaster Relief Fund. They sold 1,600tickets in three days and raised nearly$27,000. The VM is also donating prof-its from a CD called “A Tribute toAmerica,” which was created for thepurpose of raising funds in this time ofneed.

American brothers. May I, on behalf ofBarbershoppers across Canada, expresscondolences to you and your families.May God grant peace to the victims andtheir families. And may God bless ourtwo great nations. Our prayers are withyou.

J.R. Digger MacDougallOttawa, Canada

This has indeed been one of the sad-dest weeks I can ever remember. Yes-terday I was at the Ministry of Culturehaving a meeting with AlexanderDemchenko. He asked that I convey toeveryone within the Barbershop Soci-ety, especially to Big Apple, TwinShores, Metropolis and all others whoparticipated in this year’s American/Russian Barbershop Festival, his abso-

lute shock and sadness concerning thetragic events this week in New York andWashington, D.C. Major General Vic-tor Afanasiev, Chief of the Ministry ofDefense Military Orchestra Service ofthe Russian Federation also sends hisdeep condolences. The entire Russianstaff at IFAI sends everyone theircondolences. Yesterday, President Putindeclared three minutes of silence in RedSquare for all the victims and their fami-lies and friends. Exactly at 12 p.m., allactivity in Red Square ceased, the bellsof the Kremlin rang out in remembranceof all those who were lost. Many Rus-sians came and after the minutes of si-lence quietly laid flowers in Red Square.

George GordonInternational Fine Arts Institute

St. Petersburg, Russia

MINNESOTABarbershop harmony played an impor-tant role in the Voices Across Americaeffort for the Red Cross Relief Fund. InBloomington, Minn., at the Mall ofAmerica, more than 100 SPEBSQSAand Sweet Adeline singers joined groupsacross the country at 2 p.m. Central Timewith a rendition of “The Star SpangledBanner” and the “Battle Hymn of theRepublic.” This was followed by perfor-mances of choruses and quartets with 90minutes of heartfelt music. Four StarCollection came directly from the air-port to participate in this effort and Sim-ply Magic, another Sweet Adeline quar-tet, also joined in. SPEBSQSA quartets,Random Sample Tune-by-4 gave spir-ited performances as well. The programincluded the Good Times Chorus ofBloomington, Minn., the NorthstarChorus with the Minneapolis Com-modores and the Great NorthernUnion from Hilltop, Minn.

PENNSYLVANIAThe Lancaster Red Rose Chapter led aconcert Tuesday, Oct. 2 to benefit theSalvation Army and the American RedCross. The chapter chorus, two chapterquartets, a local jazz trio, and a local op-era singer came together for “Songs forAmerica.” The concert was billed as “aconcert of patriotic and spiritual musicfor remembrance, inspiration, and hope!”Some 200 people attended and donated$1,370 for the two charitable organiza-tions.

A BIG APPLE CHORUS memberpauses outside a fire station thatlost 13 fire fighters. Chorus mem-bers performed throughout the city.


The place to be this Jan. 20-27 is Riverside, Calif., siteof the Society’s 2002 Midwinter Convention. This isa charming city about one hour due east of Los Ange-les. Its many charms includes the downtown pedes-trian mall, a delightful area for pedestrian-only trafficand just two blocks from the Holiday Inn Select (con-vention headquarters), and immediately adjacent tothe Mission Inn Hotel.

The mall area is a delightful combination of shops,including places like Pandora’s Books, the Photogra-phy Museum, Mission Galleria Antiques, Tamale Fac-tory, Godiva Chocolate shop and the fabulous Mis-sion Inn. If you are staying in this hotel, you willunderstand the charm when you walk in the frontdoor. If you are not staying in that hotel, you musttake a walk through it. It is traditionally one of theplaces to go in California during the Christmas sea-son to see the unbelievable light displays that theyhave throughout the hotel. They have promised tokeep the light displays on during our convention.

Shows and the seniors quartet contest will all takeplace in the Municipal Auditorium, which is only

four blocks from the headquarters hotel and just twoblocks from the Mission Inn Hotel. The MarriottCourtyard Hotel is the other hotel we will use, andwe will provide bus service from that hotel to theauditorium and back Friday and Saturday nights. It isapproximately 1.7 miles from the Marriott CourtyardHotel to the auditorium and 2 miles from that samehotel to the Holiday Inn Select.

We have an exceptional treat this year in that onthe Saturday night show, in addition to gold medal-ists Michigan Jake and silver medalists Uptown Sound,four-time gold medalists, the Masters of Harmony,will rock you out of your seats. You won’t want tomiss that show or any part of the convention for thatmatter.

The Midwinter Convention is always a great, funtime to see super shows and to visit with old friendsand even make some new acquaintances. So makeyour plans now to be there. Register by calling 800-876-7464 x8462 or by using the registration form inthis issue of The Harmonizer. We’ll look forward toseeing you there. ■

date membership number (if applicable) chapter name (if applicable)

registrant’s name nickname for badge

second guest name second guest nickname for badge

registrant address city state ZIP/postal code

work phone home phone email

circle payment method: VISA MasterCard check money ordercard account # expiration date (MM/YY)

❏ Check here if any physical needs require special accommodation for you to fully participate in the convention;convention staff will contact you to make arrangements.

Registration package includes a convention badge, reserved seating for Friday and Saturday Night shows,Saturday night Afterglow, and admission to the Seniors Quartet Contest. registrations @ $50 $ ________

Mail with payment (checks: payable to SPEBSQSA) to: SPEBSQSA, 6315 Harmony Lane, Kenosha, WI 53143-5199. If youregister for more than one person, please attach complete information for each person on a separate sheet. A housingapplication and information regarding events and tours will be mailed to you when you register. All show and tour tickets maybe picked up at the convention registration area. When you receive confirmation, please keep it as your receipt. Registra-tions may be transferred to another person, but they are NOT refundable. No phone orders, please.

ISN’T IT TIME YOU HAD A SUNNY VACATION? January 20-27, 2002

Midwinter 2002 Convention – Riverside, Ca.

office use only

John SchneiderEvents Managerfor SPEBSQSA

Hey! Fill this form out, will ya?Midwinter: more intimate, great shows and warm weather at a time you want it


Bring the HistoryBring the HistoryBring the HistoryBring the HistoryBring the Historyof Barbershoppingof Barbershoppingof Barbershoppingof Barbershoppingof Barbershoppinginto your Home!into your Home!into your Home!into your Home!into your Home!Limited Edition All Pewter Castingby internationally acclaimed artist andsculptor Michael Anthony Ricker

Each 13’x 8”x 61/2 casting is numbered andindividually signed by the sculptor.

This special casting of a barbershop quartet, a wonderful symbol ofour Society, is now available to you! This fine collector’s piece hasbeen appraised at $675.00, but thanks to Mr. Ricker and membersof the Rocky Mountain District, you can bring one home for only

$395.00 including shipping (within the U.S. and Canada). To order,simply fill out the coupon to the right, enclose a check or money

order (U.S. funds only, please) and mail it to:

Ivan JensenRocky Mountain District

9172 Brave Dr.Tucson, AZ 85743

For more information, please contact Ivan by phone at (520) 572-2347or by e-mail at [email protected]

YES! I want to bring this symbol of Barbershopping home!Please send______sculpture(s) to the address listed below. I have enclosed a checkor money order (U.S. funds only, please) for $395.00 per sculptureordered, and I understand that this includes shipping and handling within theU.S. and Canada (please call for orders shipped to other areas).Here is where to ship my treasure:

Name:_____________________________________________________

Address:___________________________________________________

City, State, Zip:______________________________________________

Phone: (_____) _____________________________________________

Card:____________________ Number:_________________________

Expiration Date:____________ Signature:_________________________


W

CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES �The many ways we Sing . . . for life

hat does it take to “Teach theChildren to Sing”? Do you needa 100-man chapter and a cham-pionship chorus? The TTTTTraverseraverseraverseraverseraverseCity (Michigan) ChapterCity (Michigan) ChapterCity (Michigan) ChapterCity (Michigan) ChapterCity (Michigan) Chapterdoesn’t think so, nor does theGreater Ozarks (Arkansas)Greater Ozarks (Arkansas)Greater Ozarks (Arkansas)Greater Ozarks (Arkansas)Greater Ozarks (Arkansas)ChapterChapterChapterChapterChapter. In fact, they know itdoesn’t.

These two chapters alonehave given the gift of song tothousands of elementary stu-dents in their communitieswith help from Harmony Foun-dation grants.

In 1996, an initiative spear-headed by SPEBSQSA, involv-ing MENC, Sweet AdelinesInternational, The AmericanChoral Directors Associationand Chorus America, produceda song book titled, “GetAmerica Singing ... Again!”This book contains 42 songsthat touch our patriotic, folk,ethnic and popular roots. Thegoals were to establish a com-mon song repertoire that Americans of all ages wouldknow and could sing and to promote communitysinging.

Shortly after the publication of the song book, theGreater Ozarks Chapter became inspired: What ifthey could get the book into the hands of the youngpeople in their schools? They soon found out thatthe teachers were very interested and willing to co-operate. Thus, their project, “Get the Ozarks Singing... Again!” was born. The chapter, led by project co-ordinator Jim Nugent, applied for and received aHarmony Foundation grant. The program was sosuccessful that they later received a second grant toextend the program into new schools.

Over in Traverse City, Barbershopper Al Bonneyheard of the Greater Ozarks project and said, “Wecan do that.” Before long, “Get Northern MichiganSinging ... Again!” became a reality. Not only didthe chapter turn to Harmony Foundation for a grant,they also tapped the Grand Traverse Regional Com-munity Foundation and truly madethe project a community effort.

The project addressed two basicproblems. First, students were leav-

ing the sixth grade without knowing many of thestandard American songs that are part of our na-tional heritage. And, because of budget cuts, childrenin the upper elementary classes were losing out onvocal music programs. Therefore, the project objec-tives were to:• Support the teachers’ initiative to create a body of

songs that students leaving the sixth grade wouldknow and could sing together.

• Develop a program the Traverse City Chaptercould continue to support in future years so subse-quent classes could benefit from the curriculumaddition.

• Allow the children to experience the joy of hear-ing their own voice join with others in a vocalensemble.

• Show the children than adult men’s singing iscool!The chapter purchased 1300 of the song books

and delivered them to 30 elementary schools prior tothe Christmas holiday break. Janu-ary through March, The ThirdThe ThirdThe ThirdThe ThirdThe ThirdCoastCoastCoastCoastCoast, a Traverse City seniors quar-tet, presented musical programs tomore than 9,000 students in the

Two small chapters, thousands of small singersThey got children singing the old songs again. Your chapter can do it, too!

OVER 9,000 STUDENTS in Northern Michigan were touched bymusic provided by Barbershoppers of the Traverse City Chapter.

Gary StammHarmony

Foundationdirector

GARY STAMM


schools. These visits showed supportfor the new songs and showed the stu-dents the fun men can have singingclose harmony. Finally, in May, thechorus sponsored two massed singevents, where the students sang thesongs they had learned from the book.They also heard songs performed bythe Cherry Capital Barbershop Cho-Cherry Capital Barbershop Cho-Cherry Capital Barbershop Cho-Cherry Capital Barbershop Cho-Cherry Capital Barbershop Cho-rusrusrusrusrus and a high school boys’ ensemble.

The result was that the children hada great time and their teachers are stillraving about the project. Here are afew of their comments:• “I think that singing

together with all theschools was a wonder-ful experience to en-courage music study.Seeing adult mensing encourages a life-long activity.”

• “Excellent, musicbook provided, vocalpresentation, and ac-tual participation—our school is forevergrateful.”

• “Great to have male role models forour students, who sometimes getthe notion that singing is a girlthing.”

• “To look around and see the joyfulfaces of the kids as they raised theirvoices in song—how powerful!”

You can do it, too!Chapters throughout North Americacan likewise help fulfill our Society’scharitable mission, “to preserve ourmusical legacy through support of vocalmusic education in our schools andcommunities.” You can purchase a

video and a CD containing documents,plans, grant requests and teacher com-munications from Harmony Market-place for $15, plus shipping and han-dling (stock number 4100). ContactAl Bonney at [email protected] foradditional details.

We truly are making a difference—hundreds and thousands of youngpeople at a time—through your dona-tions to the Harmony FoundationGeneral Fund.

November and December are crucialfor Harmony Founda-tion and our CharitableMission. We receive ap-proximately 50 percentof our total gifts to sup-port the annual missionin these two months.

Here’s what you cando in the next fewweeks to make sure wehave a successful year,and that we can con-tinue the importantwork we are doing as

Barbershoppers.• Respond with a contribution when

you receive your Harmony Founda-tion General Fund Campaignmailer.

• Use the gift envelope in this issueto make a gift to the general fund orKeep a Melody Ringing EndowmentFund.

• Make sure your chapter sends a gen-erous gift to the general fund.

• Encourage your quartet to send agift to the Foundation—possiblyone of your holiday performancefees. ■

The greater Ozarks chapter had no idea how successful their idea wouldbe. Can you imagine the potential impact in your community schools?

GARY STAMM

The next deadline forHarmony Foundationgrants is May 1. Appli-cations and guide-lines can be down-loaded from theharmonyfoundation.orgor call 800-876-SING

The next deadline forHarmony Foundationgrants is May 1. Appli-cations and guide-lines can be down-loaded from theharmonyfoundation.org

The next deadline forHarmony Foundationgrants is May 1. Appli-cations and guide-lines can be down-loaded from theharmonyfoundation.org

FYIFYIFYIGrants deadline

The next deadline forHarmony Foundationgrants is May 1. Ap-plications and guide-lines can be down-loaded from theharmonyfoundation.orgor call 800-876-SING

FYI


Carole T. Fulmer will tell you, “God uses ordinarymen for angelic tasks. His messengers even sing inquartets.”

Carole’s husband, Frank, was dying. A friend,member of The Spring Street FourThe Spring Street FourThe Spring Street FourThe Spring Street FourThe Spring Street Four, offered to bring

the quartet to the hospital that Sunday to sing forFrank once more. Carole resisted the idea, unsureher husband would live the two days until Sunday,unsure Frank’s condition would allow the visit.

But Sunday came and so did the quartet. “Whenthe quartet enters (the hospital room),” Carolesaid, “Frank reaches to shake hands with the menwith a beautiful smile on his face and tears in hiseyes. He knows them—he has been having diffi-culty recognizing people—and now he is radiatingjoy.

“There is no question, a miracle is happening.As their singing fills the air, his smile intensifies.Slowly, he relaxes and the pain drains as his spasmsdecrease.

“That day, I was given the most valuable giftimaginable. Frank lapsed into unconsciousnesswith a smile on his face. I can visualize him beingushered into heaven by this angel choir.”

Ushered into heaven with a smile on his face

STAY TUNEDSuccess! Readers report what works.

��id you catch this summer’s Jessica Biel/Freddie Prinze, Jr. flick? You know,that baseball/romance movie, “Sum-mer Catch”?

You didn’t? You’re not alone. Themovie was panned by critics and ig-nored by audiences, but don’t blamethe barbershop quartet. “Casablanca”this movie was not, but the producersgot one thing right: If you’re going tomake an authentic baseball movie,you’ve gotta have a barbershop quartetsinging the national anthem.

It didn’t hurt that director MikeTollin is a big fan of barbershop. Acasting call was sent out in theWilmington, N.C. area, where themovie was being filmed. Tollin and thecasting director wanted real Barber-shoppers, but they weren’t primarilyauditioning for vocal talent. Fromamong members of the Cape FearCape FearCape FearCape FearCape FearChordsmenChordsmenChordsmenChordsmenChordsmen, they picked out DaveBowen, Arnold Cosby, Dave Hogin,and Bob Stockfish, based primarily ontheir appearance.

These good-looking guys were toldthat they were now a quartet, andfrom then on they got treated like roy-

The quartet warms up just before a shoot.

DPoor movie? Just take the money and run

alty. (That’s Hollywood for you.) They were paidwell, and each guy got his own trailer with a redstar on the door for the two-day shoot. The quartetalso got to sing a special song for another barber-shop fan, studio exec Frank Capra, Jr.

The movie is no longer in theaters, but you cancatch the guys’ performance when it comes out onvideo. No one can stop you if you fast-forwardthrough the non-barbershop parts.


Great backdrops, not for saleEveryone knows that a great backdrop can en-hance the overall effect of performance. Hereare two of the best we’ve seen in a while.

Zion National Park’s Tanner Amphitheaterin southern Utah provided a spectacular back-drop for the Wasatch Front (Utah) Chapter(The SaltairesThe SaltairesThe SaltairesThe SaltairesThe Saltaires) Labor Day festival. Harmonyrang from the canyon walls during performancesby chorus and the featured quartets: MaximMaximMaximMaximMaxim,Senior Class ReunionSenior Class ReunionSenior Class ReunionSenior Class ReunionSenior Class Reunion, Bamberger ExpressBamberger ExpressBamberger ExpressBamberger ExpressBamberger Express and2001 international collegiate champion, Re-Re-Re-Re-Re-prisepriseprisepriseprise.

66 W66 W66 W66 W66 Westestestestest is framed by the Lincoln Memorialduring its performance in the second annual acappella festival Sept. 23 in Washington, D.C.It was the first public event to be held on theNational Mall after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.Quartet members are (from left) David Hughes

, Brian Ammerman , Ray Johnson andJeff Salino . The Kings Chorders also repre-sented barbershop harmony at the festival.

CHAPTER ETERNALSociety members reported as deceased between July 1 and September 30, 2001.Central StatesCummings, JoeLincoln, NEJacques, PaulIowa City, IAMeats, MarvinMc Pherson, KSOehlerking, EldonLincoln, NE

DixieDaniel, HaroldMcDonough, GADunkin III, RobertChattanooga, TNFuller, RobertGreenville Area,NCLeeper, JohnGrand Strand, SC

McClure, FloydHickory, NCWickman, RichardNew Bern, NC

EvergreenDay, GeorgeSnohomishCounty, WAGray, RalphOlympia, WAHedges, DonFrank ThorneHood, DonCanby, ORLatham, JamesFederal Way, WAStaffen, BurtBellevue, WA

Swanson, RobertFrank Thorne

Far WesternBarrett, JohnIrvine, CADana PointHarbor, CAButler, HenrySun Cities, AZButler, HenryPrescott, AZHahn, GordonFrank ThorneMaud, LaurenceCanada DelOro, AZMcKim, RobertSan Jose, CA

Newton, RobertSan GabrielValley, CARiley, DickWhittier, CASmith, FrankMontereyPeninsula, CAFrank ThorneAnderson, RoyFrank ThorneKemerer, GeorgeFrank Thorne

IllinoisAnderson, PhilipLombard, ILGindler, HaroldCollinsville, IL

Jacobs, RobertLake County, ILRamsey, LeeHarrisburg, IL

JohnnyAppleseedAnderson, RichardPittsburghNorth Hills, PABarden, RichardPittsburghNorth Hills, PAContini, NickTuscarawas County,OHCanton, OHKern, RichardDefiance, OH

Miller, MayardGreater UniontownArea, PAStrayer, RoyJohnstown, PATrikones, JamesUpper Ohio Valley,OH

Land O’ LakesComnick, RussellPark Rapids, MNCooper, RichardKenosha, WISwanson, CarlMilwaukee, WIVos, ArthurKenosha, WI


STAY TUNED ��

CHAPTER ETERNAL

Mid-AtlanticBeehler, RobertDundalk, MDBoone, CanfieldCentreville, VACreveling, LewisColumbia-MontourCounty, PADukes, KennethRockland, NYEpperley, DonaldSuffolk, VAHeilman, SamuelLebanon, PAMoyer, GaryReading, PA

NortheasternAiken, DonaldPlattsburgh, NYCunha, FredNew Bedford, MAMondi, DominicBeverly, MAPerkins, JohnTroy, NYRaymond,SherwoodHartford, CT

Sullivan, C. ThomasBeverly, MA

OntarioShackleton, JohnSarnia, ONSmith, RobertGrimsby, ONTwiddy, ClareQuinte Regional, ON

PioneerCameron, StuartSault Ste. Marie, ONMackowiak, CasimerPetoskey, MIPendell, PeterSwan Valley, MIPendell, PeterGratiot County, MIShannon, WesleyLansing, MI

RockyMountainEsperson, ClintonSalt Lake City, UT

Seneca LandColella, FrankBuffalo, NY

Kervink, AllenBuffalo, NYLang, JackCrawford County, PAShaffer, ShurlVenango County, PA

SouthwesternAnderson, VerdellTown North Plano, TXKemp, BobbyBig “D”, TX

SunshineBoyce, ArthurEnglewood, FLCorbett, L. HaroldSt Petersburg, FLCrossley, StanleySarasota, FLKervink, AllenCitrus County, FLManning, DeanPolk County, FLRay, RobertMartin - St. Lucie, FLRodriguez, EdwardOrlando, FLShannon, WesleyNaples, FL

Beach Bum Barbershoppers?Picture it: a day at the beach listening to 14 quar-tets and seven choruses from all over New YorkState and Canada—representing SPEBSQSA, Har-mony, Inc., and Sweet Adelines—in a seven-hourfree concert on the shores of Lake Ontario inRochester, N.Y. That sort of barbershop celebrationhappens every July when the annual “Barbershop atthe Beach” concert is held. Keith Clark from theRochester Chapter started it all 11 years ago; nowmembers of three Rochester barbershop societieswork together to make it a ringing success. ■

There’re no tales of gunfights surrounding OK Cho-rale, but the Far Western District quartet has beennamed True West Magazine’s “True West Ballad-eers.”

The magazine, located in Cave Creek, Ariz., isan international publication that chronicles theearly American West. OK Chorale created its per-formance material around the characters of Wyatt,Morgan, and Virgil Earp and Doc Holliday. Theyhave selected songs that were sung in the late 1800sor that specifically tell the story of places, peopleand events of that era.

The scripts and costumes have been approved bythe magazine’s editors. According to a press release,the quartet’s dedication to telling the accurate his-tory is what prompted the magazine to create “True

West Balladeers.”“We love to sing four-part harmony, and we love

history,” explained John Fynmore, tenor. “When wemade the decision to combine the two, we spokewith the people at True West, and they were verypleased with our concept.”

“This is very exciting to have an a cappella quar-tet that is dedicated to telling the stories of the OldWest,” said historian and magazine owner Bob BozeBell. “The quartet’s clever and entertaining ap-proach to history, especially Arizona’s colorful past,is truly unique.”

Fynmore is joined in the quartet by AllenFossenkemper , Galen McClain , and DanDavenport .

Find your niche andmake the most of it

True WestBalladeers


Director wantedFremont, NE. Pathfinder Chorus is seeking amusical director for this perennially top-fiveCentral States Chorus. 50 men in attendanceregularly. A very active chapter with a 3-per-formance annual show, numerous singoutsand other chapter activities. Thirty minutesfrom Omaha, or 50 minutes from the Lin-coln metropolitan areas. Fremont is a warmand friendly community of 25,000 outstand-ing Barbershop Fans. Send resume or letterof inquiry to Ray Meister, 121 South WilliamAve., Fremont, NE 68025 or call: Ray Meisterat 402-727-1829 [email protected].

Director needed for well-established 35-manbarbershop chorus in Colorado Springs,Colo. Candidate should be a highly-moti-vated, enthusiastic person with excellent, all-around knowledge of the barbershop craft.Chorus rehearses Tuesday evenings, 7 pm.Call Charlie Snyder, 719-576-9153 or [email protected] for further information.

Director needed for a 28-yr-old establishedchapter of 40+ in beautiful resort town of

SWIPES ‘N’ SWAPS

Classified ad bargains for Barbershoppers, published as a service to readers—all copysubject to editorial approval. Rate: $25 per column inch.

Hilton Head Island. Excellent admin and strongcommunity following. Contact BernieBookman at 843-671-2052 [email protected].

Chattanooga, Tenn., chapter, Choo Choo Cho-rus, a 55-man chorus that regularly puts 35to 40 men on stage for contests, needs anexperienced director to replace our currentleader, who is retiring from his duties at theend of December. Our chorus consistentlyplaces in the top ten at the Dixie District. Thisis a paid position. Chattanooga is in the topten cities in the country for outdoors livingactivities and the top twenty cities in the coun-try for the lowest cost of living. If interestedplease contact Dan Bruns at 423-751-6430(day) or 423-493-1880 (evenings) [email protected].

Uniforms for sale55 Lamé vests, reversible, red and gold withmatching bow ties, full back (black), like new,original cost $60, sell for $35 per vest and tie.For details, contact Frank Pagliarulo, 724-468-1004 or [email protected].


ROne of the best from one of the best

THE TAG ��Joe Liles, Tagmaster

V

?

b

b

C

C

Tenor

Lead

Bari

Bass

1 ˙ œ œWe'll build a

˙ œ œ

˙ œ œb˙ œ œ

2 ˙ ˙rain - bow

˙ ˙

˙ ˙˙ ˙n

3 ˙ ˙in the

˙ ˙#

˙ ˙b˙A ˙n

4 wsky.

w

ww

WE'LL BUILD A RAINBOW

EARL MOON, early 1970s

ainbows have fascinated mankind ever since thefirst sightings. Folk lore sprung to the fore and nu-merous stories about pots of gold and pleasurableexperiences are associated with rainbows. In theBible, Genesis chapter 9, it speaks of the rainbow asa symbol of God’s promise to never destroy theearth again by flood.

Droplets of water or ice crystals in the air dividethe “white” sunlight into seven glorious colors,bringing a most pleasurable sight to the eyes. Now,is it such a coincidence that the barbershop sev-

enth chord brings pleasurable sounds tothe ears? Why ... I don’t think so. Just

maybe the dominant seventh chord isthe Barbershopper’s rainbow!

Enough of the sunlight, now tothe Moon-light ... Earl, that is. EarlMoon (1928-1996) shed light on whatit means to arrange a song for a singer.

Some arrangers emphasize the arrange-ment, and that is certainly a viable

option under some circumstances.Earl’s arrangements, however, em-phasized the song and were per-formable by most all singers. Bar-

bershop singing was a passion that started in highschool and continued through his days in the Navy,and became a lifelong activity.

Earl met and married Millye in 1949, directedseveral barbershop choruses, including SantaMonica, San Fernando, Downey, and Whittier,winning district championships and achieving med-alist status. He was a quartet singer and when anyof his choruses or quartets needed material, hewould arrange songs for shows and contests. His

first arrangement, of several hundred, was of“Cecilia.” Those who were in his presence weremesmerized by his stories and his teaching of tagsand songs.

Earl’s arrangements will continue to bring plea-sure as long as there are singers. Millye is presentlyhelping us put together a complete collection ofEarl’s creations for our Old Songs Library. We misshis physical presence, but he left us a heritage ofincredible vocal rainbows. Here is a tag in his re-membrance. ■

Trip sponsoredby the

InternationalFine Arts

Institute, theRussian Ministry

of Culture andSPEBSQSA

See St. Petersburg at its finest, then join the massed chorus as you helpRussia continue to discover barbershop music. Join Riptide and Dr. Greg Lyne

at the fourth annual Russian Barbershop Harmony Festival, August 16–25, 2002.For travel reservations or additional information, call 414-352-1917 or email [email protected]

Riptide - 2001 international bronze medalist

Optional extention

trip to Moscow

August 25–27

Dr. Greg Lyne

keep the whole world singing - amazon web...

Documents