Indy — Can you say photo finish?

Vol. 4, No.3
June/July 2006
Illinois District Website
http://www.harmonize.ws/ILL/
Indy — Can you say
photo finish?
Reflections on a superb
international convention
by Craig Rigg
“What if ... ?” That’s the question
that sticks in my mind after attending the 68th
annual Barbershop Harmony Society’s International Convention and Contests in Indianapolis
the week of July 4th. I’m sure the next issue of
Harmonizer will give you all the hyped up
glory of the wonderful week, but, more like a
blogger, here’s a view of the convention from a
backwoods barbershopper who gets to a conVocal Spectrum
quartet (top) narrowly edges Max
Q to become 2006
International
champions
Loren May photo
Unless credited, all
convention and contest
photos by Craig Rigg
Dallas’s Vocal
Majority narrowly
defeats Westminster to retain their
chorus championship record
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vention only when it’s within a day’s
drive.
First, what if the weather had
not been darn near perfect? July in
Indianapolis should have temperatures
and humidity hovering in the 90s, yet
cool, balmy breezes with nighttime
chills dominated all week. That made
all the moving around pleasant.
Likewise, the proximity of
most all of the hotels to the performance site (Conseco Field House) and to
the convention center and headquarters
hotel made walking the preferred mode
of transportation. Buses were available, but not as many were needed.
However, the poor patrons of the “Blue
Line” were in for a treat riding in old
diesel, non-air-conditioned school
buses. Thankfully, the trip was short. I
hope that the Society makes proximity
of venues a requirement for future conventions (already assigned up to 2016).
The registration process at the
Indianapolis Convention Center was a
breeze, though some of the product
vendors tended to be a bit over-zealous
in hawking their wares. And there was
plenty of room in the facility for chorus rehearsal areas. A big screen video
hook-up with Conseco was also a plus.
Speaking of the field house (named
after a large insurance corporation), the
correct pronunciation of the facility is
con-SEE-co, not con-SAY-co (not to be
confused with a pumped-up pro baseball used-to-be). The venue was modern, clean,
easy to get around in, and intensely security-minded.
Outside and inside the
Conseco Field House
Quartet quarter-finals
Like everyone else, I was there for the singing, so by 11:00 Wednesday, we
were off to the quartet quarter-finals. As usual, we were up in the back of the auditorium, but the sight-line wasn’t too bad. The sound, however, was a different story.
From our vantage point, the sound was very “hot”; some of the more dynamic passages
were so loud and brassy that the sound became distorted, sort of like pushing a thousand
watts of power through cheap speakers. Only once or twice did I hear a chord “ring”
with overtones. While we sat in the upper part of the second level, some people in the
top level said the sound echoed and overlapped too much to be truly enjoyable. Even
some people on the floor were getting an echo.
About the first round of quartets. This is a marathon for listeners (and certainly
for the judges). After awhile, many of the quartets start to sound alike, and there were a
number who decided to open their sets with ballads, which tended to bring down the
energy level. When the quartet members strode out on stage, they didn’t have a lot of
room between the stage apron and the backdrop. From where we were sitting, it didn’t
look much more than eight feet.
While all of the “sure-thing” top ten quartets lived up to their billing, a few
other quartets provided some interesting departures. HotShots! from the Sunshine Dis-
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trict came out with handpuppets ala the Muppets. While they hadn’t
mastered barbershop ventriloquism, they did a superb job of singing
and of manipulating puppets. Reveille from the Mid-Atlantic District
did a hilarious junk food and dentist routine. They were followed up by
Three Men and a Melody who managed to work up a barbershop arrangement of an early Jackson 5 song “ABC.” Another highlight was
Hi-Fidelity from the Far Western District who came out dressed as different members of the Addams Family: Uncle Feister, Gomez, Lurch,
and Cousin It, who was completely covered in brown fur. However, the
highlight of the session, and of the next round, was Hot Air Buffoons,
first with their fast food songs and later with their buffet songs. (See page 12 for additional quartet photos.) Sadly to say, the Illinois District’s Alchemy didn’t fare very well,
falling to 38th place after having served twice as mike-testers for the semifinals at previous international contests.
Alchemy struts
their jazz stuff
Loren May photo
Lots of Choices
The next day offered a full plate of morning activities: The PROBE annual
meeting announced the winners of the bulletin contests (both paper and on-line) as well
as the public relations winners. Unfortunately, also going on at the same time was a
session with last year’s quartet champs Realtime as well as the ever-popular Good
News! Gospel Sing. Sandwiched between them was a Masters Class with Masters of
Harmony, last year’s chorus champions. Needless to say, rooms were packed for all of
the singing activities.
Quartets — Semifinals
In the afternoon, quartets were once again featured in the semifinals. A couple
of quartets were good, a majority were pretty good but all sounded alike, and a halfdozen really stood out. Prior to intermission, an award from MENC/Barbershop Harmony Society was made to Nick Papageorge for his efforts at integrating and promoting
barbershop harmony in music education. At the end of the session, a presentation was
made honoring the Confederates, 1956 International Champions. A special video produced by Grady Kerr detailed the quartet’s career and showed some special footage of
them. For people unfamiliar with the roots of barbershop, this quartet’s innovations in
singing laid the groundwork for many aspects of modern barbershopping.
Highlights (or lowlights) from this round included the judges disallowing any
gang singing from the audience because, in Master of Ceremonies Ev Nau’s words, the
singing interfered with the judges’ ability to reconstruct chord patterns while determining their final scores (or something like that). O.C. Times, especially the lead Sean Divine, seems to have perfected the squinty-eyed, come-hither, flirty look when singing a
love song. Stateline Grocery actually sang a bluesy waltz— “The Tennessee Waltz.
Vocal Spectrum, Max Q, and Metropolis all sounded like world-beaters, as expected.
Kings and Queens in harmony together on the Association of International
Champions stage
Association of International Champions
The Association of International
Champions (AIC)
show is always one of
the highlights of the
convention week. The
program started off
with a combined chorus of Sweet Adeline,
Harmony Incorporated, and Barbershop
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Harmony Society quartet champions, directed by Clay Hine and Rene Craig. This
mixed chorus sound was quite appealing, and the glamour of the ladies surely added an
enticing sparkle to the performance (probably because of their glittering tiaras. Maybe
men’s quartet champions ought to start wearing crowns!)
The first quartet to appear was the Illinois District’s own Chicago News, who
won 25 years ago. Unfortunately, the quartet decided to start their set with recorded
background accompaniment and individual hand-held mics. While the mics weren’t a
problem, the quartet seemed unable to stay in sync with the recorded background. Talk
about squirming and wincing in your seat! This quartet is too good to make this kind of
awkward first impression. Whoever allowed background music for a cappella groups is
making a mistake, certainly at a barbershop convention.
Not to be outdone, Happiness Emporium also appeared with hand-held mics
and recorded accompaniment, but at least they stayed in rhythm with the music. One of
the early premier trendsetters in barbershopping, the Suntones, did their West Side Story
Medley. While time has lessened the strength of their vocal skills, hearing the innovative arrangements reminds us that the evolution of the barbershop style owes a lot to
these early champions. Next up was Acoustix who paid tribute to the recent death of Ed
Waesche and then showed their range in their classic Simon and Garfunkel medley.
Of course, everyone was wondering what FRED would do this year, including
members of the quartet. At first, they did an expected spoof of the other quartets, especially ragging on how old some of the guys are getting. At one point, while featuring a
song from their FreDinci Code CD, a pair of red panties was hurled on stage (a planned
gesture, we hope). I doubt, however, that other members of the quartet expected tenor
Jared “Pookie” Carlson to slingshot them at lead Rick LaRosa. In fact, it was quite obvious that “Pookie” was ad-libbing a lot of his stage antics because the rest of the quartet kept breaking up with laughter.
An invitation was extended to last year’s College Quartet Champions Men in
Black, who presented two numbers, one of which was also a tribute to Ed Waesche who
had arranged the Muppet song “Rainbow Connection” for them. They were followed
by Sweet Adelines 2005 Champions Buzz, who added a nice variation on barbershop
harmony.
To finish up the evening performances, Power Play featured a haunting version
of a song from the animated film Joseph of Egypt entitled “You Know Better Than I.”
Gotcha! also started off on a gospel song and then ended with a tune from the musical
Guys and Dolls. There was a momentary flash of humor from ordinarily sedate bass
Jim Kline when tenor Garry Texeria tried to explain what the 1920s slang terms
“sheep’s eye” and “licorice tooth” meant in the song. To round out the evening, the
truly international quartet and last year’s champions Realtime demonstrated the newer
approach that seems to be emerging from champion quartets.
Former Illinois barbershopper
Doug Miller introduces a
number of mixed ensembles
at the Thursday night Mixed
Harmony Showcase
Mixed Harmony
After the AIC Show, a Mixed Harmony Showcase,
hosted and produced by Friends, was held in the headquarters
hotel. In all honesty, this was one of the more enjoyable programs during the convention. Friends is a male/female group out
of Minnesota, and they’ve been producing this showcase since
1998. Of special interest is that one of chief movers in the group
is a former Illinois barbershopper, Doug Miller. He and his wife,
along with five other couples of SAI and BHS singers produce a
very entertaining a cappella package. Other groups performing
were Honeymooners from New England; Vocal Montage, from
Michigan; Kaleidoscope, a quartet from Japan who were clearly
a crowd favorite; and VoCA, a 16-person ensemble from Southern California made up of gold-medal winners from their respective barbershop organizations. Let’s hope this program, in existence since 1998, returns every convention.
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Harmony Brigade
There wasn’t much to do Friday morning, so we stopped in to a XQ (Extreme
Quartetting) rehearsal as part of a new organization called Harmony Brigade. This
group is made up of men who are invited to sing arrangements made popular by the top
quartets and choruses. The North Carolina, Indiana, and Atlantic divisions joined up to
sing the opening songs as Mic Testers for the chorus contest. You’ll probably be hearing a lot more about this organization. The only number we heard them practicing was
the old Hank Williams tune “Hey, Good Lookin’.”
Chorus marathon — Session 1
Later that morning began another marathon session of barbershopping, this time from the choruses. The
field was made up of 30 choruses: district champions and invitees by next
highest scores. That’s one of the reasons why the Illinois District sent
three choruses to this competition.
Needless to say, one couldn’t possibly
set through all 30 performances back
to back (not counting the mic testers
and the Masters of Harmony “swan
song” performance). Therefore, the
contest was divided into two sessions,
the first wrapping up at about 4:00
p.m. and the second beginning at 6:30 p.m.
During the morning session a special award—the Joe Liles Lifetime Achievement Award—was presented to Freddie King, one of the most remarkable men in the
Society. Though not as spry as he once was, he has still retained his infectious sense of
humor.
In the first session, several interesting performances stood out. Once again, the
Helsingborg Barberboys from Sweden made an appearance as well as the British Cottontown Chorus from the Manchester area. One wonders how these groups are able to
return year after year to the international stage because of the immense costs that must
be involved in getting to America.
The West Towns Chorus appeared early and did their “Music Man” package
from last year’s fall contest, complete with the big Chinese gong and the marching 76
(almost) trombones. With 80 men on stage, they ended up in 18th place with an average
score of 79.5. Also in the first session was Northbrook’s New Tradition Chorus, who
completely revamped their package, this
time featuring a Western look centered
around the musical Oklahoma! Their
first number was “Home on the Range”
followed up by a medley of songs from
Oklahoma!. With bright red fringed
shirts and white cowboy hats, the group
presented a dazzling look. That and
their singing earned them a fourth place
bronze medal with 88 men on stage and
a 89.4 average score.
Other snazzy performances included the Big Apple’s greaser/Elvis
set. Were Elvis still alive, he probably
would resemble the Manhattan Chorus’
director Joe Hunter, if not in attire then
Northbrook’s New Tradition,
with Jay Giallombardo at the
helm, sports a Western look
for their contest set. Notice
the fancy red boots on the
front row dancers.
Chicagoland West Suburban’s
West Towns Chorus, directed
by Joe Krones, takes the applause before their
Music Man set
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surely in body size. But the showgirls
just didn’t cut it. Clay Hine (of FRED
fame) has taken on a new challenge in
Atlanta with the Atlanta Vocal Project. While not as humor-oriented as
the Big Chicken group from North
Carolina, they finished in 10th. In addition, it seemed as if several choruses
had a youthful singer strategically
staged in the middle of the front row.
In terms of elaborateness, the
most compelling performance came
from the final chorus in the session—
The Alliance from central Ohio. They
staged a Civil War re-enactment to
showcase their two songs. Their first song ended in a full-pitched battle with guns firing off-stage, followed by their second song “Tell My Father” reminding us of the aftermath of battle. The song ended with the majority of the chorus marching off stage leaving the dead and wounded behind. They created a neat effect by having the chorus continue singing off-stage so that it sounded as if the chorus/soldiers were actually fading
away in the distance. Needless to say, it was rather difficult to applaud at the end because it didn’t seem quite appropriate. The fact that the remaining chorus members
stayed in character on stage and that the curtain didn’t drop for a long time also contributed to the effect.
Of course, the performance everyone wanted to see was Dallas’s Vocal Majority. What would they do this year to keep alive their string of consecutive chorus championships (by my count, at least 11)? First, they came in droves, with 141 singers on
stage. Their first number entitled “Those Chords Will Ring Forever in My Heart” included “The Old Songs” and “Shine on Me,” probably to remind everyone that while
they label themselves as the best “pop” vocal chorus in the world, they clearly have
their roots in barbershop. Their second song--”Marching Along with Time”-supposedly came from an obscure Irving Berlin song in which they injected vocal percussion and hip-hop moves, most likely to suggest that the barbershop style will keep
evolving, perhaps in ways already in effect. A surprising number of performers, both in
contest and non-contest settings were integrating an occasional vocal percussion patter
common in pop a cappella groups.
For all practical purposes, the clear winner of the contest was going to be the
VM.
Chorus marathon — Session 2
That evening, before the beginning of the second chorus session,
seven men were inducted into the
BHS Hall of Fame, two of them from
the Illinois District—Warren “Buzz”
Haegar and Marty Mendro.
First on stage was the stunningly precise Sound of the Rockies
chorus from Denver. Watch out for
these guys next year when they’re on
home turf. They put 103 men on
stage and finished sixth, lacking only
in presentation scores from reaching
the top five. Other interesting performances were staged by the Voices
of America from St. Joseph, Mo.,
Dallas’s incomparable Vocal
Majority squeaks by with a
17-point victory over youthful
upstart Westminster Chorus.
The chorus featured both Jim
Clancey and Greg Clancey as
directors.
Royce Ferguson directs the
powerful performing Westminster Chorus, allegedly
made up of singers
no older than 30!
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site of Harmony College. Like
Northbrook, they featured tunes from
Oklahoma! as well as an entertaining
showdown between the farmers and
the cowmen. Toronto’s Northern
Lights have usually staged a powerful
contest set with a relatively small chorus. This time they put 47 men on
stage and developed a magician motif
for the setting of their two songs. Each
man sported a goatee and black hair
(fake hair pieces and dye jobs galore!)
as well as a black cape. They also displayed a few magic tricks, but somehow the performance just didn’t seem
as compelling as their previous work,
which has often earned them close second places. This time they were third.
It’s the second place chorus that created all the buzz. The Westminster Chorus directed by former tenor for quartet champs Revival has somehow gotten a group of young singers in Southern California and molded them into a chorus that produced the most crisp and rich
sound of any chorus in the competition, including VM. They finished only 17 points behind
Dallas but with only 56 men on stage, roughly one-third the size. Figuring that the 17-point difference amounted to about one point per judge, you can see that this chorus is going to be the
prohibitive favorite in Denver. The St. Charles Ambassadors of Harmony better be ready to
bring 160+ singers and their “A” game to retain their champion title.
Here’s another “What if ... ?” for you. What if the Vocal Majority hadn’t thrown in
that hip-hop vocal percussion in their second tune? What if they hadn’t done a little front row
hip-hop dance? VM earned the highest presentation points in this song in the entire contest, but
what if they hadn’t included these elements?
While I’ve not attended many internationals to catch the trend, when the final rankings
were announced, there were noticeable “boos” throughout the house, suggesting that many of
the audience were in disagreement with the judges about the final placement of the top two.
I’ve never heard “boos” before at a contest. Was it a first?
Unfortunately, the third Illinois chorus entrant—Lake County’s Brotherhood of Harmony Chorus— could only muster a 24th place finish with 43 singers and a 77.5 scoring average. To his credit, director Todd Wilson has not been able to work with this chorus long enough
since he’s taken on the directing duties.
Other chorus tidbits include the performances of former chorus champions Southern
Gateway Chorus from Cincinnati and the Alexandria Harmonizers from Alexandria, Va.
Neither chorus is singing with the power or the numbers they used to. And whatever happened
to either of the two choruses from Louisville?
There’s no way to adequately
describe what came last in the chorus
contest. Noted for their innovative
staging, the Greendale, Wis., Midwest
Vocal Express can usually be counted
on to come up with something fresh
and exciting. Former long-time Illinois
barbershoppers Jim and Peg Manuel
now live in Appleton, Wis., had
warned us that this chorus was going to
do something really eye-catching, but
we were unprepared for what we saw
and heard. The photos here don’t do
the performance justice, so you’ll just
Lake Country’s
Bortherhood of
Harmony Chorus,
directed by
Todd Wilson
Greendale, Wis., spellbinding Midwest Vocal
Express produces a
memorable performance
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have to buy the Society’s chorus contest DVD to get the full picture. Even then you
won’t get the full effect because the camera kept shooting so many close-ups of the
elaborate costuming and make-up that you really won’t experience the full scope of
their visual package. That’s why there’s something to be said for watching a chorus performance from the back of the house. It earned them a fifth place finish (and a confession from VM’s Greg Clancy that his daughter thought Greendale had won).
Before the results were announced, the Masters of Harmony sang their retiring
champions songs, unveiling for their second number a song of biblical proportions rivaling VM’s classic “Battle of Jericho.”
Approaching the home stretch —
College Quartet Contest
Saturday morning “Sing with the Champs” garnered a
few brave souls--both male and female--who worked up
the courage to sing along with their favorite quartets.
Also on the agenda for die-hard barbershoppers was a tag
session conducted by Jim Bagby. But at 11:00 came yet
another contest, the MBNA America Collegiate Barbershop Contest, featuring 21 quartets vying for the top spot
(including money!) Master of Ceremonies Kirk Young, a
former Society music services rep, talked extensively
about how to work with educators. His advice was to
build relationships with our school as a service organization rather than as a singing organization We should be
stressing money and support over promoting barbershop;
we should focus on teachers, not students as barbershop
singers. His approach emphasizes long-range planning
rather than short-term membership acquisition.
The top five winners were as follows:
• Musical Island Boys -- 970
• New Release -- 948
• Ebbets Field -- 946
• Afternoon Delight -- 938
• Chameleon -- 934
The Musical Island Boys have been competing for at least three years now
(they sang in Louisville), and they came the farthest of all competitors--from New Zealand’s Victoria University in Wellington. One can only imagine how they picked up the
current barbershop nuances of sound and presentation. I must say, however, that my
personal favorite was a group from Miami called, strangely enough Ebbets Field. Their
sound was rich, full, and mature, displaying remarkable poise from a college quartet.
There is no report on how Illinois District rep Tesseract finished since a score sheet was
not made available.
One odd note concerning second place finisher New Release. For their first
number, they adopted lounge singer’s poses and had hand-held mics. I didn’t think this
was legal--yet. They discarded the hand-held mics for their second number.
I was unable to attend the World Harmony Jamboree (one can afford only so
many extra charge venues), so I have no idea what went on there though the promotional materials promised a variety of music groups and styles.
Musical Island Boys take
top honors in the MBNA
American Collegiate Barbershop Quartet Contest
Loren May photo
Quartet Showdown
It’s the quartet finals that I was pumped up for. In all honesty, I was rooting for
Vocal Spectrum A few years ago, two of these guys (the lead and bari, I think) competed from another district in an Illinois District contest trying to earn points to go to
international that year. They didn’t earn enough, and I can still see the disappointment
on their faces when they were reviewing their scores afterward. Then I heard the group
in Louisville when they won the College Quartet contest by an extraordinary margin.
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They appeared as featured guests that fall at the Illinois
District Youth in Harmony Festival at Illinois State. And
they appeared as coaches at this year’s Illinois District
IDAH in February.
Could these guys make the jump from sixth place
last year to first place this year? We’ve heard them sing
“Small Fry,” “South Rampart Street Parade,” and
“Cruella De Vil” before, but what new tunes would they
feature? They’ve added “Cheer Up, Charlie,” (from
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) “I Wanna Be
Like You” (from the Disney movie Jungle Book), and
“On the Street Where You Live” (from My Fair Lady).
Odds on favorite was Max Q, which brings such
a high-powered pedigree that you’d think the judges would just hand them the gold.
But the judges are kind of picky: they expect a quartet (or a chorus) to earn their points.
For all practical purposes, Max Q did a spectacular job, reviving two old standards
“Steppin’ Out with My Baby” and “This Little Piggy Went to Market” in the first round
followed by “Put Your Arms Around Me, Honey” and “Little Pal” in the second. They
uncorked a couple of new versions for their final set-“Somebody Loves Me” and a medley of “The Best Man”
and “Somebody Stole My Gal.”
Here’s another “What if ... ?” What if VS lead
Eric Dalbey hadn’t posted a hauntingly gentle high B-flat
on “Street Where You Live,” which seemingly lasted for
30 seconds, and finished it off with just the slightest of in
control vibrato, as if to say “Yo, dude, I own this song.”
Or what if Max Q lead Tony De Rosa had not gone for
the comedy angle at the end of “Somebody Loves Me,”
thus requiring Jeff Oxley to blow the pitch twice.
In a quartet contest in which the final scoring was
determined by a mere six! points out of over 8,230, one
could legitimately say this contest ended in a virtual tie.
To Max Q’s credit, they accepted their third consecutive
second-placed silver medals with grace. At the Chorditorium later, Greg Clancy remarked that they felt as if they’d been appearing in the movie
Groundhog Day (a Bill Murray fantasy in which he repeatedly wakes up each morning
on the same day and repeats the day’s events). Consider also that the third place quartet--O.C. Times—finished 268 points behind and you can see how paltry those seven
points are. A vibrato versus a second tune-up? “What
if ... ?”
In all honesty O.C. Times put on a dazzling threeset performance. They are what I would call the prototype
of the future of barbershop quartetting: young, athletic,
GQ handsome, all four parts able to sustain full-voice
stratospherically high posts, with just a hint of vocal percussion (or vocal rhythm) and intricate arrangements.
Last year’s Realtime fit this bill perfectly, and the up-andcoming quartets (especially from the college ranks) seem
to be doing likewise In fact, I think about a half-dozen of
these finalist quartets were made up of the same guys who
simply went backstage and changed costumes and then
came out singing different parts. One exception was the
highly entertaining Metropolis whose comic antics, well,
you’ll just have to get the DVD.
Vocal Spectrum (above) and
Max Q (below) sing to a near
virtual tie with VS edging MQ
by a mere six points out of
more than 8,200.
Loren May photos
O.C. Times (below) nails a tag
for a third place finish
To view over 5,000 images taken by Lorin May at the Indy convention, go to the following address:
http://public.fotki.com/danp2000/bhs/2006/international
Loren May photo
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Happenings in Indy
by Wayne Wright
Having just returned from the International convention in Indianapolis, I would like to share some of
my thoughts and observations of a great convention week. It was my good fortune to have a spectacular seat
for the events since I was selected to be on the judging panel. As a point of trivia, my brother David was also
on the panel and we believe this was the first time brothers have shared duties as International contest judges.
This year’s contest produced some the most passionate singing by many of the quartets I have ever
witnessed. There was also some extremely hilarious comedy presentations that brought down the house by
Hot Air Buffoons, Storm Front, Max Q, and Vocal Spectrum to name a few. The variety of song arrangements
also continues to expand with many traditional arrangements as well as fantastic cutting edge charts being
sung throughout the contest. As a case in point, only six points separated the
top two quartets with Max Q performing more standard barbershop themes and
Vocal Spectrum more daring jazz-tinged tunes. Both were fantastic and exciting, and in my mind it is a step in the right direction that these talented performers have great latitude in choosing their repertoire from such a vast library
of arrangements. This allows them to choose songs that not only fit their tastes
but also their talents.
The choruses also put on quite a show. The Illinois district can be
proud they we were represented by three choruses with only two other districts
also having three. The contest came down to a shooting match between a 141
man Vocal Majority and a 56 man Westminster Chorus with all singers 28
years of age or younger. Only 17 points separated 1st & 2nd. Some are saying
that only numbers on the risers matter. Others also say, as they do every time
the VM wins, that they didn’t sound as good as they historically have. I don’t
think either is true, but it is exciting that a smaller group of young singers can
make it this close. Two other performances stood out . . . Greendale, WI put
on a “you had to be there” set, dressed up like fish in the ocean . Buy the video
Bill Gaither, legendary gos- if you weren’t there! Then Alliance, Ohio, performed a civil war set without an
pel composer and singer,
apparent director that left me with a lump in my throat. As with the quartets, the
accepts honorary lifetime
chorus performers continue to push the envelope with their imaginative staging
BHS membership
Lorin May Photo and incredible song charts.
There are two other highlights I want to mention. One is the induction
of Buzz Haeger and Marty Mendro into the Barbershop Harmony Hall Of Fame. Their contributions and influences for good to our hobby are two numerous to count and I am very happy that they have been so honored. The other highlight was the presentation to Bill Gaither of an honorary lifetime membership to the Barbershop Harmony Society. I have followed Bill’s career in Southern Gospel Music since the 1960’s and know
his great love for 4 part harmony, and I thought his acceptance remarks were extremely gracious.
It is truly a great time to be a barbershopper!
The Aftermath
Based on the number of quartets who kept coming through the Chorditorium
later that evening, I’m sure the singing lasted well into the early dawn on Sunday. But
for us mere mortals, it was back to the hotel and an early departure back home.
Given all the positives about the Indianapolis convention--the weather, the
closeness of the venues, the food choices, the performance centers, the fresh sounds-one can only wonder what Denver will be able to do to top it. And then in 2008 in
Nashville, by then the headquarters of our Society, into what musical experience will
our hobby have evolved? Makes you wonder: What if O.C. hadn’t written that letter?
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Big Apple Chorus
from Manhattan,
N.Y., (left) and the
Cottontown Chorus from Manchester, England (right)
The Alliance from
central Ohio in
their Civil War set
(left) and First
Coast Metro, Fla.,
Metropolitans in
their battle set
(right)
Harmony Brigade
(below)
St. Joseph,
Mo., Voices
of America
(left)
The Helsingborg Barberboys from Helsingborg, Sweden (above)
The contest’s smallest chorus
with 18 men — Vocal Agenda
from Batavia, N.Y. (above)
The Masters of Harmony
perform their swan song at
the end of the chorus contest
(left)
We couldn’t resist! Now you know how The Vocal Majority gets
their stuff from site to site. We’d hate to pay the fuel bill, though.
Notice that the billboard side indicates that The Vocal Majority is
“America’s Premier Pops Chorus.” No mention anywhere on the
truck that they are connected with barbershopping.
11
Miscellaneous quartet, chorus, and other
convention pics — All photos, except for
Harmony Brigade Chorus, by Lorin May
Flipside (right)
Three Men and a
Melody (below) —
they will be our
guest faculty at
IDAH
Hi-Fidelity (above)
Reveille (below)
St. Johns
Church, site of
the Good News!
Gospel Sing
HotShots!
(above)
Reveille (left)
Harmony Brigade Chorus
(below)
Metropolis (above)
12
IDAH Nets Two More Winners
by Bob Squires
Illinois District VP Music and Performance
If you have ever attend one of our IDAH (Illinois District Academy of Harmony) music schools as a student or in a quartet, you came away knowing a lot more
about your hobby than you did when you walked in the door. Allowing yourself to get
dipped in that “hot barbershop” is an experience you won’t soon forget. Your musical
engine is re-tuned, and your barbershop batteries get re-charged. The result is a complete barbershop overhaul.
Last February, besides the usually array of students, chapter quartets and TOP
GUN quartets, two of our district chapters made the decision to bring their entire chorus
to IDAH for all of the above reasons. The Covered Bridge Chorus from Princeton and
the Prairieland Chorus from Macomb signed on the dotted line and made the commitment to work hard and have fun in the process. That, and to be able to rub elbows and
pitch pipes with our great coaches, quartet heroes and the opportunity to meet old
friends and make a bunch of new ones, was an experience those men will not forget.
It was, therefore, no accident that those two choruses both qualified to move on to the district fall chorus contest during our recent spring Just as a reminder, our 2007 IDAH
chorus contest. Bureau County, with 17 men on stage, provided an excelstaff consists, as of this moment
lent example of what all of the good IDAH coaching could produce by
finishing in third place. Director Dale Fiste was proud of the fact that his
men qualified for the first time in 15 years. An added bonus was their
TOP GUN Coaches
plateau 2-A award.
Darryl Flinn
Macomb traveled to IDAH last February with 12 men and NO
Gary Boles
director, but they took to heart every last morsel of coaching tips and let
director, Herb Edwards sing along with them as they performed their way
Jim Massey
to a solid second place finish. In the process, the Prairielanders walked
away with the 3-A plateau award and the trophy as the Spring Small ChoGuest Coaching Quartet
rus Champion.
Three Men and a Melody
An accident, you say? Weren't there only eight choruses in the
contest, you ask? I would bet that if you talked to the men from those two
choruses they would tell a different story. My guess is they would tell
Specialty Classes
you that those spring results were only one result of their IDAH experiConnie Keil "The Fourth Wall"
ence. I would think that those two post IDAH choruses are learning and
Jim Casey Vocal Production
performing at a higher level than they were before February and enjoying
their rehearsals more with their new found musical skills.
Having said all of that, allow me to extend an invitation to every
...and I haven't stopped looking.
district chorus to commit to attend our 2007 IDAH on February 2-3 in
Peoria. Where would we put everybody? Al Quinn would find a way,
trust me. That includes a special invitation to the 12 chapters who haven't been to a district convention, let alone an IDAH much longer than the Bureau County absence. Forget the competition for a moment. Wouldn’t you like your chorus to become better performers? To entertain and receive standing ovations at every show? To have your audiences respond with more than …”nice shoes?”
It’s all there for you and your chapter. Look for the fliers, advertising and registration forms to be available soon. In the mean time talk it up with your chapter now
and start making plans. You won’t regret the decision.
That opportunity awaits you and your chorus at IDAH
13
Proposed changes offer
new opportunities
by Jay Giallombardo
Subcommittee for Contest Enhancement
In the spring of 2006, the Illinois Board of Directors had some initial discussions on the
subject of improving our district convention and contest format. President Will Thorndike, with
the approval of the Executive Committee, charged a sub-committee to have in-depth discussion
of a new format for Illinois District contests, both spring and fall. Spearheading the committee
were Past District Presidents Wayne Wright and Bob Squires and Jay Giallombardo, current
Musical Director of the New Tradition Chorus.
After reviewing and discussing all the information we had before us, including input
gathered from other districts, and after delving into the possible ramifications, positive and
negative, of the proposed changes, we came to the clear understanding that we were on the correct path - this is the direction that we must head. We fine-tuned some aspects, wrote the proposal for the Executive Committee to review; and left it in their capable hands for further action.
Bolstering our proposal were four (4) benefits that are strongly anticipated to be the result of
these changes in format.
More opportunity for honors and recognition in competition for district members.
More incentive for improvement in musical skills of district Barbershoppers.
More entertainment value for our district conventions
Increased financial opportunities for the Illinois District through more participation at conventions.
In a nutshell, here’s what going to happen on the competitive front for choruses.
Spring
The spring chorus competition shall be open to all choruses in the district and the first place
winner of the chorus competition shall earn the title of District Champion.
Following the international level of chorus competition, the winning chorus shall then sit out
the next two spring district championships but be asked to participate in shows and performances (swan song) for the benefit of the district.
The champion chorus will receive automatic eligibility for the fall international preliminary
as a result of their achieving the level of District Champion.
All other choruses receiving an average score of 50 points or more shall then also be eligible
to participate in the fall chorus competition.
Fall
The fall chorus competition shall be comprised of 18 choruses (qualified from the spring
district level competition).
The fall chorus competition shall be our international preliminary contest and will follow
the traditional rules for competition and the international level.
The first place chorus shall represent the Illinois District at the international chorus competition (the following Summer) along with other choruses which score the appropriate
average score to receive a “wild card” for that event.
The field of chorus competitors for the fall international preliminary will be set at 18 having
become eligible by meeting the qualify score of a 50-point average.
Show of Champions
Along with a change of schedule in the contest format, we will now be able to incorporate a Show of Champions at both spring and fall competitions. The Show of Champions will
include the top quartets—regular, seniors, and college—and top chorus district and international
level choruses. The Show of Champions will be part of the convention at the Peoria Civic Cen-
14
ter Theater and will provide an additional hour of entertainment value for convention participants.
Convention Schedule
To accommodate these changes, the schedule for the spring convention shall undergo
the least change. The fall competition, because it is no longer a district level competition for
choruses, will experience a more noticeable change. But we believe the changes are necessary
and will breathe new life into our conventions. Note that the chorus competition is held during
the day but starts earlier (11:00 a.m.) because more choruses will compete in the spring now for
the District Champion honors. The quartets are featured at night.
Spring Convention
Friday
Day - Registration
7:00-10:30 p.m.
11:00p.m.-12:30a.m.
Saturday
11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
3:00-3:15 p.m.
3:30 - 5:00 p.m.
7:00-7:30 p.m.
7:30-9:20 p.m.
9:30 p.m.
9:45-10:45 p.m.
10:45 - ???
International Quartet Prelims Semi-Finals
President’s Reception
Illinois District Chorus Competition
Announcement of District Chorus Champions
Chorus Evaluations with Judges
Guest Performer
International Quartet Prelims - Finals
Announcement of International Qualifiers
Show of Champions
Afterglows
Fall Convention
The fall convention will follow the same format, with the district quartet semi-finals on
Friday night as usual. However, the new international chorus preliminaries are now held during
the day starting Saturday at 11:00 a.m. and conclude around 3:00 p.m. The District Quartet Finals are NOW in the evening along with the Show of Champions.
Summary
Wayne Wright said, “…our plan brings us closer to what other districts do. It will
also provide the opportunity for all of our choruses to sing better on an on-going basis.
My own chapter gets pretty sloppy because we only have to be "contest ready" once a
year. With this contest reorientation, we will be challenged to stay ready. In addition,
ending the convention with a show will provide not only a performance opportunity, but
also a chance for chapters to get to know each other a little better.”
And there’s this from Bob Squires: “Both our contests and our conventions need a
revitalization. The district's level of musical excellence (except for the recent success of
Northbrook, West Towns and BOH noted) has dropped to a critical level. Hopefully, this
proposed change will stimulate greater quartet formation and participation along with
raising the level of performance skills in every district chapter chorus.
Choruses and quartets rarely have an opportunity to perform for a District barbershop audience. Climaxing the end of the convention weekend, many performers can
now spotlight their entertainment skills in a show of champions atmosphere. Who could
ask for more?”
It’s important that we provide increased encouragement and opportunity to all our choruses and quartets. By following the international model for choruses, more of our choruses can
earn the title of District Champion; more choruses will be able to claim the rank of medalist; and
our top groups will have the chance to showcase their talent for the enjoyment of all convention
attendees.
We believe this is a win/win change for all concerned. Look for more information in
the next few months. The path for development is clear. I am looking forward to great, exciting,
and entertaining conventions in the years to come.
15
Directors-Time to look in the Mirror
by Terry Ludwig
Illinois District VP Music Education
“Why aren’t they getting any better?”
“Why can’t we get more members?”
“Why wont the guys sing that right?”
Any of those questions/statements sound familiar? I bet all of us have uttered at
least one of them, or something similar, almost on a weekly basis. I suggest that the answer is right before our very eyes — when we look in the mirror.
The director has five areas that he should have skills in, and they are as follows:
Musical Knowledge- including reading music, notation, identifying chords and chord
progressions to name a few.
Barbershop Knowledge- how to balance a chord, interpretation skills, target vowels,
tuning, diphthongs and many more.
Singing- you need to have an understanding of how the singing mechanism works.
Diaphragm, larynx, soft palette, sound placement, and posture — the list goes on.
Teaching- you have to know how to convey your knowledge to your singers. More
importantly you need to know how to do it in several different ways. People learn
by different methods and you need to be able to get your message across to all of
them.
Motivation- until your guys WANT to get better, you are fighting an uphill battle.
We need to find ways to get them on board with the program. Know when it is a
good time for praise or a good kick in the seat of the pants.
Ever hear the phrase “We are only as good as our weakest link?” Well, that applies to the five areas above as well. Your chorus will only be as good as you are in your
weakest area. If we, as directors, take the time to improve our skill sets, then the chorus
will improve as well. Not only because we have more to offer, but also because we are
leading by example. If we expect our singers to get better, then they have to right to expect us to get better as well.
I am here to help! There are plenty of programs out there to help you improve in
any one of the areas listed above. I challenge you to improve your weakest area this year
and see if it doesn’t pay off with your chorus. As a side note to the presidents, why not
make continuing education part of your director’s contract (you all have contracts, right?)?
Insist that he attends at least one
school/seminar every year.
Please feel free to contact
me any time to discuss what options are available to you for improving those skills. Remember,
next time you ask one of those
questions — take a look in the
mirror for the answer.
16
Making the most of membership
by Greg Grey
Illinois District Membership VP
Congratulations to the Illinois District representatives who competed in the
international contests. You proved, once again, that Illinois is the greatest barbershopping state in the Society.
The 100 Percent Club is in full swing. If you are not aware of how the program works, each member would receive a 20 percent discount of their 2007 International dues for each Man of Note he receives during 2006. For members who
recruit five new members, their 2007 Society AND district dues will be $0. Currently, 39 members have at least one Man of Note, and five members have two Man
of Note awards. This is great work, but it can always be better.
Two surveys were emailed to all the Chapter Membership VPs. One focuses on the experience of the guest (what drew him there, what did he like and not
like about his chapter experience, and so on). The other survey focuses on member
satisfaction (does the member feel welcome, does the member feel comfortable with
chapter leaders, etc.). Both surveys are valuable, but the member survey should be
completed to identify what’s going well and not-so-well with your chapter.
A separate Illinois District communication was recently created to focus
solely on membership items. The communication is called “Members First.” The
first communication was sent in June with another one scheduled to be sent in August. The goal of this would be to give Chapter Membership VPs tools and ideas to
help in their recruiting efforts.
The Illinois District membership reports show the Illinois District currently
has 1,265 members. This is down from the 1,293 members the District had at the
start of this year. Sixteen (of the 36 total) chapters increased their membership or
remained the same. That leaves 20 chapters that have fewer members than what
they started the year with. The district (and your chapter) cannot continue going in
this direction. Please call upon any of your friends on the District Board to help
your
chapter with any membership questions. We are YOUR District Board.
It’s up to everyone in this “State of Great Harmony” to keep the harmony
Deadline
for the next
issue is
October 6,
one week
after the
Illinois
District Fall
Convention
Free advertising! (sort of)
Once again, we’d like to encourage quartets to
send us a business card so that we can promote
district quartets. Simply send a card by regular
mail or email a scanned image, and we’ll feature
it throughout the issue.
This includes chapters and choruses as well.
We’ll feature just about anything as long as it promotes singing.
If you’re from an out-of-district quartet or chorus,
we can arrange a nominal charge.
Attacks & Releases
Craig Rigg, editor
108 Honey Lane
Colchester, IL 62326
crigg@winco.net
17
Barbershopping in Bloomington!
by Bruce Wiggins
The Bloomington No. 1 chapter (Sound of Illinois Chorus) has been very active in
2006. On February 14, chapter quartets delivered over 100 “Singing Valentines” in the
Bloomington/Normal area, receiving good coverage in the Pantagraph newspaper and on local television.
March was a particularly busy month. After the chapter’s annual show (“Off Broadway” with 2004 International Champion Quartet Gotcha!), the chapter headlined the annual
Bloomington/Normal “Habitat for Humanity” concert, held a “Pack the House” guest night.,
and started a six-session “Barbershop History Class” that was organized and taught by high
school history teacher and chapter member Rich Hansen (Illinois District VP - Young Men In
Harmony).
The chorus kept up the pace in April, with a recording session followed by a rare
treat: the privilege to be the featured quest “chorus” act for the Kankakee chapter’s inaugural
show.
May brought a special choreography coaching session with Geri Geis and a chorus
performance at the Heyworth Sesquicentennial Celebration. Then there came the second half
of June. On the heels of the “Sound of Illinois” Annual Golf Outing followed a chorus performance at the Lexington Community Center, a special Saturday coaching session with Kirk
Young, and chorus performances for both Sunday morning church services at Second Presbyterian Church in Bloomington (who provides our weekly practice facility).
And the Bloomington chapter will stay busy for the remainder of 2006 and early
2007. July brings our Annual Dinner Show (Saturday evening, July 22, in the ISU “Bone
Center”), and a coaching session with Jay Giallombardo. On August 26, the chorus will perform at the Peoria “Sing in the Park” concert sponsored by the Peoria chapter. The last weekend in September brings fall contest., when the SOI plans to bring its best against some of the
best choruses in the Society. The chapter will hold its “After Contest Stag” party on October
3 and will be a prime sponsor of the Central Illinois “Youth in Harmony” (YIH) Festival on
October 24.
On November 4, the chorus will be performing at Lincoln College (Lincoln, Ill.). On
December 16, the chorus will perform (as it has for over 25 years) for the Bloomington
“Sounds of Christmas” concert held at State Farm Insurance Corporate Headquarters. And we
are pleased to announce that our annual show “Technical Difficulties”, on February 24-25,
2007, will feature the 2006 International Champion Quartet Vocal Spectrum.
Illinois District Calendar
Sep. 29—Oct. 1
Illinois District Fall Contest — Peoria
Oct. 16
2nd Annual Southern Illinois YIH Festival — Eastern Illinois University
Oct. 24
8th Annual YIH Fall Festival — Bloomington Center for Performing Arts
Nov. 17-18
Peoria
Chapter Operations Training Seminar (COTS) — Pere Marquette Hotel —
Dec. 2
Lake County Christmas Show — Timothy Christian High School, Elmhurst
18
Your chapter should have three mailing lists
by Tom Arneberg
Land o’ Lakes District Communications Officer
from the July-August 2005 issue of The Pitch Piper
D
oes your chapter have its own email list? I’d like to encourage each chapter to
have not one, not two, but THREE different email lists: one for chapter leaders,
one for everyone in the chapter, and one for fans.
Anyone who can use a word processor can create an email list. Running a mailing list may have required some special knowledge a decade ago, but now there are free
web-based services such as those offered by Yahoo that make it quite simple to set up
and maintain an email list. I can speak from experience because I currently own and
maintain 57 different email lists! It’s really not even that time consuming since people
can manage their own subscriptions by sending blank emails to certain addresses or by
going to a web page.
Let me brief you on the three lists. First, a list for chapter leaders would be very
useful. This list would probably consist of the chapter board and the director, and possibly another key person or two in the chapter. For a small list like this, you could choose
to make it unmoderated; i.e., messages are distributed to the list as soon as they’re sent
out. I would envision a list like this to generate dozens of messages per week, even
many per day on occasion if there is some hot discussion or debate going on.
The second list, for everyone involved with the chapter (singers, spouses, family members), could be moderated if you have a large chapter. “Moderation” means that
each message sent to the list must wait in a queue until a moderator can preview the
content and send it out. Moderation is important for large lists, not only to prevent
spam and junk mail, but also to hold down excess “chit-chat” among members. The
goal here is to prevent anyone from needing to unsubscribe because of too much traffic.
This chapter-level list would be for general announcements concerning the whole chapter–show preparation, rehearsal notes, etc. To keep everyone on a list like this, it might
be best to limit it to just a few messages per week.
The third list would be for any fan of the chapter. This list could be managed
similar to a mailing list for show tickets–collect email addresses of everyone in your
area who enjoys barbershop music. This list would be tightly controlled so that only an
official representative of the chapter can send email to it. Provide a link on your chapter
web page for people to subscribe themselves, and publish the subscription email address
in your show program and ticket mailers. I would encourage participation in this list by
offering a head start on ticket sales via electronic email before snail-mailing the ticket
order forms. I would expect a chapter fan list to see only a few messages per year–just
major announcements about public shows.
You can even do lists like #1 and #3 above for a quartet. My quartet uses a Yahoo list for all four of us and our wives. We’ve sent 1,155 messages to list in the last
four years. That’s a lot of communication, but it really beats phone tag setting up shows
or rehearsals, or even in philosophizing or brainstorming.
My quartet also has a public list where we send out info about upcoming shows.
We have sent only a couple dozen messages to that list in four years, but every time we
do a public performance, we see at least a few people who are there only because of the
email we sent. I know it works, and it’s FREE!
Detailed instructions about how to create an email list are beyond the scope of
this article, but as I said, it’s really not hard. Just go to the web page
“yahoogroups.com” and click on “Start a new group.” That will lead you through several web pages where you just point and click your way to email list ownership as well
as better communication both within your chapter and to the public.
19
Downloadable barbershop
coming soon to iTunes
from Live Wire
N
ow you can legally purchase barbershop performances from iTunes. The first
wave of iTunes content from the Barbershop Harmony Society became available
on Wednesday, June 21, 2006. It appears as if we will have no less than three years of
contest recordings available via iTunes by the start of the Indy convention.
How do I access this content and begin downloading barbershop music?
• Download and install the free iTunes software. www.apple.com offers clients for
Windows 2000 or XP, and Mac OS X v10.2.8 or v10.3.4 or later. You do not need
an iPod" portable device to listen on your computer; however, you cannot transfer
from iTunes to other manufacturers’ portable devices.
• Create an Apple Music Store ID. (AOL users can use an AOL ScreenName)
• Our recommended iTunes search in the “Search Music Store” window in the upper right hand corner of the iTunes screen is “barbershop contest.” Based upon
our catalog structure, this will bring up all of the BHS catalog then available, both
quartet and chorus. Folks can then preview any of the available tracks. It is, of
course, also possible to search by the individual artist (such as Uptown Sound).
When all of the years in which Uptown Sound competed are assimilated by
iTunes, this search would result in all of their content across the years.
• Buy .. listen & sing along while commuting!
Barbershop on iTunes is a collaboration between the Barbershop Harmony
Society and Naked Voice Records.
In the coming months, NVR hopes to digitize and add to the catalog available,
all contest music dating back as far as the technology will allow. This body of music
will join the digital catalog of NVR already available through a variety of the most
popular legal music download services such as iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody, and more.
These services offer legal digital downloads and/or streaming delivery of CD quality
audio on a piecemeal basis. Both Apple and Windows based computers are supported
both with and without the popular portable players such as the iPod, iRiver, Zen,
GoGear, Sony and many more.
More online listening opportunities
There are several places on the Internet that you can get your barbershop fix.
One of the best is probably <Live365.com>. By navigating through a few pages, you
can get to the barbershop studio, which features quartet and chorus selections from both
men’s and women’s groups. Unfortunately, the play list is not often updated, so you
may hear repeated programming throughout the day.
The Society’s webpage will also point you to some other sites that feature barbershop/a cappella as well as Jack Baird’s huge set of MP3 files of vintage barbershop
songs <http://jackbaird.spebsqsa.org>.
Rich Hansen recently notified us about an attempt by Ed Miller at LenoirRhyne College in Hickory, N.C. Ed is planning to start a barbershop/a cappella radio
hour twice a week on the college radio station WLRZ-LP, 99.3 The station’s programming is available online at <http://www.lrc.edu/radio>. He doesn’t know for sure
about his time slot, but he thinks it may be on Friday evenings. He’s also asking for
quartets and a cappella groups to supply him with demo CDs or other materials.
20