INSIDE: Seniors champs! • Recap of Midwinter • Anaheim updates • Unleash the Power of Presentation March/April 2009 ! " # $ % & ' ( ! "# $ $ % % $ & $ $ % )$ * ( ' ( $ % )$ * ( &% % ' &+ ,-. / ,0. / ,1. 2 3 2 &% )*+, -) -+ *./01 !( March/April 2009 VOLUME LXIX NUMBER 2 Features DAVID MEYE It’s not too late for Anaheim! 15 Don’t let economic uncertainty deprive you of the best vacation opportunity around—hotels are cheap, airfares rival the cost of driving, Disneyland is across the street and the only heat will be coming from the contest stage! The horse race for gold 16 Crossroads has the momentum and the Vocal Majority has the history, but there are plenty of bona fi de contenders vying for gold in 2009 Fraternity vs. singing? 18 No way—you’ve got to have plenty of one to really enjoy the other! Readers comment on Co-director Matt the balance between fellowship and singing Swann rehearses in needed for a fulfi lling chapter experience Pasadena with Den- TOM WOODALL, LEE ROTH, RICK KENNER, BARBERSHOPHQ.COM ver-area youth chorus 52-eighty. Catch the Best seniors on the planet pictorial recap of a 26 Fraser Brown, a three-decade fi xture on the convention that is international stage, wins it with Audacity on the now annually topping international seniors stage. See them and the itself as the “Best other medalists and competitors who “still got it” 28 Midwinter ever!” PORTRAITS BY MILLER PHOTOGRAPHY On the Cover: Barbershop fraternity Departments Vintage fraternities blend in with Hunterdon, N.J. and Coles County, Ill. chapters. Cover and mock fraternity crest by Lorin May 2 12 STRAIGHT TALK HARMONY HOW-TO Why competitions? Why Society? Why youth? How to unleash the “Power of Presentation” 3 35 LETTERS STAY TUNED One minor correction, one not-so-minor! Interfraternal singing just for the joy of singing 4 Canada meets Russia in huge barbershop event THE PRESIDENT’S PAGE 38 The coming strategies to get us growing again MEMBER SERVICE DIRECTORY 6 Where to fi nd answers TEMPO 40 Major staff restructuring announced THE TAG Make your voice heard at barbershopHQ.com! “Taps,” by Ed Waesche March/April 2009 • The HARMONIZER 1 STRAIGHT TALK Ed Watson, Executive Director•[email protected] VV Why competitions, why a Society, why youth? Why the winners aren’t the only winners form do so within organized barbershopping ranks, ave you ever been to a state or county fair? In be- or they got their music and encouragement from tween the Ferris Wheel and the Fun House, I hope us. Because we’re organized, outside of classical and you have visited the displays of blue-ribbon quilts, religious music (perpetuated by organizations much pickles and dioramas and the ambience created by all larger than ours), barbershop is the biggest player in H the heifers, sheep and chickens. I don’t know when the world of a cappella. The Vocal Majority’s intro- or where the judging happens, but there are obviously duction of barbershop to thousands at the American certain characteristics that make one entry better Choral Directors Association (ACDA) convention than another. Of the hundreds of recipes used, it’s the in March (more on that next issue) was one of many blue-ribbon ones that will most likely be emulated, steps to ensure that barbershop harmony endures as remembered and passed on to future generations. It’s a classic part of the singing landscape. Thanks to the the winning livestock that will become the breeders, VM and our excellent Music staff for making that the winning quilt that others will try to top next year. happen. We’re working on strategies to ensure more Much—if not most—of what we eat, wear and people outside our ranks hear and sing our music, and own came as the result of some sort of competition. more men and boys know about and want to join Sometime the judges have credentials, sometimes your chapter. the judges are the marketplace. Being acknowledged Please don’t misunderstand regarding competi- as the best is great, but the rest of the field benefits as tion—we must also promote the joy of singing bar- well. Everyone learns from the winners, and everyone bershop as an end to itself. Next time you’re at a con- else’s best gets better over time. vention, please listen to the top quartets on stage and Can you raise livestock or quilt quilts compare them to four guys woodshedding in a corner. without going to a competition? Sure, and Each quartet has value, one more for its contribution you don’t need competition or an interna- to preservation and one more for its participatory fun. tional society to sing barbershop. You don’t I hope we can enjoy and appreciate both. even need a local chapter or a chorus, nor registration or dues—just three other guys American Harmony and someplace where the neighbors As you read this, the movie American Harmony is Youth don’t won’t shoot you. It may be the great- in release around the country. Please talk to your always think est, it may be the worst, but no dues, chapter about getting involved if you are not. no entry fees, no copyright worries, Want potential members coming through your of you as a and nobody judging you. No rules door? Want more people to see the singing you bunch of old and regulations, no barriers like “men love? Then promote this movie. www.barbershop. only” or “a cappella only.” Hmmm … org/americanharmony fogies. Be Why a Society? We need you in Anaheim proud of your Why does SPEBSQSA (dba the Isn’t it nice to be needed? We need you to come to experience, Barbershop Harmony Society) ex- Anaheim. If you can’t come to Anaheim, we need ist, then? Why did we form it? At you to watch the convention on the web cast. A welcome them minimum, to preserve, protect, and large share of the revenue that drives this organiza- and they’ll encourage; to have something to tion comes from the international convention. We pass on to future generations. need your support. It’s your hobby, you decide. reward you Among other things, we (the greatly. international organization) provide Succeed with youth by being yourself standards to make sure the best char- The following section is from one of my first posts acteristics of Barbershop are recognized and passed on on barbershopHQ.com. (Learn more about our new to the next generation. We protect those style mark- blog on page 2.) ers with schools, arrangements, conventions, publica- Not all youth enjoy only the company of other tions, and adjudicated competitions. We encourage youth. Most greatly respect older men and want to the singing of Barbershop by those same methods— be accepted and even liked by the “establishment,” all to ensure that we pass on the characteristics of the the existing cadre of men in an organization (in Barbershop style well into the future. this case a chapter) who represent what these Where would barbershop harmony be if we weren’t younger folks want to be some day. Pictures of a organized? These days, most people who sing our art very young Cory Hunt, Jim Henry, or Rick Spencer 2 The HARMONIZER • March/April 2009 singing with or without their dads (is); they admired my youth, vigor, and and help them as you can. They’ll look reveal big smiles and enjoyment of abilities, and I admired their success, up to you and admire you for your skill both the youngster and the oldsters experience, and, (oh my!) the stories and experience, and you’ll both be bet- around them. they told. I shamelessly took their assis- ter off—and so will the chapter and the One solution to attract more youth tance, slept on many fl oors and couch- Society. is to create youth choruses that sing to es during contest, and rode in many their own muse and encourage their carpools to practice or to convention, Thanks to our new Associates members through like-minded activi- because I needed help and they needed To the women (more than 135 of ties. Westminster is a shining example voices. What fun it was. you) who have already joined the As- of this strategy, and this post is not In many chapters, we know little sociate program of the Society, thank meant to disparage that approach. Cer- about the guys singing with us other you. We hope that this program gives tainly that is one good way to encour- than that they sing. But there’s one you some sense of your importance to age growth in our Society. It’s just not thing you can bet on: most young sing- us. Although we are constrained in the only way. ers can use help with things like food, what we can return to you in services, When I joined the Society many lodging and transportation. And they’ll we love you for helping us preserve years ago, I was young. I was just re- never forget it. and encourage the Barbershop style. cently married, had my whole life in It is critical that chapters welcome Whether you are a director, a spouse, front of me, and wanted to establish younger singers, put faith and confi - a widow or a friend, you are a treasure certain behavior patterns that would dence into dealings with them, recog- and your contribution has touched last a lifetime. (No, honey, I can’t get nize them for what they are, and deal us. If you want a hug in Anaheim, or home any earlier on Tuesday night, I with them at that level.