INSIDE: The Future History of Barbershop Harmony • Meet Society pres Don Fuson • Less is more at Harmony U

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Lorin May

hot and cold in : The weather felt more like Minneapolis, but the Big Easy’s food, music and culture made for one of the hottest and most memorable Midwinter Conven- tions ever. Catch a taste of the action, with a second helping of Youth Chorus Festival still sim- mering for a future issue. 28 Features More from our Storytellers Future history of barbershop 12 Sending your story to [email protected] 19 The Hall of Fame arranger, historian, judge, and gets results. Golf Capital Chorus gives double support coach looks at barbershop’s history to prredict the to active duty military. 15-year-old mini chorus Society’s trends and opportunities in the near future. of non-Barbershoppers helps cardio patients heal David Wright through fellowship and song Martin Banks, Various Sharing music with Don Fuson 24 Our new Society president wishes he’d discovered Music changes Island Boys barbershop much earlier. He wants to ensure we all 14 13 years ago, set the most unachieveable help more men discover this passion sooner. goal they could think of ... and 12 years later they Alison & Linda Fuson achieved it. Along the way, they became a living embodiment of how singing changes lives. Less is more at Harmony U Lorin May, Editor, The Harmonizer 26 And more is more, too! Exciting changes make Harmony U a can’t miss in 2015! Donny Rose, Director of Harmony U On the Cover The ’ improbably global journey Departments Cover art by Eddie Holt

2 10 THE PRESIDENT’S PAGE Harmony How-TO Great recruiters show how to Share Your Music 7 tips to help you become a better arranger 3 36 Straight Talk making a difference Extensive winter travels lead to great connections Slam dunk for barbershop at ACDA Convention 4 Barbershop is alive in Buenos Aires! TEMPO 38 Plenty of feedback on African-American Roots Member service directory 6 Where to find answers TEMPO 40 Learn the rule changes for upcoming contests The Tag Balding Japanese men inspired by Westminster Chorus “Mother’s/Father’s Day Tag”

March/April 2015 • The HARMONIZER 1 the President’s page Don Fuson, Society President • [email protected] Great recruiters show how to Share Your Music

e certainly have fun singing with each other in a Cats, and preparing them to sing in small groups. chorus or two, a , Singing Valentines, and Ongoing use of the eBiz Chapter Roster helps the other performances. But there are more opportunities secretary keep the chapter board aware of who has not Wto Share Your Music with new guests, prospects, and attended the past few meeting nights, along with up- other community singers. coming renewals for retention. I talked to a few men who led their districts in bring- The chapter meets Sundays at 7:30 p.m., but David ing in new members for 2014. They freely shared their invites newer members to join him at 6:30 to learn thoughts with me when I introduced myself as “Don, Barberpole Cats, get basic vocal coaching, and then a from Kansas City.” Each had interesting helps these same new members prepare to sing a num- thoughts on bringing in members, and how it relates to ber for the whole chorus. He finds that the chorus chapter expectations and opportunities. sound has improved with helping newer members de- #1 overall recruiter for 2014. Music educator Todd velop quartet skills, as it helps with listening skills and Krier became a new Society member and director of for each man to hold his own on his voice part. the Lincoln, Neb., Chapter in 2013. Using his connec- tions with other singers, he brought in six new mem- My challenge: discuss why you sing bers in 2014 and already has 11 Man of Note (MON) So here is the challenge to each of us: awards in two short years. Todd has an infectious en- Take a few minutes at your next chapter meeting ergy as he talks about the joys of singing with chapter and discuss this question: Why do you sing? guests and attendees at shows. He urges chapter mem- I bet you will find that many guys express the joy of bers to talk to at least one person in the audience to engaging audiences and seeing smiles come with the find out what they like to do, and then asks the men to story, the songs and chords, and the overall energy that share their enjoyment of singing with this person. you send! Todd finds that these “prior relationships” make A successful quartet or chorus will always prepare it easier for men to agree to join him for an eve- for its next performance by planning or preparing for ning of fellowship and fun with other men that kind of sharing experience. in his chorus. Reaching that goal during that performance will The power of positivity and persistence. keep you coming back to (re)learn new vocal skills Another successful recruiter was Dick Tim- and allow the combination of voices to produce merman of the Mammoth Cave, Ky. Chapter harmonies ... becoming more than the sum of the (CAR). Richard’s career 33 MON puts him individual singers. in the top 1% in the Society. Three One of the strange facts about our Society is that our At your next MON in 2014 reflect that Richard con- rate of members recruiting has been dropping, even as tinues to reach out and ask “where do the quality of our overall singing (choruses and quar- meeting, dis- you like to sing?” as part of his contact tets) is going up and our outreach is expanding! cuss this ques- with new potential singers. A second strange fact is that the list of new members Dick has also sung with Beatrice, Neb., in The Harmonizer shows new members who appear to tion: Why do and Phoenix, Ariz. chapters. His chapter have come to the local chapter on their own, without reaches out to the community, not just the help of a Man of Note. Reach out and support all you sing? to find new members, but to discover new members, giving the support and information that anyone with an interest or experience in would have helped you! singing. Dick’s secret? Persistence. It often takes a sec- Dick Timmerman’s personal challenge to each of ond or third invitation to get someone to visit! us? Reach out and share your fun, bringing in a new Using technology to attract singers. David Bonnell is member as a MON for each year you have been in the the chapter Membership VP of the Germantown, Md. Society! That is one path to chapter growth, member Chapter. David credits a fresh website and good use of retention and support, and Society success! other social media to getting the word out about the I love talking to members and learning from each of chorus into the community. you! Share your Music! Of David’s five MON in 2014, three came via meetup.com, a community network site that helps people with similar interests (e.g. singing) contact each other. Once a guest visits, David also oversees a weekly contact program to introduce each guest to the chapter, the singing style, learning Barberpole [email protected]

2 The HARMONIZER • March/April 2015 Straight talk Marty Monson • Society CEO • [email protected] Extensive winter travels lead to great connections hree issues have gone by since I wrote here, and boy do rus America. The next day I attended the Alexandria I have a laundry list of items to share. There is never a Harmonizers banquet and installation, and it was an shortage of topics to cover in this organization! honor to be included in the program. Open Board members. I met the new community T A lot of traveling, a lot of results members that Alexandria has on its board. Alexandria In the first six weeks of this year, I was on the road vis- is one of several chapters participating in the Society’s iting more chapters than perhaps during any conven- two-year waiver to investigate the benefits and chal- tion season. What a treat! lenges of having community members on our chapter Minneapolis. First off, a send-off to Peter Benson, boards. We’re hoping it will encourage greater commu- director of Great Northern Union, but also met up nity results, and in very little time it’s already making a with chapter leaders at GNU, St. Paul, Minneapolis, difference. More on that in a future issue. Faribault, Stillwater and Minnetonka chapters. They Chapter roundtable. That Sunday afternoon, past have a great choral and marketing opportunity MAD President Bill Colosimo organized a chapter ahead with our international convention sched- roundtable attended by a surprising number of chap- uled for 2017 in Minneapolis. ters, even though it was organized on 48 hours’ notice. Leadership in Carolinas. Next trip was the Carolinas Those chapters in attendance were: District of Colum- District Leadership Academy. My host and host- bia, Montgomery County, Patapsco Valley, Dundalk, ess, Warren and Andy Fuson, were outstanding Arlington, Loudoun County, as I enjoyed the Raleigh area. The event was a Anne Arundel, Fairfax, Ger- huge hit, with 21 of the 25 chapters (84%!) in at- mantown, Mount Vernon and What’s in Marty’s Daytimer? tendance. I attended the President/Director track Alexandria. I wish Society • March 12, Ameri- facilitated by John Wiegand (not a Barbershop- chapters did a lot more gather- cana Music per), who did an outstanding job hitting all the ing outside the conventions. Triangle, Nash- basics of leadership management and com- What a joy it is to share our ville What a joy munications. What excellent fundamentals successes, challenges and ways • March 17, Deke Sharon, it is to share for everyone to understand. These principles we can collaborate better to- San Francisco are being integrated into a new Leadership gether. Of course, ringing a few • March 17, Mateo County Chapter, Calif. our successes, Development initiative headed up by Steve chords is always first at hand! • April 10-12, ONT District challenges Wyszomierski. More to come on this effort Archiving our assets. That Spring Convention in an upcoming issue. Monday, I visited the Library • April 13, Coalition for and ways we Harmonious in San Antonio. Fourth trip of Congress National Audio- Music Education in can collabo- in four weeks, Col. George Westover was Visual Conservation Center , Toronto my host as well as the organizer of the local in Culpeper, Va. What a • April 23-26, RMD Har- rate better San Antonio area installation banquet at- building! One of the archivists mony College, Estes Park, tended by over 200. What a great program was a former Barbershopper! Colo. together. and sharing time with all five San Antonio We discussed ways we could chapters: New Braunfels, Heart of Texas, San Antonio collaborate and get assistance What is Marty reading? Chordsmen, Marcsmen and Friends In Harmony—a with our huge collection of • This Is Your Brain new chapter. The next day, I was able to sit down with archived media in our head- on Music, Daniel J. those chapter leaders for a roundtable on the Sunday quarters basement that needs Levitin afternoon of the Super Bowl. What commitment and attention before some of the energy, again hosted by Col. Westover. The next day 100,000 performances on 44 What is Marty listening to? was a delight by attending the Friends in Harmony re- media types begin to wilt away. • hearsal led by director Artie Dolt. What an inspiration Well, that gets you caught • The Road, for that new chapter. San Antonio is the 7th largest up, but more importantly OC Times city in the and has the capacity for a lot keeps Harmony Hall up to of barbershop singing! date on what’s going on in the field. It’s great to be a Promising relationships in D.C. My final trip during Barbershopper! this five-week journey was Washington, D.C., where I visited with the leadership of our partners National Association for Music Educators (NAfME), Associa- [email protected] tion of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) and Cho- [email protected]

March/April 2015 • The HARMONIZER 3 letters [email protected] Plenty of feedback on African-American Roots

Article understated the extent of past racism less has the appearance of dishonesty and will seem [This letter was edited extensively for length. Read the disingenuous. full version at www.barbershophq.com/rootsletter.] Wynn Gadkar-Wilcox, Professor and Chair, applaud David Wright’s article, “The African-Amer- Department of History and Non-Western Cultures, ican Roots of Barbershop (and Why It Matters),” for Western Connecticut State University presenting an accurate and interesting review. I also Asst. Director, Danbury, Conn. Chapter enjoyed the sidebars, and enthusiastically support IWright’s call to encourage more African-American David Wright responds: Let me just say I agree with Barbershoppers into our Society. the thrust of what you say. I don’t think the article However, as both a professional historian and suggests that African-Americans did not participate as a Barbershopper, I am disappointed that the because they did not like that white singers had ap- article downplays difficult but unavoidable truths propriated their music and attributed it to Europeans; about the history of racism and racial exclusion in only certain intellectuals felt that way. And I really barbershop. The Society continued to sing “coon don’t think it was because of song lyrics, although songs,” put on minstrel shows, and uphold a formal some song choices were certainly not inviting to black and explicit policy of segregation until well into people. They did not participate because ours was an the 1960s. Popular barbershop songs in the Soci- all-white Society that excluded blacks. ety’s early days embraced degrading racial stereo- Please note that the article was a shortened audio types; when the day’s African-American transcription of a class I gave at the Midwinter Con- complained about offensive lyrics, they were met vention in January. You can view it on YouTube at bit. with patronizing and sometimes offensive re- ly/barbershophistory. At about 20:00, I discuss the plies. exclusion of by both our Society As late as 1986, “Way Down Yonder” was and Sweet Adelines. This should have been included included in many popular anthologies that are in the summary published in The Harmonizer, and still listed on the Society website. One antholo- I will take the blame for that, as I approved the pub- gy printed the song’s original lyrics, which used lished version. the “n” word and implied that African Ameri- cans are usually thieves. This was enough to Near and dear to his heart keep me out of barbershop for several years. I always enjoy your publication and, of course, quite However, the fleeting treatment of racist lyr- often find them to be exceptionally well done. I ics is a relatively minor omission compared with think this one is one of the best. Of course, part of the silence on the actual exclusion of African- that is because its main subjects are very near and Americans from Society—officially until 1963, and dear to my heart. Thanks, Lorin, for the quality of effectively throughout the 1960s. work you continue to share. You are a special person The BHS is not uniquely responsible for in our Society. America’s legacy of racism, in which the Society David Krause joined with organizations like the Rotary Club, the Kansas City, Mo. Knights of Columbus and Major League Baseball in enforcing formal or informal policies of segrega- If we’re sincere, let’s not sing Stephen Foster tion. For the Society to be truly inclusive today What are we to conclude when we see The Harmo- requires more than a discussion of barbershop’s Af- nizer arrive with an excellent feature on bringing rican-American roots, but a more open and honest African-American singers into the Society and then, accounting of the history of exclusion involved. two days later, we receive a LiveWire announcing that Drew and Jacob Ellis asking that the BHS recog- the Society is celebrating Stephen Foster “with a spe- nize leading black groups is a step in this direction; cial new collection of his greatest works”? And that specifically honoring black quartets (such as the “two of these new arrangements will be debuted at Red Cap Quartet) that were explicitly excluded by the Saturday Night Spectacular in Pittsburgh.” early Society leaders would be another. Given Foster’s extensive use of racial epithets and I understand the Society’s desire to focus on caricatures through both lyrics and their spellings, I moving forward rather than dwelling on the past. find the Society’s promotion of any of his works to Yet, we do not need to wallow in our mistakes as be an embarrassment and a deterrent to the ability an organization in order to be forthright and com- to recruit and retain African-Americans into the plete in acknowledging these mistakes. Anything Barbershop Harmony Society. I can see their value as

4 The HARMONIZER • March/April 2015 part of our nation’s history and would Debating barbershop’s benchmarks ship and in tune, and it will ring. If advocate preserving them—in their David Wright’s article states that “bar- you do not do all of those things, you original form—in museums. However, bershop is not purely homophonic.” might sound beautiful and artistic and I see nothing but negative outcomes by When the greatest arrangers of the day skilled—but you are not ringing chords. performing them and thus perpetuat- met in 1970 to rewrite the Arrange- So perhaps, we need to change our ing BHS as an insensitive organization, ment category, they established 47 Society name to the “Next generation regardless of whether the offensive lyr- benchmarks of a barbershop song. One evolutionary a cappella society” and our ics are changed. was that barbershop was homophonic, motto to “If we’re not singing it yet, just As Cecil Brown suggests (p. 12), with occasional excursions allowed hang on a few years, and we will be.” why not start by asking Fisk Univer- for pickups, call and echo, and other “Montana Jack” Fitzpatrick sity to help us remove all songs with embellishments. This benchmark was Tucson, Ariz. racial implications from our Harmo- preserved when today’s three-category ny Marketplace offerings? And pub- system was formalized in the early David Wright responds: Where do I be- licize to the entire world that we are 1990s, even while approximately 40 gin? I would kindly say to Jack: doing so. Yes, some will argue that other benchmarks were discarded. (1) Justify any of your assertions with they should be “preserved” as part of All was well (as could be) until careful historical evidence. our history. Fine. Preserve them, but competitors introduced arrangements (2) Would you say the [1948 champ] don’t sell them and don’t sing them. that far exceeded the caveat that non- ’ rendition of “Give Me A Stephen Rafe homophonic incursions were to be Night In June” was purely homophonic? Stephens City, Va. “occasional.” The Music category was (3) When did the barbershop style ever then changed to state that barbershop not evolve? (Point to a 30-year interval Editor’s reply: Last issue’s cover story was “primarily” homophonic. The where there was no significant evolution, represents the beginning (not the end) of flood gates now opened, groups now and justify your assertion. It certainly was a new racial dialog pertaining to the past sing gymnastic arrangements that are in the process of evolving in 1970.) and future of barbershop. The challenge anything but homophonic. We are now (4) As a former Sound judge, how of history is to preserve all lessons from judging and awarding artistic achieve- would you evaluate [2014 bronze med- the past, including learning from the often ment rather than seeking to preserve alist] Lemon Squeezy’s ability to ring ugly elements that were sometimes inter- the style. chords? (I’ve been around since the days mingled among the good. We have been force-fed, one small you recall, and I’ve never heard chords U.S. citizens of all races still revere dose at a time, the idea that we must ring like they do now. And my ears aren’t George Washington as the“Father of a evolve or die—partly so we can reach that bad.) Nation” despite his extensive ownership more youth. Yet, more than anything (5) What other a cappella style has the of slaves; likewise, Stephen Foster is still else, our youth love to sing classic basic features of barbershop laid out in widely revered as the “Father of Ameri- tags—not the music of today arranged my keynote address? (See page 30, this can Music” despite his having composed in some hip, new evolutionary way. issue. View the entire address on YouTube extensively for minstrel shows. At what point do we stop evolving? at bit.ly/futurehistoryofbarbershop.) The Society and the estate of Stephen What will barbershop become in an- All serious questions. I don’t mind Foster have been working to create a other 10 or 20 years? Old-time steam discussion. Just be prepared to have as- songbook with many of Foster’s uplift- locomotives were tweaked and updated, sertions challenged. That is something ing melodies—a songbook that openly but they still looked like old-time loco- that didn’t happen in 1970. n removes or replaces offensive lyrics when motives—and they ran needed. This is not an attempt to rewrite on steam. When they history; the indignities associated with changed the propulsion minstrel shows will not be overlooked system, they became die- sel locomotives. Steam March/April 2015 or forgotten. However, this songbook Volume LXXV Number 2 will be a gift to singers of all races who locomotive aficionados Complete contact info: pages 38-39 have long embraced Foster’s melodies, did not evolve to em- The Harmonizer (USPS No. 577700)(ISSN 0017-7849) is the official publication of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet often in spite of their original settings. brace diesel. Singing in America, Inc., dba Barbershop Harmony Society. It is published in Janu- The BHS continues to build relation- As one of the first ary, March, May, July, September and November at 110 7th Ave N, Nashville TN 37203-3704. ships with groups such as the National Sound judges, I assure Periodicals postage paid at Kenosha, Wisconsin, and at additional mailing offices. Museum of African-American Music you that it is impossible Editorial and advertising offices are at the Society headquarters. Advertising rates available upon request at [email protected]. Publisher to strengthen the association of bar- to ring chords with every- assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited manuscripts or artwork. bershop music with African-American one moving and chang- Postmaster: send address changes to editorial offices of The Harmonizer, 110 7th ing, as we have currently Ave N, Nashville TN 37203-3704 at least 30 days before the next publication date. musicians; many more relationships are (Publications Agreement No. 40886012. Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses developing. The history of barbershop, evolved into doing. Lock to: Station A, PO Box 54, Windsor ON N9A 6J5. Email: [email protected]) our music catalog, and the sensitivities and ring means just that. A portion of each member’s dues is allocated to cover the magazine’s subscription price. Subscription price to non-members is $21 yearly or $3.50 per issue; foreign of modern audiences constitute an on- Lock the chord, with subscriptions are $31 yearly or $5 per issue (U.S. funds only). going dialog. All voices are welcomed matching word sounds, © 2015 The Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc. dba The Barbershop Harmony Society. and desired. proper volume relation- Printed in the USA

March/April 2015 • The HARMONIZER 5 tempo Timely news Learn the rule changes for upcoming contests t the Midwinter Convention in New the International Chorus Contest; as a Orleans, the Society Board of Directors general rule now, as long as you are a Soci- (SBOD) passed a large set of rule changes ety member, you can sing. However, each proposed by the Society Contest and contest cycle brings a variety of questions AJudging Committee (SCJC). SCJC is about the eligibility of quartet members constantly looking at ways to improve the singing in multiple quartets, transferring, contest experience for competitors and etc. Previously, these requests had to go audiences, as well as ensuring that our to the SBOD for approval. The recent rules truly reflect our prevailing attitudes. rule change transfers ownership of these To show what changed and what requests to the SCJC. did not, a complete summary of each Reductions. In 2007, “formal” reductions change is posted at http://barbershophq. were put in place for any sort of weakness com/newrules/. in the barbershop style or presentation. Although it added clarity to where there were issues in Summary of changes the performance, the majority of these issues were subjec- Variances. In 2013, SCJC and the SBOD approved a tive and contextual. Our category descriptions judge the rule change that allows judges and/or categories to change performance, and any issues that detract from the perfor- their scores if a score from the panel was statistically mance should already be evident within the score itself. deemed significantly different from the rest of the panel. Any distractions due to style or performance issues will At the time, we knew of three scenarios that caused angst show up in the score but not receive an overt reduction. among our competitors; we chose to address the largest International quartet qualifications. These changes will one first, then proceed on the others based on competitor be put into effect for the 2016 International contest cycle. feedback. Although there were a handful of complaints, Since 1993, the minimum score for a district to have a the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. With a few quartet representative for International was 65. This has exceptions, the process now runs smoothly. After three been raised to 70. (In the past 22 years, only one district’s contest seasons, the final two concerns that result in large top qualifying quartet did not score at least a 70.) scoring differences have now been addressed. The other change affects quartets that compete out New International Contest rules. These new rules address of district (OOD). In the event that no district quartet a number of issues, primarily among international chorus scores the minimum automatic qualifying score (cur- competitors. The new rules deal with: rently 76), the highest-scoring quartet from the district’s • time to load the chorus and be ready to sing. preliminary contest will be the district’s international • clear rules about props allowed on stage. representative. An OOD quartet cannot be the district’s • cleaning up the stage after a performance. (This also representative if it scores below 76, but can still qualify affects International quartet competitors.) for an international wild card selection. All of Pittsburgh’s competing choruses received the Please visit barbershopHQ.com/newrules to see the new rules in November, 2014, so they could plan ap- exact wording of changes, or read the updated C&J propriately. Handbook at the same web address. Eligibility. In 2008, the SBOD and SCJC eliminated – Kevin Keller, 2012-2015 Society most of the prior eligibility requirements associated with Contest & Judging Chairman; [email protected]

gary mcbride quartetting until the very end. Dick Grapes, gold medal bari of 1950 champ the , passed away Feb. 16 at the age of 90. Only five days earlier, the seemingly healthy Grapes was standing up in a hall just north of Buffalo, singing baritone at his surprise 90th birthday party hosted by local Barbershoppers. As recounted in the July, 2009, issue of The Harmonizer, Dick declined the invitation to appear on Broadway in The Music Man and never regretted the choice. He spent years as a member of the chain gang for the NFL’s Buf- falo Bills, and was for 51 years the voice of the North Tonawanda High School football team.

6 The HARMONIZER • March/April 2015 Society Briefs 2014 contest tracks now on iTunes and Amazon Digital Music. Two NBC-TV’s a cap- of the world’s largest distributors have put your tracks just a few pella contest, The clicks away. Download individual tracks from these collections: Sing-Off may not • Top 20 Quartets CD (iTunes) bit.ly/itunes2014quartet have barbershop • Top 20 Quartets (Amazon) bit.ly/amazon2014quartet quartets anymore • Top 20 Choruses (iTunes) bit.ly/itunes2014chorus (groups must have • Top 20 Choruses (Amazon) bit.ly/amazon2014chorus at least five sing- Releases from prior years are being added weekly, with more ers), but some than 500 tracks now available. stops on its show A limited number of tracks are tour feature high- available on Spotify, including the end Society quartets anniversary issue of “75 Years of as warm-up acts. Champions” (bit.ly/spotify75years). Groups included 2014 silver medalist (Louisville), But hey, Spotify users, wouldn’t you 2014 finalist Instant Classic (Indianapolis) and 2014 top 10 feel better supporting artists and competitor Central Standard Chorus (Kansas City). the Society by purchasing genuine, physical CDs? CARAs honor Society quartets Chapters using grants to reach out in their communities. The lat- Congratulation to all the Society nom- est grant application window is just coming to a close on April inees for this year’s Contemporary A 30, but it’s not too early to begin preparations for the upcoming Cappella Recording Awards (CARAs), Oct. 1-Nov. 15 grant window. The Society has already begun sponsored by the distributing nearly $200K to 72 projects from last fall’s applica- Contemporary A tions, ranging from youth festivals to collaborations with other Cappella Society art forms. Some funded projects include: (CASA). • The Cumberland Bay Chorus’ “Singing Workshop Series Two Society groups were honored For Your Health” workshops. This five-week course in Platts- in non-barbershop categories. burgh, N.Y., will educate seniors and others on the physi- Nominees include: ological benefits of singing, including a slowing of dementia. • The Clipper City Chordsmen is reaching out to host 41 Best Barbershop Album quartets in their state ensemble contest. They are hosting a • The Road, OC Times day-long workshop followed by a BHS adjudicated contest. • Old Friends, Conventions Learn more at www.barbershop.org/grants. • Instant Classic, Instant Classic 2015 • From The Heart, LoveNotes Pittsburgh (Sweet Adelines) June 28–July 5 Yet ANOTHER Barbershop musical. This 2016 is not the musical that we covered in Best Barbershop Song Nashville the last issue. It’s a brand-new pro- • “From the First Hello (To the July 3–10 duction enjoying a long run and good 2017 Last Goodbye),” OC Times Minneapolis local reviews in the Swift Creek Mill • “I Won’t Send Roses,” Instant July 2-9 Theatre in Chesterfield, Va. As of Classic 2018 press time, we haven’t learned much Orlando • “Not While I’m Around,” Mas- July 1-8 about Two Bits other than that the terpiece 2019 creators (Tom Width and Paul Deiss) Salt Lake City Best Holiday Album have created original music, and we June 30-July 7 Artis- don’t believe they’ve been Society • A Very Artistic Christmas, tic License Leadership Forum members. While we’ve seen a few good reviews, we haven’t Nashville, Tenn. yet heard any from Barbershoppers who have seent it. Society Best Holiday Song Nov. 13-15, 2015 members save 10% using the code BHS10 at checkout. Buy • “White Christmas,” Artistic MIDWINTER tickets at www.swiftcreekmill.com. License barbershop.org/midwinter Reno Best Humor Song Jan. 26-31, 2016 Barbershop Down Under in September. Go “Down Under” to • “You Gotta Change Parts,” In- beautiful Melbourne, for the 2015 BHA Harmony stant Classic HARMONY Convention, Sept. 16-20. The biannual convention will UNIVERSITY 2015 By the time you read this, win- feature quartet and chorus contests, classes, mass sings, and a Nashville, Tenn. ners will have been announced. July 26-Aug. 2, 2015 grand finale concert featuringVocal Spectrum. Sign up at www. Check out winners in every cat- barbershopconvention.org.au. egory at www.casa.org.

March/April 2015 • The HARMONIZER 7 tempo Westminster Chorus makes it big in Japan—among men with thinning hair ... What do 2013 silver medalist Westminster Chorus and a high-end Japanese hair loss company have in common? The former re- cently appeared in a major ad campaign for the latter. Even after having it explained to us, we’re still left scratching our heads about how this came about ... but we still can’t stop watching their TV spot. Chorus members had previously appeared in a strange video that made chorus members look like the hair on a guy’s head. It went kind of viral in Japan, after which Shiseido/Adeno- gen hired them to promote their hair loss shampoo. The result is ... well, you have to think “it’s not so bad, we’re all in view for yourself. The chorus this together!” also appears in large posters in Founding chapter member major department stores. Shawn York hopes the chapter can Ad agency reps gushed use its minor overseas celebrity about the chorus’ other videos status to partner with Japanese in which the singers look like barbershop chapters and create an dancing hair follicles—or at extended weekend tour with some least they seem to have that effect on people who are sold-out shows, co-sponsored by Shiseido/Adenogen. paid to think about hair a lot. Chorus members were See the commercial at bit.ly/westminsterjapan. told that hair loss can bring depression in men, and See the video that started it all at bit.ly/westmin- they liked how Westminster made people feel joy and sterhair. Society Briefs Outreach activities expand, deepen. • Harmony University for Educators with stellar learning tracks. Full details From time to time, we announce • Harmony University Next Gen- and application are at harmonyuniver- or remind you of different programs eration Chorus and Young Women sity.org/index.php/harmony-brigade. supporting music in our communi- In Harmony Chorus ties, and point to resources to help Chapter IRS filings due May 15! Chap- teachers, students, and community Harmony Brigade at HU offers full week ters are legal entities that enjoy groups to learn more about barber- of quality quartet fun. You’ve been special tax exemptions as nonprofit shop harmony. But does anyone have hearing about Brigades but never had organizations. All U.S. chapters, dis- a full picture in his mind? And can the chance to partici- tricts and subsidiaries (Brigades, etc.) you communicate that to interested pate? Frustrated that must report to the IRS by May 15 parties? there are only so each year. ALL non-profits, regard- Go to www.barbershop.org/outreach many barbershop less of size, must now file an annual for a clean, easy portal to our many events you can fit return, with financial penalties or loss programs. Graphically consistent in? Always had Har- of non-profit status (or both) if fil- with our advertising in Choral Jour- mony University on your must-do list? ings are late. Canadian chapters must nal and with handouts to teacher Now you can have it all! file with Canada Revenue Agency conventions, this easily-remembered Harmony University provides won- (CRA) on or before June 30. The address helps you advance directly to: derful, high-level quartetting experi- Society also requires that all chapters • CBQC ences for barbershop singers who can complete a 2014 financial review by • International Youth Barbershop consistently perform finely-tuned quar- May 15, 2015. This is not an audit, Chorus Festival tet singing. Not for the faint of heart, and merely requires a financially sav- • Top songs for younger singers this is for experienced quartetters who vy person, other than the treasurer, • youSING contest for high school will arrive solidly prepared on eight to inspect your books. Details, links students outstanding medalist-level arrange- and forms are found in the Document • Upcoming camps and festivals ments, which will be provided along Center at www.barbershop.org. n

8 The HARMONIZER • March/April 2015 www.sweetadelineintl.org 3eveNtS 2couNtrIeS only Sweet ADeLINeS 1INterNAtIoNAL

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rISINg StAr 2015 • 8.8.15 • ScottSdale, aZ LAS vegAS 2015 • 10.7.15 – 10.10.15 • laS VeGaS, NV A cAppeLLA HArmoNy AcADemy 2016 • aucklaNd, New ZeaLAND harmony how-to 7 tips to help you become a better arranger he Barbershop Harmony Society is fortunate to a good barbershop arrangement should have a sing- have more skilled arrangers than anyone can able lyric that tells a story. count. Ever wonder why or how this came to be? 4. Make the arrangement true to the original. Don’t Why are there 10 different versions of “Sweet “barbershop” a song that doesn’t lend itself to the T Georgia Brown”? What could one arranger say in strengths of the barbershop style. Start with a tune his or her musical approach that the others didn’t? that goes around the , has a reason- Here is how arrangers are born: able range in the melody, and is a memorable tune. “Hmm, that chord was weird. What if we ...” When possible, familiarize yourself with a piano/ “That’s too high/low, can we try ...” vocal score or even a “fake book” version. It’s helpful “That intro isn’t working. What if I ...” to know what chord choices the original composer And so on. made so your arrangement honors and reflects If you’re interested in arranging, it can be that. In short, if a non-Barbershopper were richly rewarding. Whether you’re arrang- to listen to it, would they get the feel of ing intricate custom arrangements for the original or would something seem off? the very top groups or simple ditties for 5. Be sure each part makes sense. Don your average Joe chorus, there’s nothing Gray’s litmus test rings true: “Can you like hearing an arrangement move from sing all the parts? [Well, if you had the notes on a paper to art in aural form. range.] If you can’t, probably no one else If you’re just getting started, want a re- can, either.” Are there awkward leaps or fresher, or looking for a few insights, consider unnecessary vocal gymnastics in the piece? the following tips for arranging. Are there places where you could Resources make smoother choices? Follow this Questions to ask before you start • Harmony University Arrangers Track basic woodshedding principle: Har- 1. Who is going to be singing this? Taught by the best in barbershop. monize where it’s comfortable. Don’t You know all those rangy, extra- Sign up for Arranging I and II, Ar- move from your note unless the challenging arrangements the ranger’s Workshop, and (all new) melody forces you to do so. When champs sing? Many were ar- Private Arranging Instruction you have to move, move to the clos- ranged for each man’s specific • www.Barbershop.org/musictheory est note you can that fits the prevail- strengths and range. Arrange for • Society Arranging Manual (Item ing harmony. the voices who will sing your ar- #4031) 6. Take the time to become truly rangement. Is the lead part with- • A Cappella Arranging, by Deke Sha- skilled. It will take time, trial and in a reasonable range? Could your ron and Dylan Bell (Item #206628) error, and dozens if not hundreds of lead section leader sing through charts to really master the art. Think this and get 80% or better on the first or second of the countless hours and drilling it takes to be- run-through? If he can’t, odds are the chorus is come a skilled performer. Arranging is no different. in for trouble. Arrange something this particular 7. Don’t start with the piece you’ve always wanted to ar- group can sing well. range. Do a few shorter, easier pieces first so you get 2. Who will be hearing this arrangement? An audience the hang of things. Clay Hine, one of the Society’s of Barbershoppers might love a lot of ballads, but best arrangers, practiced for years and years learn- the parents and family at a youth event? It may be ing the skills, studying greats like Lou Perry and better to sing “Under the Boardwalk” than “The Ed Waesche, and writing dozens of arrangements Way You Look Tonight.” Does your audience ap- before mastering the craft. Others like Mel Knight, preciate musical theater? Does it like patriotic or Burt Szabo, and Jay Giallombardo formally studied religious music? Would they rather hear a more composition and arranging at the collegiate level. surface-level piece or a piece with more substance? Remember, no one goes from a high school base- Put a lot of thought into what singers want to sing ball team to the major leagues in one year. Wait and audiences want to hear. until you have the skill to hit a home run before Adam Scott Society Music 3. Choose the right song. This tip alone is more than starting on that favorite arrangement. Publications half the battle. If you’re trying to make a contest- One last thought: have you ever been to a contest Coordinator able version of “Duke of Earl,” you will only end up where someone else is singing the same arrangement ascott@ with shoehorned (perhaps crowbarred) sevenths as your quartet? If you’re arranging your own mate- barbershop.org that don’t really fit the piece. Lou Perry taught that rial, that never happens! n

10 The HARMONIZER • March/April 2015

Intergenerational outreach. On Ground- hog Day this year (Feb. 2), Singing Capital Chorus Program VP Don Spero (District of Columbia Chapter) hosted a joint chapter rehearsal with the Dukes Story Tellers of Ellington, 14 young men from the Ellington School of Music, an elite, Send to [email protected] audition-only public charter high school in Washington, D.C. Boys were also in- Want to be a storyteller? Contact storytellers@barber- troduced to the chapters honorary four-legged chapter member, who shop.org or [email protected] shadowed the group from beginning to end. Shown are the Dukes’s youngest member, Dante (13), and the chapter’s most senior member, Fred Peters (97), the sweetest lead singer this side of heaven. Each group got exposure to another style of music. Director Bill Colosimo and Associate Director Sheryl Berlin joined Duke’s Direc- tor Steven Allen in separate and combined singing. Song erased the decades and linked the young and old together. – Steve Skolnick / Martin Banks

Seattle’s Figgy Pudding Caroling Contest. The Seattle SeaChords- men Chorus participated in last December’s 28th Annual Great Figgy Pudding Caroling Contest in downtown Seattle to benefit the Pike Market Senior Center and Food Bank. Nearly 10,000 people joined in the holiday spirit Golf Capital Chorus gives double as dozens of caroling teams sang their hearts out on downtown Se- support to active duty military attle street corners in and around When the Pinehurst, N.C. Chapter—also Westlake Center. The top teams known as the Golf Capital Chorus—learned then competed in a sing-off on the Figgy Main Stage. that soldiers deployed to Kuwait needed – Edwin Dierdorff / Martin Banks replacement golf clubs for their recreation, the only chapter with “golf” in its name Supporting youth singing and supporting schools. Bozeman, Montana’s came to the rescue. The Chord Rustlers have a long history of community involvement Chapter bari Larry Harter’s daughter is a and a long-time desire to get kids singing and help educators and U.S. Army Colonel who commands a Kuwait schools whenever possible. military hospital. She told her father how Thirteen years ago, they started a music camp called the Big Sky much the soldiers enjoyed playing golf and Youth Harmony Rendezvous. Scheduled this year for June 17-21, using a soldier-built driving range before they the camp has been a great opportunity for boys and girls in Mon- had to return to combat—so popular that all tana and the surrounding states to the clubs were worn out. Chapter members sing a cappella music. The Chord asked friends, fellow golfers, and even golf Rustlers have provided leader- courses and local retail merchants to help. ship for this camp, and of course, Almost 300 golf clubs help fund the camp with annual were collected along chapter donations around $3,000. with golf bags and For the Chord Rustlers to do- 2,000 range balls. The nate money to a local High School chapter paid shipping is not uncommon! They have costs, then a few weeks performed their last two annual shows and hosted the Evergreen later sent an additional Division V contest at the Belgrade High School auditorium. The 1,500 balls. auditorium is very nice, the stage is nice, the seats are great and it is Additionally, the nice to perform there. However, they struggled with feedback on the chorus recently turned its Singing Valen- quartet mics. The group has been soliciting funds to help improve tine efforts into a service project. Chapter the sound system in the auditorium. quartets visit the loved ones of Fort Bragg But that is just money. The real goal is to build relationships with soldiers in addition to their usual Valentine the local music educators and to help get kids, especially young men, surprise performances. The Valentines are singing. And it is with this goal in mind that the Chord Rustlers are typically $50 to the general public but are doing this tremendously successful youth workshop. free to troops who are deployed. – Kevin Mattson / Martin Banks – Larry Harter & Ray Linville

12 The HARMONIZER • March/April 2015 EasyDues Story Tellers It’s easy. It’s convenient. It’s a hassle-free way to pay dues monthly!

15-year-old mini chorus of non-Barbershoppers helps cardio patients heal through fellowship and song A barbershop mini-chorus of non- their health,” Jim writes. Barbershoppers features prominently Steve, a lawyer at the hospital center in the cardiac rehab program at St. and not even a heart patient, warily Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City. In fact, accepted an invitation to sing with the Sign up for EasyDues, the core members of the group are not chorus. All was normal until the group really singers. As Heart of America finally hit an overtone, and Steve looked the automatic way to pay chorus member Jim Bagby tells it: as if he’d been hit by lightning. ‘What your Society, chapter and was that?!?’ Before I could answer, a “We started the Cardiac Carolers, district dues. Use a credit as we dubbed ourselves then, about 15 happy babble replied, ‘an overtone!’” years ago and persuaded—with some At the next rehearsal Steve showed card or bank check/debit difficulty—six other members of our up with a (1986 champ) Rural Route card and your dues will be afternoon workout class to entertain 4 CD—he’d googled Jim (RR4 bari) at the annual holiday open house. and discovered the CD on Amazon. automatically withdrawn from We were a smash hit with the other “By the time for the picnic arrived, your account monthly. patients and spouses, who generally Steve was the most active lead we had, range in age from 70ish upward.” The grinning like a kid at Christmas and No more checks to group was later renamed Cardio Jam. thoroughly involved in the music,” Since then the group has more Jim continued. “We’ve since gotten write, stamps to buy or than doubled in size, gotten a little him to a couple of Heart of America envelopes to address. better and added a summer picnic to Chorus meetings. And if his legal its performances. “The staff members schedule ever eases off, he’s going to are the group’s best allies, reminding be my next Man of Note.” Enroll today! newcomers how good singing is for – Jim Bagby / Martin Banks Ask your chapter On Dec. 7, 29 members secretary about of the Coles County Chorus (ILL) performed EasyDues. two Christmas benefit concerts, raising more than $4,000 for area food pantry and home- less shelter programs. It was a 9- to 10-hour time commitment for the singers, and two days later, most were singing at five different assisted living facilities in Mattoon. They brought back many stories of residents who could barely speak, but had no trouble singing along. – Thomas Woodall / Martin Banks

March/April 2015 • The HARMONIZER 13 Barbershop harmony changes the lives of “boys like us”

The youth barbershop movement in New Zealand is unlike any other Lorin May in the world. For example, the national high school barbershop contest Editor, The normally sees up to 20 prequalified quartets and choruses in each cat- Harmonizer egory, resulting in 80 competing groups and up to 1,000 young chorus lmay@barber- and quartet singers. Amazingly, this only represents students who quali- shop.org fied for the national contest—only the top two or three quartets from six qualifying contests held throughout the nation in earlier months. Begun in 1990, the initiative was the brainchild of Les Nation. Les, a school headmaster and avid physical education trainer, had a passion to see young people singing barbershop. He held the very first youth quartet contest in in 1990, attracting only a handful of quartets, most of which had been actively involved with Les. From there, the contest grew to involve girls’ quartets, and eventually choruses. The Young Singers in Harmony program quickly grew in popularity, and now involves high schools across the country, with administrative and mentoring support offered by local chapters. Barbershop in New Zealand began in an organized fashion in the late 1980s, and has enjoyed periods of strong growth in both youth and adult participation. The organization (previously known as the New Zealand Association of Barbershop Singers) now affiliates more than a dozen chapters across the country, and about 30 active registered quartets. The organization’s annual convention attracts most of its 300 or so members and is usually headlined by an International Champion quartet or chorus. – Matt Gifford

14 The HARMONIZER • March/April 2015 Barbershop harmony changes the lives of “boys like us” They’ve collectively logged more than a million miles as singers, but barber- shop harmony took the Musical Island Boys somewhere they hadn’t planned: from a background of low expectations to a world of unlimited potential

More than once, I’ve heard the quartet talk about how sidebar, last page of article]. When she was youth outreach and barbershop harmony have opened in high school, [1989 champ] up opportunities that usually aren’t available to “boys performed and Charlotte fell in love with the like us.” What did you mean by “boys like us”? barbershop style. Then when she became our Will Hunkin (Br): Guys like us [Pacific Island teacher at Tawa College, she started up a music ethnicities] in New Zealand are unfortunately program just for barbershop singers. She noticed overrepresented in jails and under-perform in our talent and brought us all together because education. We come from a background where we all loved singing harmony. We said, “Hey, that is what is expected of us. Through bar- let’s give this a go.” In 2001, one member had bershop, what we’ve been able to achieve has to go, and in 2002, Matt [Gifford, bass] started opened up a lot of doors, not only to ourselves, attending our school. We’ve been the same but for guys like us who have fallen behind. quartet since 2002, when we were 15 and 16 Our journey in barbershop has shown them years old. It’s been quite a journey for us. that you can actually stand outside the norm— that there are people out there who are willing Where has that journey taken you? to help you if you have a goal, have a dream. Jeff Hunkin (T): We never dreamed that we’d Then, you’re able to go and achieve it. It’s not be flying to U.S., U.K. and Japan. We’ll be in Las out of reach for guys like us. If you have a strong Vegas looking at the strip or at a landmark in team and you have a dream, there may be a lot Philadelphia, and we’ll be looking at each other of people willing to help with your passion. and say, “Can you believe that this is happening? Anything is possible as long as you commit To us, of all people!” We still do that today. I to that vision and dream, regardless of what’s think it’s important for us to never take that expected of your background. for granted, because, like William was talking about, many people from our ethnic heritage do So how did get started on a path so outside the norm not get to experience anything like this in their for young men of your background? lives—anything near it. Marcellus (“Lusa”) Washburn (L): It started We talk about our experiences for days on end with our music teacher, Charlotte Murray [see with our families. When we say we’re getting on

March/April 2015 • The HARMONIZER 15 “I’m more thankful for the setbacks that we’ve had even more so than some of the wonderful successes. We now take on our lives in a way that we believe we’re unstoppable—because we just achieved the impossible dream.”

a plane to New Orleans and cruise around the Carib- there have been about 10 lows. This has taught the bean, they just roll their eyes now. It’s become such a quartet that your character is not determined in the regular thing for us to fly away. We never want to take great times, but in the toughest of times. That’s where it for granted, and we never do. We’re just humbled. your true values, your character and ethics come out, In 2002, at one of our first rehearsals, we said, “We where your true character is formed and shaped. I’m should write down a goal.” The most unattainable goal more thankful for the setbacks that we’ve had even we could think of was to become the world champion more so than some of the wonderful successes. We of singing. And we were only four now take on our lives in a way that we believe we’re guys from a small town in Wellington, New Zealand, unstoppable—nothing is undoable. Decide what you on the other side of the world. We never thought in our want to do, and it can be done. wildest dreams that that could come true. We won the When we work with young people especially, we 2002 New Zealand high school contest, which let us try to teach them that story. We embark on ambitious compete in the collegiate contest in 2004, and that was endeavors in our lives that are probably bordering on the first step in an ever-snowballing set of experiences. impossible. But we just achieved the impossible dream. But the message we give, especially to the youth, is And we have a saying that’s “Living the Dream.” I’ll that success like this doesn’t happen overnight—not add, it’s “Living the Impossible Dream,” because that’s even close. There have been tens of thousands of hours really what it is. in the rehearsal room to get to where we are. But now we’re just elated for the experiences we get to have as I’m pretty sure you are the champion with the longest spread a quartet. between forming and winning gold—by a comfortable margin. What was your musical journey like during those 12 years? Outside of barbershop-related experiences, how has this musical Will: I think our first score might have been about journey helped in other areas of your lives? a 45 or 50; so we’ve gone all the way to where we’re Matt Gifford (Bs): The quartet’s journey over the close to a 90. When we first started, we had very past 12 years—and the work it’s taken to get us basic advice, such as you have to walk on stage like a here—helped to define our characters and our values champion—like you own the stage, that on stage you and our ethics. Some of it we were nurtured with. We have to give the best of you. I think there’s a differ- were all blessed to be raised in families with the richest ence between knowing you have to do your best and non-material blessings—families who supported understanding what that means to you as a performer. whatever we were passionate about. We hope What does it mean to stand there and be a champion? our journey can inspire others to learn and Every performer who’s been able to figure that out, they believe in themselves—that really anything bring a different element to their performance. in life is possible. Our first proper barbershop coach was Gary Bolles, This was a dream we never really be- when we were 15 and 16 years old. He thought, lieved was possible. All the odds were “These kids have a little talent, but they don’t know stacked against us in almost every way. what they’re doing.” He told us that he was used to We worked really hard, we fund-raised giving groups performance tips, and the next time for years and years, we worked hours he saw them nothing had changed. But we just had and hours, we found coaches who this work ethic. When he gave us a tip, like lining up believed in us. We had this deter- vowels, that was the only thing we’d practice for the mination that we were never going next two weeks. He’d come back and we’d mastered it. to give up. Our philosophy is to always be working on the And it was tough. For every high next thing. One of our best presentation coaches has been Cindy Hansen-Ellis. In Jeffrey Hunkin (T) Samoan/Niuean 2005, she helped us bring out more The youngest of three very musical siblings (including bari William) and of the X-Factor for our performance, their sister, Henrietta, the Hunkin trio sang traditional and popular tunes taking our natural enthusiasm and to the guitar of their father, a renowned Samoan songwriter and Head enhancing it. Brandon Guyton took of Samoan [Language] studies at Wellington’s Victoria University. Jeff is all the musical things we were doing an accomplished drummer and played the lead role for the Tawa College and kept us in the technical space. production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Jeff is the quartet’s taskmaster, cre- It’s just a matter of starting where ative mind, and self-appointed rehearsal manager. He is also co-director you are, doing the best of what you of Vocal FX chorus. Jeff works as a communications guru for Trade Me, have. Going from a 45 to a 90 won’t New Zealand’s online trading website. He is engaged to his high-school happen overnight. It might not take sweetheart, Jess. 12 years, but if you’re willing to com-

16 The HARMONIZER • March/April 2015 Marcellus Washburn (L) Samoan you arrive at the Musical Island Boys’ sound? “Lusa” (Samoan for Marcellus) sang Matt: We’ve been very deliberate in our musical with the Salvation Army church from choices leading up to this point. One genre the four a young age, also playing cornet in of us liked to listen to in particular was Motown and church bands and then in the high R&B—Michael Jackson, the Temptations, Boyz II school orchestra. He missed the quar- Men, The Stylistics. Those were songs and stories that tet’s first-ever rehearsal because he was we related to. In barbershop, we had found an outlet playing rugby, a tradition he works hard for our passion for that genre of music. It’s been a jour- to uphold. Raised in his parents’ Samoan ney of finding out how to serve two masters—the genre culture and language, Musical Island Boys that we love and the style of music that’s in our ele- CDs can often be heard playing in his fa- ment. We wanted to stay true and authentic to both. ther’s Wellington taxi cab. Lusa and his wife, We went through a phase—and I think most Lisa, recently moved to Melbourne, Austra- quartets do this—of finding ourselves. There were lia (helping raise the average IQ of both quartets that we loved and that we aspired to be like, countries, the quartet jokes), where he still and we tried to imitate them instead of emulate what works closely with the Salvation Army, where we loved about them. You find yourself always falling he helps at-risk teens and families. They short, because you’ll never be someone else. The most recently welcomed the arrival of the first important discovery for us was that people loved who Musical Island Baby, beautiful Neriah! we were authentically as performers and people. So how do we take that and carry that out on the stage? mit and take it one step at a time, every singer, every We started choosing songs in the style of music that day, then it’s logical that in time you’ll end up being we loved, and we were also making a choice to belong better than when you started out. to the Barbershop Harmony Society, to participate in the parameters of this very American musical style. Very few quartets get the chance to find out how far they can That’s been a tricky balancing act, and it’s taken us go—if life doesn’t get in the way, sometimes personalities do. a long time. We would have this passion and heart How have you managed to stay intact and keep improving for and kind of go crazy on stage. But it was never 12 years? really grounded in the technical proficiency Lusa: We all came from different backgrounds, but that was required to keep up with the quartets we all had a passion to sing harmony. In high school that were in the upper echelons of this contest. we all liked to listen to Boyz II Men, The Temptations, We knew then we had to have the arsenal of the Motown thing. These guys are all quite likable tools and skills in our back pockets, in that guys, but it took two years to figure them out. We’re unconscious competence quadrant of the brain. easy to get along with, we like to have fun, but we But also we needed the technical proficiency to all had a focus—where we were going to take this. deliver a quality that would keep the audience and If it hadn’t been barbershop, we were still going to judges happy. I think 2014 was really where we got do it together because of our friendship, our passion that balance. to sing and share with others. Jeff: We all started quite young. We knew noth- It’s been a long journey getting to where you are today. What’s ing about barbershop and came in at the same level next for the Musical Island Boys? of singing. Nobody came in with an ego or wanting Matt: We’ve had a lot of second place medals. to be in charge. We’re lucky to not have had any of Would we take back anything about that? I those issues that come with having different levels don’t think we would, as hard as it was. Espe- of experience. On a personal note, we’ve never had cially Toronto, I mean that was our third silver any relationships falling out, we haven’t had any fist fights. (They’d all lose against me anyway, so William Hunkin (Br) Samoan/Niuean there’s no point in going there.) We really just get Will is the middle child of the Hunkin trio and the quartet’s analytical thinker. A along really well. The stars kind of aligned in the trained classical guitarist (he plays left handed but can also play a right handed music room where we met, and it’s just been a wild, guitar upside down), he is considered a “gentle giant”—bold in stature, but gentle awesome ride with three of the best friends you can and caring in nature. Elected by peers to his high school’s student leadership team, have. Again, it’s the impossible dream, and you just he was eventually named Deputy Head Boy. (Matt was not impressed, as he also pinch yourself every day. went for the same role. To add insult to injury, Matt also rewrote much of William’s winning speech.) The quartet jokes that Will should be blonde due to his rather ‘“re- One thing you have in common with most champions is that laxed” approach to organizational matters. He is a salesman for a power company you weren’t trying to sound like everybody else. How did in Wellington.

March/April 2015 • The HARMONIZER 17 The journey’s beginning: by Music educator Charlotte Murray My parents are both well-known education leaders in New Zealand. My father was the Principal of Tawa College while I was a student there and my mother was the Head of Music. They instilled in me two Jeff Hunkin (T), Charlotte Murray, Wellington, N.Z., Mayor Celia Wade-Brown, important ideas: (1) Everyone has an infinite Matt Gifford (Bs) and Will Hunkin (Br). The champs were the 2014 Wellingto- worth, and our job is to help others see and nians of the Year in the Youth Category. realize their potential. (2) If you have a gift, you should develop it and use it to serve others.”To whom much is given, much will bass in the nation’s first high school quartet competi- level and that was an incredible help to me. be expected.” tion. The encouragement and kindness from the local In 2000, we started a high school chorus competition My mother Shona is a great choral conductor and barbershoppers was incredible. Their message that alongside the quartet competition, starting with three I learned the joy of singing at an early age. Music we should get others singing resonated strongly with local high schools. That local high school competition became the tool to help others develop who they are me. From that moment, I could tell this is a style and now has over 500 students competing in quartets and and a way of teaching what life can be like when we community I feel at home with. choruses. Not bad for a city of 300,000! work hard and look after those around us. She started I studied music and taught choral studies in Japan This school competition got Les and I to start think- a music festival in our community 30 years ago that before returning to Tawa College to work alongside ing about starting a youth chorus for young men when now involves a choir of around 600 elementary and my mother in 1998. I took over putting together and they leave school; at the end of 2003, we started Vocal high school students and an adult choir of 90. She is coaching quartets, although my knowledge of the style FX. That brought me officially into the New Zealand a firm believer in everyone having the opportunity to was limited. I soon joined Les Nation’s committee and Association of Barbershop Singers. From there I took be able to sing. started to help run the high school workshops and any education opportunities available, travelled to in- Second Edition [1989 champion] was guest quartet competitions in Wellington. ternational to compete with the chorus and supported at my choir’s show when I was a a 16-year-old student. Les always brought visiting quartets to our high MIB in their journey to the gold. In 2010, I became a I was blown away by the style. Soon after, the local school to work with our groups. I would watch coaches Master Director through my attendance at Harmony men’s chapter lead by Les Nation (founder of the working with local choruses to learn more. By 2002, University. It has been a life-changing journey and my youth movement in New Zealand) reached out and we had Musical Island Boys as a quartet in our high hope for the future is to give back the time and love encouraged us to start quartets. Mum and the other school. As they worked hard and improved, the and knowledge that has been shared with me over teachers were supportive, and later that year, I sang coaching they received from others was at a higher the years by sharing what I have learned with others.

medal. But we came back from that stronger and University of better than we ever were. I think we all feel blessed Missouri–St. Louis for the lessons that it taught us. For every hard time, there’s been a good time as well. And isn’t that life? One of our great coaches, arrangers, and mentors, David Wright, said that for some quartets the gold medal is the end of the journey. But for the great quartets that stay around and are remembered, the gold medal is the beginning of the journey. We hope in our heart of hearts that this is theC Love to sing? Join us in St. Louis beginning of something wonderful. n M at the Acappellooza Summer camp!

Y “Acappellooza Summer” is an a cappella music summer camp held at the University of Missouri–St. Louis (UMSL) for students in grades 9–12. For four days students will be CM Matthew Gifford (Bs) Cook Islands/NZ Maori immersed in singing led by some of the world’s most prominent names in a cappella music, including members of the internationally famous AMBASSADORS OF HARMONY, Matt is the latecomer to the quartet, joining in 2002—andMY and two-time gold medalists DR. JIM HENRY and DEBBIE CLEVELAND. the other three never let him forget it. Matt and his three sistersCY July 7-10, 2015 REGISTRATION grew up singing with his family in Maori cultural performing CMY NOW OPEN groups, and with one sister, Matt served as a Sunday school singing teacher. Matt is currently embarking on an ambitious K project to capture the cultural history, hymns and folk songs of his father’s native island of Penrhyn in the Cook Islands. The remote island is known for its historic lack of Western influ- ences, but much of its history, language and culture have been transmitted only in songs (often 8-part harmonies), many of which are only known by its rapidly aging population. Matt’s 15-007-2/15-1 Jim Henry Debbie Cleveland book and recordings will capture the island’s heritage for a Men’s Choir Director Women’s Choir Director posterity that mostly lives away from Penrhyn. acappelloozasummer.com

18 The HARMONIZER • March/April 2015 one man’s opinion

Lorin May The Future History of Barbershop Harmony David Wright, the Hall of Fame ar- ranger, historian, judge and coach, This Keynote Address, presented at the invitation of Society President Don Fuson, was delivered at the takes a peek into the past to predict Midwinter Convention in New Orleans, Jan. 8, 2015. the near future of barbershop View the entire address at bit.ly/barbershophistory

I notice that the blurb in the Livewire calls me a “cel- quartet of young men. This style of music came to be ebrator of the purest, cleanest, deceptively simplest of called—first by the black practitioners and later by the arrangements.” You who have been subjected to some white—barbershop harmony. of my arrangements may smile. I want you to know, I want us to appreciate that where we are today I didn’t write that. However I will say that there is at in New Orleans, is one of the cradles of barbershop least some truth in it, as I have learned over the years, harmony’s infancy, for in the saloons and barbershops by making every possible mistake, that simplicity is of New Orleans, less than a mile from where we are usually the best route, and that even musical effects right now, and Jelly Roll Morton that seem a bit complex are made singable by some improvised vocal licks, or “cracked up chords” as they underlying ingenuousness—and thus perhaps the would have said. While it’s impossible to know exactly phrase “deceptively simple” actually may hit the mark, what they sounded like, we can well imagine them or come close. improvising many of the pickups, back times, swipes, IThis is a short address, so I will get right to the point and echoes that would have been heard in the and propose, for your consideration, some things we and blues of the day, merging the riveting polyrhythms need to have in mind as we face the challenges of today of Africa with the rich harmonic tradition of Europe, and the future. I speak as one who has been avid in my and expanding on both, in anticipation of the exotic participation and interest in the phenomenon called rhythmic and harmonic flourishes that would later barbershop harmony since I joined our organization pervade New Orleans . in 1975, as quartet singer, director, arranger, coach, Barbershop harmony had humble origins but made judge, faculty member, etc. I will share with you some its way into the fabric of American life as both amateur insights, based on my experience, on the nature of and professional music. It was performed on the Vaude- our music, with particular attention to its timeline, ville stage around the country, recorded in the studios with deliberation on where we are going in the light of New York City, and sung in home parlors around the of where we have been, two places that ought to be nation; and churches, clubs, granges, businesses, and in the forefront as we contemplate the lofty goal of baseball teams had quartets under their sponsorship. perpetuating and elevating our music for the benefit Its popularity continued through the first quarter of future generations. of the century, but then waned and nearly died as society became more complex and entertainment The formative, pre-Society barbershop years more technological. It was revived by the celebrated That timeline began somewhere in 19th cen- 1938 chance meeting of O.C. Cash and Rupert Hall tury America, when a style of four part harmonizing at the Muehlebach Hotel in Kansas City, followed by emerged and spread, finding its way into the lives of the beginning of our Society, and thereafter by the countless people of different races, different social formation of numerous other organizations, male and statuses, and different lifestyles. It was black and white, female, around the world. rich and poor, rural and urban. In the fields near Texar- All Barbershoppers, male and female, white and kana a young Scott Joplin heard the sound, and on the black, should thank that chance meeting for their en- streets of Manhattan’s lower east side a young George joyment of this music. You may say “those were men, Burns moved from corner to corner singing with his and I’m a woman”—and in fact there was a good deal

March/April 2015 • The HARMONIZER 19 one man’s opinion So the question be- of chauvinism in that day, or you may say, “I am a person of color, and they comes, which version of No other style of excluded African Americans”—and music is close to barbershop indeed that was unacceptable. All that barbershop are we try- When one considers the timeline, ap- is true and unfortunate. But it doesn’t ing to preserve? Perhaps preciating all the different twists and change the fact that, had this meeting turns of our past, one becomes more not happened, none of our organizations more to the point, equipped to sort out what is happening would be here and barbershop harmony why only that version? today, and to face the future. We must go would likely be nothing more than a forward with a conception of barbershop footnote in history. Thank God it did highly controlled ad lib ballad of the harmony that embraces our heritage and happen, and here we are, hoping to 1970s? Some resemblance, for sure, but does not lock us into one era. rectify the mistakes of the past, talking probably it was much more free-wheel- To fully appreciate this, think of about preserving our music for posterity. ing, rough-cut, imprecise, yet full of joy, making a definition of jazz that includes spontaneity, improvisation, randomly dixieland, traditional jazz, big band mu- Preserve barbershop— sprinkled with the exotic “minors,” sic, the bee-bop of Charlie Parker, and every era, every version “swipes,” and “snakes” characteristic of Miles Davis. One has to be careful not to Discussion of preservation inevitably those early harmonizers. say too much. To that end, I show you a brings up the question of what barber- Yet a different variant of four-part slide [Characterizing features of Barber- shop is, at its essence—a matter that can harmony was sung by the puritanical shop Harmony] that I have been using evoke strong opinions and great passion. New England quartets who adhered to for years in my “History of Barbershop” We all have a notion ingrained in our a more proper European style. And yet course at Harmony University. It lists brain about what it is and, for the most another by the recording quartets in properties that seem to me to be com- part, we want that to be preserved. the studios of New York, another by the mon to barbershop harmony of all ages. Some look back to a particular time Vaudevillians. By the time the Society You will note: There’s nothing about which they view as having captured began, different habits had set in, and chord progressions, form, types of songs, the authentic style—and I should say after that it took only a few years for or vocal style. That’s because none of the formative years that I just discussed the harmony to become more refined, those things were common throughout are rarely cited. Some of our keep-it- more arranged. our past. Now, certainly our contest rules barbershop colleagues wish to recapture The ’50s saw the rise of bright-edged are entitled to be more specific in order the 1950s, or the ’60s, or, more typically, vocal timbre. By the ’70s, the style to present what is most typical, and that the ’70s or ’80s. But in fact, each of these became even more refined and encum- is very appropriate. I love the contests decades was different from the others, bered by a lot of definition, including —of all our organizations, I should say, and all quite different from the ’40s, restrictions that contradicted much of and I appreciate the differences that which, in turn, was most likely different barbershop’s history. (Example: “Bar- exist. I believe the contests have a posi- from the turn-of-the-century curbstone bershop strictly follows a composer’s tive consolidating effect, keeping our version. melody.” Can you image Louis Arm- style of music centered. But let us not So the question becomes which ver- strong adhering to that?) In the ’90s equate contest suitable with barbershop. sion of barbershop are we trying to song choices began to widen and there Otherwise much of our formative music preserve? Perhaps more to the point, was the inclusion of varied tempos and is excluded. The barbershop style and why only that version? rhythms, including swing, backbeat, and culture includes the contests, but it is Let us take ourselves back to the time rhythmic accentuation. bigger. of the childhoods of O.C. Cash and So, which of these is barbershop? The Let me emphasize again that though Rupert Hall, which supplied the style answer is, hopefully, All of them. Our these characteristics allow a good deal they had in mind when they began the music has been continuously morphing of latitude, they uniquely define barber- Society to preserve. Imagine what bar- from its beginning, and it must continue shop harmony; there is no other style bershop harmony was like then. Think to do so in order to survive. that has them, and hardly any that come of George Burns’ foursome regaling close. And as we face the future, I say in the saloons of New York City, or let’s take pride in this style of music of Louis Armstrong harmonizing Characterizing features of Barbershop Harmony and even the term “barbershop.” on the streets of New Orleans, or • Consonant, four-part harmony; a cappella; solid voicings; I’ve heard a few suggest that since of W.C. Handy’s quartet singing in harmonic variety; few passing tones our music doesn’t sound quite like a barbershop in Florence, Ala., or • Melody in the second , first tenor above, bass usually it used to, we might as well just call Scott Joplin in the fields of Texas. on solid chord tones, baritone fill it a cappella. But a cappella doesn’t What do you think their music • Embellishments continually converging to homophonic have these features. And barbershop sounded like? chords is a term that reflects these features, In the absence of recordings it is • Freedom with the song as well as our racially diverse roots, impossible to know for certain, but • Chords tuned with an ear towards lock and ring beginning with those humble singers how close would it have been to a that harmonized in the barber’s shop.

20 The HARMONIZER • March/April 2015 What’s new in Pittsburgh? HU Classes! Want to learn more about our history? Looking for ways to grow your own singing skills? Need some resources for your leadership team? HU is on site with more class offerings than ever before! Classes include: In the Groove - How to make a backbeat really swing!

Repurposing the Warmup - Developing the tone and ensemble skills of your chorus.

Moments of Truth - How do others see us? What identity are we communicating?

Tin Pan Alley - A brief history of the the Tin Pan Alley phenomenon and how it connects to barbershop.

Comedy Hour - the basics of what makes comedy funny, and how to execute a comedy performance.

AND MORE...

CBQC Contest! Chorus Contest Collegiate Barbershop Quartet Contest Talk about VIP treatment... their own performance venue! Ambassadors of Harmony and Westminster Chorus square off once again! “Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a tie.” In one of the most exciting results call-offs Epic Shows! in barbershop competition history, Westminster won the tie-breaker at the Denver Larry Ajer Party convention in 2007. That was the last time these multiple-gold winning choruses met in competition ... and we can’t wait to see what happens this time around. Both Quartets and Choruses, cabaret style! choruses are perrennial audience favorites, showing up year after year with creativ- ity and passion-filled performances. Win-win. World Harmony Jamboree Champions from around the globe... and special guests. Quartet Contest Association of Int’l Champions Show Do NOT miss this one! 10 years of Champions, plus & With only half of the Districts reporting at press time, the quartet race already looks like a barnburner! As more quartets qualify, we expect to see the scores get closer Saturday Night Spectacular and closer together, making for an electric contest where every round counts. This Bigger and better than ever! year’s roster includes more potential first-time medalists than ever before. Stay tuned to see who will make the cut!

REGISTER NOW at www.barbershopconvention.com/pittsburgh or call 800-595-4849 2015 International Convention

Schedule of Major Events Pittsburgh has it all - great food, outdoor adventure, history

Tuesday, June 30 at every corner, tax-limited shopping, a thriving cultural district ... and now YOU! 5–9 :30 p.m. Harmony Foundation Collegiate Barbershop Quartet Contest 9 p.m. *Larry Ajer–Tuesday Night Party

Wednesday, July 1 10 -3 p.m. Quartet Quarterfinals (Session 1) 4:30-9:30 p.m. Quartet Quarterfinals (Session 2) 10 p.m. Dixieland Band

Thursday, July 2 11 –3 :30 p.m. Quartet Semifinals 4:15–6:30 p.m. *World Harmony Jamboree 7:30–10 p.m. *AIC Show

Friday, July 3 10 –2 :30p.m. Chorus Contest Session #1 4–9 p.m. Chorus Contest Session #2

Saturday, July 4 5:45–6:45 p.m. Saturday Night Spectacular! 7–9:30 p.m. Quartet Finals 10 p.m. Chorditorium

* = Separately ticketed event

Plus... Harmony University classes Mass Sing Gold Medal Hour Singing, singing ... SINGING! REGISTER NOW at www.barbershopconvention.com/pittsburgh or call 800-595-4849 2015 International Convention June 28 - July 5, 2015

Pittsburgh has it all - great food, outdoor adventure, history A variety of hotel options at every corner, tax-limited shopping, a thriving cultural district ... and now YOU! with great downtown rates!

1. Cambria Suites at CONSOL Energy Center $159

2. Doubletree by Hilton Hotel & Suites $149/179

3. Marriott Pittsburgh City Center $133

4. Omni William Penn Hotel $154

5. Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel $166

6. Sheraton Hotel at Station Square $145

7. Westin Convention Center Hotel (HQ) $159

8. Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh Downtown $109 Great family packages! Member/Associate/Affiliate pricing (up to two registrations allowed per member at the dis- counted price): $279 Non-Members: $299 Youth (25 & under): $229 Family Four Pack (two adults, two youth from same household): $699 Use code FP2015 when registering. REGISTER NOW at www.barbershopconvention.com/pittsburgh or call 800-595-4849 Additional Youth: $30

IS THERE A BETTER WAY OR DAY TO CELEBRATE THE NATIONS AROUND THE WORLD? JAMBOREE The Westin Convention Center Hotel, Pittsburgh, Thursday, July 2, 2015 4:15pm - 6:30pm Ticket pricing: 43 USD! Be sure to get your ticket in time!

Vocal Majority - 2014 BHS Int´l chorus champs Musical island Boys - 2014 BHS Int´l quartet champs Bling! - 2015 SAI Int´l quartet champions Lemon Squeezy - BHS 2014 medallists......

plus many champions from all around the globe!

For tickets please visit: www.barbershop.tix.com

Ad Harmonizer.indd 1 2015-01-16 15:49:48 In the early 1970s, no- It carries our past with it, and we should body was singing bar- work with them to support what they apply it to what we sing today and will are doing. We need to work in concert sing in the future, as well as for all the bershop the way it was with the worldwide movement so that variations sung by other generations sung 30 years earlier. the organizations are in synergy. This since the beginning. Embrace the past; international mosaic makes barbershop embrace the future. Now, 40 years later, varied, strong, and beautiful. See barbershop as part of the greater Embrace the past, embrace the future we still sing those exact world of music. Continuing to broaden So, as we carry forward the richness of same arrangements of our vision, we will grow and be recog- the past, looking to the future … nized when we see Don’t freeze the style—love the old, love the early 1970s, side existing side by side with other music the new. This style of music we bring for- by side with new in schools, at choir festivals, in local ward includes 19XX, but is not limited performances, and at meetings of orga- to it. You can thrill to the [1950 champ] barbershop. nizations such as ACDA and MENC. Buffalo Bills’ rendition of “Goodbye Old I appreciate the way so many of you, Our Youth Chorus Festival is one of Dixie Goodbye” and also appreciate the our leaders, are seeing the importance many movements in that direction, a [2012 champ] Ringmasters version of of our interaction with all the other most positive sign. “Eight Days A Week.” The more I view organizations, male and female. They Again looking to the past, consider the natural changes in our music over contribute new ideas and give us differ- the way barbershop was intertwined the generations, the more I appreci- ent perspectives and a broader vision. with jazz here in New Orleans, and ate the sound of it in various decades, We’ve had a long working relationship the enriching effect that had. We only including today—and look forward to with Harmony Inc. that has served both strengthen ourselves when we rub what tomorrow may bring. organizations well. We’ve also existed shoulders with other music. And when Here’s a telling observation: At the side by side with Sweet Adelines since our ensembles branch out and sing other time of the Four Rascals or the Dealers its beginning in 1945, and though that types of music, that is not bad. O.C. Choice [early 1970s], nobody was sing- connection is less direct, our two orga- Cash wanted Barbershoppers to sing ing the music the way it was sung at the nizations have had substantial affect on choral music to show the world we can beginning of the Society, 30 years ear- each other in many ways. Consider the do it. Today’s barbershop choruses can lier—the style had changed that much. impact of Renee Craig, who through make a sound attractive to choral musi- Now, 40 years later, we still hear those her music and persona has impacted cians; we can fulfill Cash’s aspiration ... exact same arrangements of the early our society tremendously over the years. in the 1940s not so much. In doing so, 70s, side by side with new barbershop. Then there is the vibrant internation- we bring others to appreciate our style Isn’t that a marvelous testament to al community, growing both in numbers of music. the compatibility of preservation with and quality. Our current champions, natural evolution? Love the old, love Musical Island Boys, are like rock stars Future history of the new. in New Zealand. Most of us don’t realize the early 21st Century Promote both quality public perfor- what an incredible boost for barbershop So now let me move to the title of this mance and recreational enjoyment. A their victory has triggered, in New Zea- talk. How will our generation be viewed beautiful and unique part of our culture land and probably elsewhere. Look at from the future? I will take a leap forward is the nearly co-equal roles of singing what Sweden has contributed: our 2012 and look back, and the brave new world to entertain and singing for one’s own champions Ringmasters, the amazing depicted here is partially a reflection of enjoyment. This is age old: Those youth Rönninge Show Chorus, 2014 Sweet current reality and partially a wish list. who harmonized in the streets of New Adelines Champions, and we could go Rise of the youth movement. This has Orleans did so for their own enjoy- on and on. been brewing for a number of years, ment, but they also found audiences in I also mention the wonderful German but now it is on the verge of exploding. public places. In that day, professional organization BinG (Barbershop in Ger- It is gratifying to see our organization quartets were entertaining on stage and many), which did something different working with Sweet Adelines on hugely through recordings while ordinary folks at its inception by including both men successful youth festivals around our were harmonizing songs in their homes; and women, performing and competing country. And on the foreign front, I those two components have always gone side-by-side. They now host at their recently attended the concluding event hand-in-hand. We must carry that dual- biennial convention the World Mixed of the New Zealand national high school ity forward as we look to the future. Competition, whose 2014 champion, barbershop festival, which had some Look beyond our Society to the greater Double Date, many of you heard at the 700 high school participants, and those barbershop community. We must realize World Harmony Jamboree in Las Vegas. students had to qualify at a regional that the BHS is not the sole custodian I am not at all suggesting we change level to get there, which means there of barbershop, just as no organization our organization to be like them (or are many more. Amazing—and this in can claim to own any style of music. It any other organization), but I am sug- a country of 4.5 million people, about exists independently. gesting we appreciate, recognize, and the population of Louisiana. My vision

March/April 2015 • The HARMONIZER 21 one man’s opinion We only strengthen of the future brings similar events around ourselves when we rub dynamic force. Now, I know all of you the world, eventually in places which believe in its power to change lives—you currently have no barbershop activity. shoulders with other are indeed true believers. But perhaps Greater internationalization of barber- music. O.C. Cash our music carries the potential of ben- shop. We will have actively planted the efitting mankind even more than most seeds of barbershop harmony in parts of wanted Barbershop- of us imagine. This belief comes from the world where it doesn’t exist. Even pers to sing choral mu- my perspective as both a mathematician without any effort from us, it is pop- (and I won’t ruin your day by telling ping up. This past summer in Latvia, sic to show the world you much about that!) and a musician, the barbershop division of the World we can do it. Today’s which allows me to see naturalness in Choir Games was won by a chorus of our music and its synergy with natural young men from Sri Lanka called The barbershop choruses phenomena in the universe. Please in- Old Joe’s Choir—watch them on You- can. In doing so, we dulge me for just a moment here. Tube and be amazed. (Also try bit.ly/ When voices are aligned in harmony, OldJoesChoir) I understand the World bring others to appre- they are following instincts that arise Harmony Council has reached out to from mathematical principles of numer- them and is considering ways to organize ciate our style of music. ology and physical laws of vibrations. similar outreaches around the world. We many people have gotten hooked on These attractions are universal. If there must do all we can do to feed and support barbershop upon hearing an excellent exists, say, a civilization in another such efforts. performance. It happened in the 1950s galaxy, most of earth’s sciences and hu- Breakdown of gender, age, and racial when England’s Harry Dancer came manities, and many of its arts, would barriers. We have already moved away to America and saw the Buffalo Bills be irrelevant. Sciences like psychology, from the old notion of barbershop as an on Broadway, returned to England and geography, and biology as we know them all-white men’s club, but not far enough. eventually triggered the British Asso- would not apply to those inhabitants, It needs more inclusiveness on all fronts, ciation of Barbershop Singers (BABS), nor would our language, history, or and in particular we need to address the barbershop’s first lurch outside North sociology, nor would art based on forms racial and ethnic diversity issue in our America. I could relate other similar recognizable to us but not to an alien. North American organizations. It is a stories, including people who were But the notion of the counting num- tough nut to crack, but our origins call introduced to barbershop by a YouTube bers 1, 2, 3, and so on, would mean for it. We will pursue it relentlessly, as performance and became involved. It is just the same, and vibrations whose our culture will be much richer when the excellent ensembles, such as those frequencies have basic ratios, like 2 to we succeed. My view of the future is not we will see this weekend, that will pio- 1 and 3 to 2, would be in alignment. complete without this accomplishment. neer our music into the frontiers of the And that is the essence of harmony. Inclusion of a wide variety of songs. 21st century. Thus when one engages in harmonizing, We’re seeing this happen, and some one becomes connected to something people stress about it, but I say it is A mathematician/musician’s universal, and therein lies the appeal right, it is natural, it is inevitable, and perspective on how barbershop we have all experienced. It has seem- it is in line with our history. From day harmony changes people’s lives ingly magical power to attract human one, Barbershoppers have sung anything This view of the future is upbeat. We beings (and perhaps nonhuman aliens!) they could hang harmony on, and they might take another view and ask: Will to bring them satisfaction, and to bring didn’t hesitate to bend the song to get it the future history of barbershop see its them close to others. It has all kinds of to work. Wide repertoire, contemporary decline, even disappearance? It’s a fair implications for humankind, and that songs along with old songs, is an impor- question: It happened once. At the turn should give us confidence as we look tant part of our forward motion. of the century, the barbershop quartet to the future. Interaction with other styles of music. was ubiquitous—but then it nearly dis- So, “I have a dream”—to quote a great Future history reveals a style of music appeared. But there was no organized, man. My vision is that this straight- that is confident in its identity and worldwide, dedicated effort to perpetuate forward, natural, and wonderful music value, and has taken its rightful role in it then, as we have now, and I am confi- will rise from its humble origins as the the musical world, earning the respect dent that with the combined endeavor spontaneous harmony of street corners of musical scholars, educators, and per- of the loosely knit but unified worldwide and barbershops to change the world. I formers. We have much to learn from confederation of barbershop organizations believe just about everyone here wants this interaction, and others have much that exists, together with the leverage in that too. I hereby propose that we dedi- to learn from us. the power of the music itself, it will go cate ourselves to making the dream come Ever-increasing quality of high-level forward and that what you see in front of true. Because we know that if it happens, performances. You may ask “how can it you will be the future history. people everywhere will be blessed, and get any better?”, but I believe we will I want to express my belief that this world will indeed be a better place. find ways. We should understand that barbershop harmony is a natural and Let’s do it. Thank you. n

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March/April 2015 • The HARMONIZER 23 Meet 2015-16 Society president Don Fuson

I remember laughing out loud seeing Don [Fuson] in With son Hans and daughter Alison growing up, road tights during some early Madrigal Dinners in St. Louis; trips always included singing along with the radio and he was singing in the group Greenleaf. A bit of humor sometimes altering the lyrics: “donuts make my brown went along with the songs in various languages, and eyes blue.” Jim Croce, Arlo Guthrie and Harry Chapin you16 could tell how much he enjoyed sharing music were storytellers whose songs never seemed to be repeated with others. (I’m still not sure men who are 6’3” should enough. wear tights!) Daughter Alison, now with a Masters in Deaf Educa- Beginnings in barbershop harmony tion, recalls dad always harmonizing while singing in I had already joined the Kansas State Master Gardener church or around the piano. There were generally some program when Don’s involvement in Barbershopping extra piano chords to simply “round out the music” before began. I saw a little newspaper notice saying “Men Sing- reaching the end of the song. ing” and said “why don’t you go out and sing with these IDon grew up in Springfield, Mo., where his mother guys?” Don joined the Overland Park, Kan. Chapter that was a junior high music fall, and his official BHS start date was 1/1/2000. Much educator and church choir later, I realized that I had forgotten to tell him when to director for over 30 years. So come back home. it’s no wonder that starting Chapter leadership positions came the first year as a at age 3½, young Donald was in some type of choir robe. Its length grew with his height and dropped with his voice. Big brother David had previously appeared in those robes a few years earlier at church. There was little doubt that singing and music would play a major role in Don’s life. He earned top rankings at state high school music festivals, in small vocal ensembles and with his saxophone trio. The highlight of any school trip was stopping for dinner in some town and FUSON FOUR. Alison, Hans, Don and Linda Fuson. The family will never for- singing for the patrons before get the outpouring of support from the barbershop community when Hans leaving to the sound of their passed away in 2011. applause. He loved to share the music with others. Board Member-At-Large, and he was Chapter President At the University of Missouri-Columbia, he studied in year two. Also in that second year, the baritone of a math, physics and earned a Masters in Education—but long-standing quartet moved out of town, so Don was Don always took a chorus class. Singing in the church “drafted” to begin his quartet experience as the bari of choir provided additional opportunities at either tenor Homeward Bound. or bass. One Sunday at the last minute, he was asked to Central States District leadership positions as COTS sing a solo. The previous evening had been a very close coordinator, CSLT VP, EVP, District President, Events basketball game for Mizzou and “Don the fan” had little VP and emcee provided additional opportunities to serve voice to share! fellow members and help them share the harmonies. His Shakey’s Pizza was a St. Louis landmark in 1969, background in Information Technology has served him when Don taught high school math then performed well, being able to use data to quantify and outline po- every Thursday evening with a small group during the tential chapter development processes and performance Alison & time of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “I’m In Love opportunities. Linda Fuson with a Big Blue Frog.” The group always got the crowd Additional singing opportunities arose when he Daughter and moving, and the encouragement brought new songs to joined the Heart of America Chorus of the Kansas wife of Don the performance list. City (Mo.) Chapter; performances at district and inter-

24 The HARMONIZER • March/April 2015 group of KC chapter Barbershoppers. This group Greenleaf Madrigal Singers in 1985, before Don (top) appeared in over 25 performances in 2014 at area discovered barbershop churches, retirement centers, and convalescent homes. The singers and spouses gather for a wonder- ful Christmas party every year. I am proud to be Don’s “Lady of Note” and support his active singing. I am honored to be the Society First Lady. His role in the Society has led to many new, wonderful friendships. I’m especially grateful to those who wear a nametag since I don’t have Don’s talent of remembering names.

Share your music; enrich Homeward Bound, Don’s six-man quartet and expand your world Alan Lamson’s “Music is Life national competitions is Music” theme and Shannon followed. Don’s first Elswick’s “’Shop ‘til You Drop” appearance at Inter- theme have become part of national was in Salt Don’s active life in the Society Lake City in 2005 during the last four years that but, due to laryngitis, he has been on the Interna- he just mouthed the tional Board. words from the back row! He provided good “face” for Don’s theme for his presidency is “Share Your Music; the chorus. Enrich and Expand Your World.” He firmly believes Through another organization, People to People Inter- barbershop singing should know no boundaries and wants national, we are fortunate to support many international to further promote harmony to the world. He believes military officers who attend the US Army Command and local chapters can measure their own progress toward General Staff College at nearby Fort Leavenworth, Kan. this sharing goal by marketing their new outreach areas. Through his barbershop contacts in Stockholm, he had My own economics background would say that Don’s a surprise Singing Valentine delivered to the spouse of theme would have some math built in—Doubling or a former international Swedish officer, and has brought tripling the number of new community performances will his quartet to enrich other international officer picnics. allow both your chapter, your district, and your Society to The Barbershop world was very supportive of our fam- grow in members, but also grow in the eyes and hearts of ily when son Hans passed away in November 2011. At these new appreciative audience members. That would the Portland convention the following July, Alison came be successful portions of Don’s theme as you “expand and from her Seattle home and sat next to her father as A enrich” the world around you! Alison and I will enjoy Mighty Wind sang “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” sharing those harmonies with you! n over our silent tears.

Performing today Don’s travels Don began his U.S. Army career in June of 1970, with stops at Fort Knox, Ky., Fort Don’s now-senior quartet, Homeward Bound, is a fre- Devens, MA, then to Frankfurt and Augsburg, , from 1971-73. Overseas, quent performer at local gigs, and he never seems to run he served as a Military Intelligence Officer, in charge of business systems develop- out of stories and energy as the quartet spokesperson. His ment. He still enjoys trying to master his German skills. registered quartet now has six members, just in case there Returning to St. Louis, Don began his career with AT&T at Western Electric, be- is an opportunity for a performance during one or more ginning as a programmer and later in various management positions. Meanwhile, quartet members’ travels. These six members spawned a he continued his church choir singing, which eventually led to joining a Madrigal second registered quartet, sharing two members to allow group, Greenleaf. But over his 12 years of singing in St. Louis, unfortunately we more singers to have fun on the district stage. never saw a barbershop flier or heard about a local chapter. He really regrets not Don is fortunate to have taught in Leadership Acad- being aware of the fun and singing that was going on without him—he would emies in at least 14 districts and has visited all of the have joined the Society much earlier. remaining districts in his role as Contest Administrator An AT&T transfer took us to New Jersey for five years, and we were delighted to within the C&J community. Often staying a day or two relocate to Kansas City in early 1992 as this put us equidistant from our parents. later while on the road, Don has been known to “adjust” In KC, Don had several systems development positions. His other jobs included the overnight road stay to visit some other chapter and being the Volunteer Coordinator for the 5,000 AT&T area employees and a national just be “Don, the bari, from Kansas City,” enjoying the speaker for the Baldrige Award for Quality, an honor won by his AT&T Business Unit. friendship and harmonies of another chorus. He seems Then it was back to grad school for an MBA and a foreign opportunity that to have never really ever met a stranger without asking returned us to Frankfurt with AT&T/Bell Labs in 1997. Upon completion of that “where do you sing?” overseas assignment, Don and I both elected to take advantage of an early retire- As if he was not out singing enough, Don also is a ment offer as we returned to the Kansas City metro area. member of The New Harmony Handful, a small daytime

March/April 2015 • The HARMONIZER 25 At Harmony U, less is more & more is more! Your feedback leads to a more relaxed schedule and more variety! Register now

Just like you learn a new language much more ute evening electives will include Master classes, quickly by full immersion among native speakers, Coaching Under Glass, Directors Round Table, Barbershoppers make huge leaps after a week of full Show Production Q&A, Leadership Challenges, immersion at Harmony University. At press time, and more. You’ll have time to attend nine elective 600 of our 750 slots for 2015 have already been filled. courses during the week. We’ve never filled up so fast, so register atwww. Youth offerings expanded. Our under-25 attendees harmonyuniversity.org before all the slots are gone! no longer have to cram for their end-of-week show package in only two hours of rehearsal a day. That’s Some things about Harmony U never change ... been doubled to four hours, allowing time for more We’re making some big changes in 2015 based on learning and more concepts, while still allowing time attendee feedback. As always, we’ll have daily classes, for two other week-long courses and for the nine a morning general session where we all learn a new elective classes. Jwarm up, a new song, and a new tag. You’ll get a col- Private lessons on your schedule. Sign up for one- lege dorm room and cafeteria to sit with old friends on-one coaching, arranging and conducting and meet some barbershop super stars. And yes, sessions. You choose the time and the we still have ice cream! instructor online, either one or two half-hour sessions per category. A ... but you’ll love what we did change! $25-per-session fee helps cover the cost We listened to our students and changed ac- of additional faculty. cording to your requests! Faculty office hours. All faculty will be More time to breathe. Attendees told us they available for an hour each day at a posted loved every minute of learning, but asked Sampling of 2015 faculty time and location. if we could dial down the intensity. So David Wright: Barbershop history Perform on downtown Nash- we did: Tom Gentry: Arranging ville’s stages! On Saturday, Aug. • General Session will start an hour later, Brandon Guyton, Cindy Hansen-Ellis: 1, all 750 of us will leave the at 9:30 a.m. Chorus and quartet coaching Belmont campus to sing for • On top of lunch, enjoy an additional Dr. Don Campbell: Conducting Nashville audiences in local one-hour break from 1 to 2 p.m., where Aaron Dale: Honors Chorus venues—in fact, all performers you can nap or tag away. Steve DeNino: Leadership will sing their sets multiple times • Scheduled events end at 8:30 p.m. You Clay Hine: Next Generation Chorus at multiple venues. Those who can keep going all night, but we are no Debbie Cleveland: Young Women in do not belong to the Chorus longer offering classes until 10 p.m. Harmony College, Quartet College, or • Chorus and quartet coaching has been Musical Island Boys: Special musical the Honors and Young Men/ broken up into two 2-hour daily sessions guests Young Women choruses can opt starting at 10:30 a.m. and another at 4 to perform general session music p.m. Enjoy the needed break, attend some mid-day in mini-choruses with our Directors College faculty. classes, and come back fresh! If you opt not to sing, hop on a bus and visit down- No more qualifying for classes. No video auditions, town Nashville’s tourist district, watch our groups no prerequisites. Just sign up for what you want, and perform, visit our BHS headquarters (1 block from if by the end of the first day you feel that, say, Music Broadway), or just decompress on the campus of Theory IV is a bit over your head, we’ll move you Belmont, saving up your energy for the big Saturday to Theory III or wherever else you are comfortable. Night Spectacular! Skip a block. Choose to not take a class at one of our times, and that’s okay. (This was not an option Don’t wait! before.) Harmony U is filling up at the quickest rate in our Take elective classes à la carte. Instead of signing history, and looks to sell out for a second year in a Donny Rose up for the A, B, C tracks for the week, just walk row. We meet this year July 26 to Aug. 2. Teach- Dean of Harmony into whatever elective session interests you. All ers, we are providing continuing education hours University new 50-minute lunch-time electives will include through ACDA. Visit HarmonyUniversity.org for drose@barber- Arrangers Q&A, How to be a Great Lead, or even online scholarships and answers to your questions. shop.org “open mike in the square” at Belmont. Three 90-min- We would love to have you join us! n www.harmonyuniversity.org

26 The HARMONIZER • March/April 2015 Swipes ‘n’ Swaps “New director” ads are free in The Harmonizer (first 50 words) to Society chapters. Send to [email protected].

DIRECTOR WANTED The Norfolk Virginia Commodore DIRECTOR RETIRING!! How would you Chorus is searching for a new director. like to direct an International bound Contact Jeff Robinson or Dick Deluca chorus of 100+ members, and help us through our organization’s voicemail at achieve our goal of “A” level scores? 757-215-1602 or email Jeff at jrob51@ Sacramento Valley Chorus (SAI) is verizon.net. seeking a dynamic director with the skills (interpersonal and musical) to get The Victoria Village Squires Chapter is us there. The Sacramento Area is a great seeking a full or part-time Choral Director place to live with close proximity to des- who can join in the fun and learning we tinations like Lake Tahoe, San Francisco enjoy, enhance our community presence, and the wine country. Interested? Contact and inspire our growth. Contact Allan in Babs Causley at [email protected]. Victoria, British Columbia at: ajacques@ Visit www.sacramentovalleychorus.com. telus.net or (250) 385-7776. casualuniforms.com

Located on the beautiful Central Coast The Roswell (Ga.) Firehouse Harmony of Oregon, the Oregon Mid-Coast Brigade is looking for a director. Bar- 1-800-591-7063 CoastalAires Chorus is looking for a bershopper preferred, but not required. www.casualuniforms.com frontline Director. We’re a small Chap- Directing experience a plus. We’re a ter but looking to grow. If interested, small chapter with an unconventional contact our President, Roy Simpson, approach in the Atlanta area. Contact at (541)961-9286 or email royboy@ Vern Otwell, at 404-509-7075 or hvot- crc.name. [email protected] or http://therfhb.org.

CONNECT WITH YOUR CHORUS - ONLINE, ANYTIME

Photo Credit: Jeff Richards Barbershop Harmony Chapters receive “Central Standard needed a better method 20% off GroupanizerSing! for storing data, communicating chorus Enroll Now using coupon code BHS20 info, tracking rehearsal attendance and tracking song learning status. These are the core functions that Groupanizer provides in GroupanizerSing! members-only websites spades. Upon looking at the functionality provided by the Groupanizer system it was a help dedicated leaders and directors no-brainer for us to start using it. plan rehearsals, create riser placements, Overall the majority of our members log manage email groups and more... into the site on a weekly basis. That to me speaks directly to Groupanizer’s inherent ALL-IN-ONE-PLACE intuitiveness and breadth of functionality. The Groupanizer forum is a boon of Organize. Manage. Connect. knowledge for any admin who runs into an issue while configuring their site.” groupanizer.com/bhs Philip Owen Site Administrator Central Standard

March/April 2015 • The HARMONIZER 27

Vector Icons Vector Icons Aaron Lee (@aaron_lee07) 68 www.acldesigns.net Vector Icons Aaron Lee (@aaron_lee07) 68 www.acldesigns.net Aaron LeeVector (@aaron_lee07) Icons Vector Icons68Vector Iconswww.acldesigns.net Aaron Lee (@aaron_lee07)Aaron Lee (@aaron_lee07)68Aaron Lee (@aaron_lee07)www.acldesigns.net68 www.acldesigns.net68 www.acldesigns.net 1. Saturday Evening Post Musical Island Boys at the Thursday Night Party at Mardi Gras World

2. High Priority

3. Spotlight

A cold winter blast kept most of the fun indoors, but the entertainment (and cuisine) provided plenty of heat at the Society’s “singiest” and most laid-back convention. Throughout the week, all generations could be found tagging in the lobby 24/7 after three nights of incredible shows. Thursday night’s bash at Mardi Gras World kicked 4. Replay! off the week, with 2014 collegiate champ The Academy and all the 2014 international quartet medalists providing the entertainment. All three days started off with Harmony U classes, including luminaries like Kirby Shaw and David Wright Friday brought another great Youth Chorus Festival and a great evening show that featured past seniors champs and full show sets from 2014 medalists A Mighty Wind and Lemon Squeezy—each of which featured special guests. Saturday included a great Seniors Quartet 5. St. Croix Crossing Contest as well as a evening show that featured the all-new All Chapter Chorus, the record-setting 2015 Seniors Champion Saturday Evening Post, and 2014 medalists , Fore- front, and Musical Island Boys. As always, the best part was the socializing and all-night tagging that brought Barbershoppers together from all over the world for the best party we’ll see until Pittsburgh! n

28 The HARMONIZER • March/April 2015 Full show sets from all the 2014 international quartet medalists Frequency

OYA Chorus The Recruits

Emcee Rick LaRosa kept audiences Harmony U guess- Pages 28-29, photos by Lorin May ing what Seniors competitor photos by Miller Photography would hap- pen next

Another joker,“Alex,” traveled all the way from Taiwan to attend. He joined AHSOW and sang with the All-Chapter Chorus 52eighty

Chandler High School Men’s Choir Greg Clancy directs the all-new All Southern Gentlemen Chapter Chorus, made up of regular Joe Barbershoppers

Photos and more in- formation on the Youth Chorus Festival par- ticipants will appear in the May/June issue of The Harmonizer

March/April 2015 • The HARMONIZER 29 2015 International Seniors Competitors

1. Saturday Evening Post (RMD) Brian Beck (Br), Tom Wilkie (Bs), Allen Gasper (L), Bobby Gray Jr. (T) Bobby: (719) 896-0084; [email protected] All Senior competitor photos by Miller Photography

2. High Priority (FWD) 3. Spotlight (JAD) Mark House (Br), Byron Bennett (L), Dan Davenport (Bs), Ray Estes (T) Matt Bridger (Br), Dave Kindinger (Bs), Don Pullins (L), Gary Wulf (T) Mark: (602) 570-5632; [email protected] Gary: (614) 793-8864; [email protected] www.facebook.com/highpriorityqtet

4. Replay! (SWD) 5. St. Croix Crossing (LOL) Ken Gabrielse (Br), Art Swanson (L), John White (Bs), Frank Friedemann (T) Randy Lieble (T), Dan Heike (L), Jared Hoke (Bs), Steven Hardy (Br) Frank: (918) 230-1155; [email protected] Dan: (715) 926-5318; [email protected] www.prettygoodquartet.com; www.facebook.com/scxbq

30 The HARMONIZER • March/April 2015 2015 International Seniors Competitors

6. Velvet Frogs (FWD) 7. Take Note (ILL) Les Dergan (T), David Livingston (L), Bill Wilson (Bs), C.J. Sams, Jr. (Br) Dick Kingdon (Br), Ralph Brooks (L), Ed Chapman (Bs), Rick Anthoney (T) CJ: (562) 425-2924; [email protected] Ralph: (847) 924-7085; [email protected]

8. Geezer Q (SLD) 9. Bustin’ Loose (JAD) Todd Horton (T), Don Stothard (L), Keith Langdon (Bs), Bob Denison (Br) Tom Rouse (Br), Troy Kaper (Bs), Marco Crager (L), Gary Ellerhorst (T) Keith: (315) 719-9607; [email protected] Troy: (937) 522-1892; [email protected] www.facebook.com/bustinloose

10. Gulf Coasters (SUN) 11. Social Insecurity (EVG) Tim McShane (T), Rod Johnson (L), Jack Slamka (Bs), Bart Plescia (Br) Bob Martindale (Br), Kevin Stephens (L), Marty Anderson (Bs), Gary Raze (T) Rod: (612) 978-8237; [email protected] Bob: (541) 729-0283; [email protected]

March/April 2015 • The HARMONIZER 31 2015 International Seniors Competitors

12. Stacked Deck (DIX) 12. Rolls Voyce (PIO) Freddie Braswell (T), Ron Montgomery (L), Tom Cain (Bs), Jim Cain (Br) T.R. Gerard (Bs), David Gillingham (Br), T.C. Conner (L), Bruce LaMarte (T) Tom: (205) 451-7505; [email protected] David: (989) 330-1407; [email protected]

14. Nostalgia Express (ONT) 15. Armchair Chorderbacks (CSD) Larry Maw (T), Jim Doyle (Bs), Dave Rozycki (Br), Brad Brown (L) Carter Combs (T), Mike Mathieu (L), David Stockard (Bs), Jim Bagby (Br) Jim: (905) 868-6155; [email protected] Mike: (913) 685-7408; [email protected]

16. Late Edition (JAD) 17. Trade Secret (NED) Keith Shuck (T), Stevens Sommer (L), Mark Hannum (Bs), Doug Smeltz (Br) Ralph St. George (Br), Mike Maino (Bs), Bob O’Connell (L), Bill Wright (T) Doug: (614) 537-5184; [email protected] Mike: (401) 331-6156; [email protected] http://drsbari.wix.com/lateedition www.facebook.com/tradesecretquartet

32 The HARMONIZER • March/April 2015 2015 International Seniors Competitors

18. Seasoned Citizens (SUN) 19. Horizon (JAD) Jeff Packer (Br), Chris Hurst (L), Daniel Proctor (Bs), Jerry Anton (T) Don Gray (T), Jerry Wallman (L), Dutch Speidel (Bs), Bayard Pelsor (Br) Daniel: (904) 838-6876; [email protected] Don: (513) 421-2413; [email protected]

20. Basses Unlimited (ONT) 21. Youth Reclamation Project (MAD) Ted Church (Bs), Rob Lamont (L), David Wallace (Br), Bill Wells (T) Mike Wallen (T), Roger Tarpy (L), Vic Owen (Bs), Hardman Jones (Br) Rob: (416) 879-0166; [email protected] Mike: (804) 338-7214; [email protected]

22. On Q! (ONT) 23. Figaro (BABS) John Wilkie (Br), Bill Vermue (Bs), Richard Frenette (T), Bruce Marchant (L) Aidan Brand (T), David Tanner (L), Richard Leathem (Bs), Andy Rzysko (Br) John: (519) 826-7617; [email protected] Richard: (UK); [email protected]

March/April 2015 • The HARMONIZER 33 24. Final Countdown (SNOBS) 25. Port City Sound (NED) Ulf Brunstedt (T), Kjell Lindberg (L), Sten Palmer (Bs), Dieter Feichtinger (Br) Fred Moore (T), Walt Dowling (L), Jim Simpson (Bs), Jim Curtis (Br) Kjell: (468) 774-6859; [email protected] Jim: (207) 313-9277; [email protected] www.facebook.com/finalcountdown www.downeasters.org

26. Once Upon A Time (CAR) Bob Hughes (T), Dick Timmerman (Bs), Phil Kinser (L), Bill Hankla (Br) Dick: (270) 647-1611; [email protected]

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making a difference Slam dunk for barbershopq at ACDA Convention f you’re wondering whether music educators are warming up to barber- Ishop harmony, we’ve got great news if the mood at the national convention for the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) was any indica- tion. Held in Salt Lake City this past February, the Society’s large, prominent The packed room reacts to booth kept six Society staff and The Fairfield Four members talking virtually non-stop with educators and students who wanted sheet music and advice on how to incorporate barbershop harmony into their programs. In five days, educators took home hundreds of pounds of sheet music, materials, learning tracks, and an increased enthusiasm for four-part harmony. And then there were the Society’s events—all of which were standing room only. Audiences treated 2009 champ Crossroads and gos- pel legends The Fairfield Four Donny Rose teaches tag to an elite boys choir

like rock stars at their combined photos by jeremy gover presentation on the Roots of Bar- bershop Harmony. The Society’s reading session and concert were Crossroads and The Fairfield Four likewise completely full. Society staffers Joe Cerutti, Donny Rose, Adam Scott, Sherry Lewis and CEO Marty Monson returned with dozens of interested new contacts. A/V producer Jeremy Gover also returned with dozens of video interviews with educators and students who were happy to share the benefits of bar- The Society’s busy booth at the exhibitor entrance bershop harmony with their peers.

Barbershop is alive in Buenos Aires! Meet Argentina’s Capítulo 1, the first Barbershop chorus in Latin America. This chorus is the real deal, with a good-sized repertoire, gigs, and a website that auto plays them singing “The Old Songs” in English. The chorus began in 2013, with many members also in quartets. Their stated goals are to promote barber- shop and quartetting in Argentina, build up new choruses and fan bases, and awaken the musician inside each singer with exciting music. Check them out at bit.ly/bbshopcapitulo.

36 The HARMONIZER • March/April 2015 Praise after 43% score made all the difference for future champion tenor From Facebook: Next summer will mark 20 years from my first quartet contest. Our high school quartet averaged a score of 42.75%, which, if I’m not mistaken, is a perfor- mance deemed “musically offensive.” The very next day, Don Gubbins (president of the Placerville, Calif., Chapter at that time and also Presenta- tion judge from the contest) wrote us a letter praising our efforts and declaring our performance “just plain terrific.” He closed the letter with: “... if not in the immediate future, we hope that somewhere in your future is a place to harmonize and to assist us in our efforts to ‘KEEP THE The new dean of Directors College at Harmony U, WHOLE WORLD SINGING.” Dr. Don Campbell of Southern Wesleyan Univer- Thanks Don ... I’ll never forget that letter, it’s framed sity added another international gig to his long on my wall next to this score sheet. You’ve made a barber- resume last September when he coached 85 mem- shopper for life. bers of Holland Harmony and taught seminars – Shawn York (T) OC Times, 2008 champ on Directing Techniques, Sound Management, How Your Voice Works, and How To Teach What You Know. Knowing what to teach wasn’t the is- sue—it was knowing what to leave out. “And most everyone spoke English exceptionally well,” Don said. “There was only one class where I occasionally utilized an inter- preter.” The chorus of seminar attendees spent an additional nine hours with Don to put together two songs (with choreography) for a Saturday performance. The name they chose for themselves? “Don’s Ladies.” n

Chapter Eternal Society members reported as deceased between Jan. 1 and March 1, 2015. Email updates to [email protected].

Central Bellevue, WA Bellevue, WA Pittsburgh North Walter Fuhrmann Levittown, PA Peter Minhinnick Myers, FL States Thomas Buffie Joe Warmuth Hills, PA Greater Atlantic William Treacy Barrie, ON Robert Jones Dan Bowser Spruce Grove, AB Bellevue, WA Glen Harrah City, NJ Abington- Panama City, FL Kansas City, MO Robert Burn Raymond Williams Parkersburg- Jack Garrity Levittown, PA Pioneer Earl O’Brient Bellevue, WA Bellevue, WA Marietta, WV Cherry Hill, NJ John Treff Perry Foor Naples/Fort John Cardinal Bob Zajichek Robert McCullough Stuart Gilman Dundalk, MD Hillsdale, MI Myers, FL Bellevue, WA Bellevue, WA Akron, OH Suffolk, VA Scott Ward Frank Korican Robert Feldsted Canton, OH Stuart Gilman Lansdale, PA Gaylord, MI Southwestern Bellevue, WA Far Western Ronald Reynolds Virginia Peninsu- Bob Weibel Bill Maurer Bruce Clark Thomas Harper Don Brewer Xenia, OH las, VA Cherry Hill, NJ Rochester , MI San Angelo, TX Bellevue, WA Fullerton, CA Rodney Ziemer Herman Gross Paul Teska Harvey Cross Dan Bowser, Bernard Hyde Woody Cady Dayton Metro, OH Cherry Hill, NJ Northeastern Huron Valley, MI Permian Basin, TX emcee legend Bellevue, WA Palomar Pacific, CA Russell Lausch Brian Betsworth Robert Eubank Robert Keehn Glenn Hennessy Land O’ Lakes Lancaster Red Rose, PA Midcoast Maine, ME Seneca Land San Angelo, TX C Virgil Henderson Calgary, AB Santa Fe Springs, CA Gordon Elstad John Migaleddi Anthony Cecere Walter Holt Robert Landgren Leavenworth, KS Medicine Hat, AB Bill Horst Faribault, MN Cherry Hill, NJ Manchester , CT Erie, PA Spring, TX Phillip Lesh Spruce Grove, AB San Fernando Val- Fred Gaulke, Jr. Edward Moe Robert Eggleston Waldo Schock McCook, NE Warren Mitchell ley, CA Wausau, WI Cherry Hill, NJ Saratoga Springs, NY Sunshine Greater New David Rowe Bellevue, WA Ron Murray Bob Irvine Dave O’Malley Yves Lauze Brian Betsworth Orleans, LA Greater Ozarks, AR Thomas Saumer Nevada-Placer, CA Le Roy, MN Cherry Hill, NJ South Shore, QC Naples/Fort Spruce Grove, AB Palomar Pacific, CA Joe Plaisance Merle Pinnekamp Earl O’Brient Myers, FL Dixie Robert Stead Deane Scoville Winona, MN Frederick, MD Pittsfield, MA Brian Betsworth John Hiltonsmith Seattle, WA Fullerton, CA Robert Thomlinson Herbert Richard Valentine Ruseckas Everglades, FL Memphis, TN Elton Suko Buford Strange Winnipeg, MB Dundalk, MD Keene, NH Chester Chambers Jake Ivey Coeur D’ Alene, ID Crescenta Valley, CA Albert Roche Fort Walton Beach, FL Greater Atlanta, GA Spokane, WA Apple Valley, CA Mid-Atlantic Cherry Hill, NJ Carolinas Jack Dichter Lake Lanier , GA William Tait Chiz Bell John Rogers John Brazell Naples/Fort Charles McCann Spruce Grove, AB Johnny Nassau-Mid Island, NY Germantown, MD Lexington County, SC Myers, FL Charlie McCann, Nashville, TN William Tobey Appleseed David Comly William Shields Jack Dichter past Society Bellevue, WA James Butler Tunkhannock, PA Cherry Hill, NJ Ontario Everglades, FL president Evergreen Eldon Torsey Zanesville, OH Jack Dichter James Snow Vic Graham Walter Holt Paul Anderson Seattle, WA Matthew Coppola Bryn Mawr , PA Abington- Barrie, ON Naples/Fort

March/April 2015 • The HARMONIZER 37 member services directory How can we help you barbershop today? Get answers from your staff Society Headquarters 110 7th Ave N • Nashville, TN 37203-3704 615-823-3993 • fax: 615-313-7615 • [email protected] Office hours: 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Central or any time atwww.barbershop.org 800-876-7464 (SING)  Executive Offices Operations Marty Monson Chip Gallent Board of Directors Executive Director/CEO Director of Operations/COO President Patty Leveille Erin Harris Don Fuson • Leawood, KS Executive Assistant/HR/Office Manager Project Manager 913-897-0625 Douglas Gordon [email protected] Administrative Assistant Harmony Marketplace [email protected] Executive Vice President Finance Pam Cervantez Skipp Kropp • Indianapolis, IN [email protected] Harmony Marketplace Manager 317-855-3093 [email protected] Erik Dove Krystie Mitchell Director of Finance/CFO Merchandise/Administrative Asst. Treasurer Jama Clinard Justin Gray Controller Dwayne Cooper • Austin, TX Production Center 512-633-3031 Sheila Huey Joe Rau [email protected] Finance Support Production Center

Immediate Past President Conventions Music Publications [email protected] Shannon Elswick • Clermont, FL [email protected] 407-948-9599 Dusty Schleier Director of Meetings & Conventions Janice Bane [email protected] Copyright & Publications Manager Sherry Lewis Executive Director/ Contest Program Support Adam Scott Music Publications Coordinator Board Secretary Carlos Barillo Marty Monson • Franklin, TN Show Producer Alex Henrichs 800-876-7464 Copyright & Licensing Asst. [email protected] Harmony University [email protected] Information Technology Clarke Caldwell • Nashville, TN Don Rose [email protected] (Ex Officio, Harmony Foundation) Director of Harmony University Eddie Holt [email protected] Outreach Webmaster Board Members at Large [email protected] Nick Fotopoulos Programmer Gerry Borden • Abbotsford, BC Joe Cerutti 604-850-0789 Outreach/Chorus Director Development Sam Hoover [email protected] Wayne Grimmer LAN & Software Project Manager Music Educator Outreach Ed Bittle • West Des Moines, IA Customer Service 515-240-6480 Ashley Torroll [email protected] Outreach Program Support [email protected] Sherry Lewis Caki Watson Customer Service Manager Doug Brown • Cranford, NJ ACDA/NAfME Relationship Manager 908-276-5811 Carlos Barillo Jacqueline Robinson [email protected] Educational Tours Manager Service Representative Michelle Hankins John Donehower • Monroe, WI Marketing/Communications Service Representative 563.599.8565 [email protected] Danny Becker [email protected] Becca Grimmer Service Representative Publications and Merchandise Dick Powell • Crofton, MD Laura Tracy 410-451-1957 Amy Rose Service Representative [email protected] Social Media/Editing Brian Lynch The Harmonizer John Santora • Bel Air, MD PR/Communication/Brand [email protected] 410-937-2611 Jeremy K. Gover Lorin May [email protected] Video Production Editor

38 The HARMONIZER • March/April 2015 Friends in Harmony Sing Canada Harmony National Association www.SingCanadaHarmony.ca for Music Education Official Affiliates [email protected] www.nafme.org Barbershop Harmony Australia World Harmony Council Chorus America www.barbershop.org.au www.worldbarbershop.com www.chorusamerica.org Ian Mulholland: [email protected] Sweet Adelines International Ladies Association of BABS (British Association of Barbershop Singers) www.singbarbershop.com www.sweetadelineintl.org British Barbershop Singers Ian James: www.labbs.org.uk [email protected] Harmony, Incorporated BinG! (Barbershop in Germany) www.harmonyinc.org Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia www.barbershop-in-germany.de American Choral www.sinfonia.org Roberta Damm: [email protected] Directors Association Holland Harmony, www.acdaonline.org Dutch Association of Barbershop Singers www.dabs.nl Wim van der Meer: [email protected] Society Subsidiaries (partial list) FABS (Finnish Association of Barbershop Singers) www.fabs.fi Association of Barbershop Quartet Juha Aunola: [email protected] International Champions Preservation Association www.AICGold.com www.bqpa.com IABS (Irish Association of Barbershop Singers) www.irishbarbershop.org Association of International Ancient Harmonious Micheál Mac Giolla Ri: [email protected] Seniors Quartet Champions Society of Woodshedders www.aisqc.com www.ahsow.org NZABS (New Zealand Association of Barbershop Singers) www.nzabs.org.nz Harmony Brigade Public Relations Officers and Ian Davidson: [email protected] www.harmonybrigade.org Bulletin Editors (PROBE) www.probeweb.org SABS (Spanish Association of Barbershop Singers) www.sabs.es Gail Grainger: [email protected] 110 Seventh Avenue North, Suite 200 SNOBS (Society of Nordic Barbershop Singers) Nashville, TN 37203 www.snobs.org 866-706-8021 (toll free), 615-823-5611 Henrik Rosenberg: [email protected] Fax: 615-823-5612, [email protected] SPATS (Southern Part of Africa Tonsorial Singers) Staff Board of Trustees Simon Barff: [email protected] Clarke Caldwell Sharon Miller – Chair President/CEO 204-254-9594 3044 • [email protected] [email protected] Carolyn Faulkenberry David Mills – Vice Chairman Chief Financial Officer 813-786- 4381 3041 • [email protected] [email protected] General correspondence/editorial: Ryan Killeen Chuck Harner – Secretary Director of Development 703-938-3001 [email protected] [email protected] 3051 • [email protected] Editorial Board: Marty Monson, Becca Grim- Jim Clark Don Laursen – Treasurer 559-733-1496 mer, Brian Lynch, Lorin May Regional Director [email protected] 3042 • [email protected] Copy Editing: Jim Stahly (Bloomington, IL), Bob Debbie Cleveland Davenport (Nashville, TN), Zach Dunn (Lynn, MA) David Calland 813-230-7845 Regional Director [email protected] 3052 • [email protected] Lorin May, Editor Fred Farrell Associate editors: Amy Rose, Brian Lynch K.J. McAleesejergins 239-590-0498 Regional Director [email protected] 3043 • [email protected] Casey Parsons Dixie Semich 614-306-8858 The Society for the Preservation and Encourage- Development Operations Manager [email protected] ment of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in Ameri- 3047 • [email protected] Arne Themmen ca, Inc. (DBA Barbershop Harmony Society) is J.J. Hawkins 305-854-6654 a non-profit organization operating in the United National Development Associate [email protected] 3045 • [email protected] Lynn Weaver ** Ex-officio States and Canada. James Pennington 616-485-3392 • Not board member Mission Donor Care Center Manager [email protected] The Barbershop Harmony Society brings men 3048 • [email protected] Clarke A. Caldwell together in harmony and fellowship to enrich Kyle Snook President/CEO** Donor Care Center Associate Marty Monson lives through singing. 3050 • [email protected] Society Executive Director/CEO** Sarah Ogiba James C. Warner, General Counsel* Vision Finance Assistant 901-522-9000 To be the premier membership organization for 3040 • [email protected] [email protected] men who love to sing.

March/April 2015 • The HARMONIZER 39 The Tag Joe Liles, Tagmaster Just in time for Mother & Father’s Day other’s Day and Father’s Day are just around the cor- Here are both the male and female versions for ner. A year or two ago Joel Rea sent me some lyrics you to enjoy right away. If you wish, you could he had penned to an existing tuning exercise. Joel is adapt this to “Wishing you a happy birthday!” The an active Barbershopper, quartet singer and webmas- first syllable of the word “birth-day” would be on Mter for the Northwest Louisiana Chapter (River Cities the last two notes in measure 2 and needing a slur. Jubilee Chorus). I felt the lyrics should have a home Enjoy! n in a tag, and thus was born a fun collaboration.

MOTHER'S/FATHER'S DAY TAG for male voices Words by JOEL REA Music and Arrangement by JOE LILES Moth - er's rit. Fa - ther's 1 2 Tenor œ Lead 4 œ œ œ œ V b 4 œ œ œ œ œ Wish - ing you a hap - py Moth - er's Fa - ther's Bari œ œ œ œ Bass 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ? b 4 Day!

3 freely 4 b˙ bœ˙ œ œ Nw V b Day. Have a great day! Day! ˙ b˙ ? œ œ ˙. w b w Have aMOgrTeaHt ER'S/FATHER'S DDAayY! TAG for female voices Words by JOEL REA Music and Arrangement by JOE LILES Moth - er's rit. Fa - ther's 1 2 Tenor b œ Lead & b 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Wish - ing you a hap - py Moth - er's Fa - ther's

Bari Bass 4 œ Ê bb 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Day! freely 3 4 b b˙ Nw & b ˙ bœ˙ œ œ w Day. Have a great day! Day!

Ê b œ˙ œ ˙. b˙ w b Have a great Dway!

40 The HARMONIZER • March/April 2015 University of Missouri–St. Louis AAPPPPAARREELL,, BBOOOOKKSS && PPUUBBLLIICCAATTIIOONNSS

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