Date: November 12, 2001

Happiness: The result of being too busy to be miserable.

A Twisted Christmas A light-hearted musical glimpse at a family Christmas, Decmber 1st 2001 at 8:00 p.m. at The Mother House, Les Soeurs de la Congrégation de Notre-Dame, 4873 Westmount Ave. (corner Claremont), Westmount

Tickets are $ 15.00 each. The contact person for tickets is Elizabeth Adams at 514-366-8531.

Barbershop History from the H@rmonet by Kevin Keller, Music Judge and Bari of Cheers!

[Editor’s Note: A raging controversy/discussion goes on among the H@rmonet members over the state of barbershop music today. There are those who think that anything that couldn’t have been sung on the contest stage circa 1970, does not belong. There are also those who favour turning Barbershop into contemporary a cappella and the vast majority are somewhere in between. They want to see the style maintained, but not to reject the positive changes being brought to our hobby by the great quartets and choruses.]

I had the great privilege to sit in Jim Henry's inaugural class on the African-American roots of barbershop this summer at HCDC [Editor’s Note: Harmony College Directors‘ College]. I had done a research paper 20 years ago for college and had come across some of his material. I had discovered some things on my own, but certainly wasn't bright enough (then or now) to synthesize it anywhere to the degree that Jim did. Jim states openly that there is no definitive proof, but there is certainly substantial evidence.

But, I digress. What is profound we all know, and yet we seem to sometimes forget.

"Barbershop was nearly dead when OC and Rupert revived it". This is a point that all of us can agree upon. All statements (and our very name) seem to indicate this is true.

Therefore, barbershop existed before 1938, grew, matured, and almost died. So when we say "Keep it Barbershop", it really has to be a throwback to barbershop as it existed in its natural and uncodified state. Uncodified state (to reiterate). That's important, because part of the barbershop style is the unpredictability of the harmonizations, many times violating accepted musical rules.

What always bothered me in David's [Editor’s Note: David Wright, Arranger and Barbershop Historian] class is that the "white" barbershop quartets of the early 20th century really didn't sound like barbershop (to me). I found it puzzling how the leap in harmonies, deliveries, and embellishments could have happened, especially when barbershop had essentially died by 1938. I always thought "I do not wish to preserve that, but the barbershop seventh chord and the basic idea of barbershop harmonization". That is until this summer when Jim played countless examples of early 20th black quartets (pre-Society times). The answer was there. All the swipes, tiddlies, echoes, chords, harmonic excursions that we hear today were there. Moreover, the style of the delivery then is much more contemporary than what we here from our own founders. They were singing barbershop the way I love it - very much in the style we hear today. From vanilla to french vanilla to rocky road - it was all there.

What I hear David and many other arrangers of today (and even arrangers of the early years) is reviving the original barbershop "spirit", the original barbershop style. To hear people lambaste this exploration in the name of "Keep it barbershop" of the 70's and 80's is truly misinforming; not of our society heritage, but of our musical heritage. After this class, I became more convinced that what we are experiencing today is a renaissance of the TRUE barbershop style; not drifting away from it.

If you go to HCDC, put on the top of your list of classes Jim's class. You will be enlightened and will have your paradigms shaken. What more could you ask for?

Please check the list of jobs to ensure that your name is on the list in a place where you will be comfortable working for the week of the International convention. Have you signed up to take that week as vacation? Do it now!

We will need everyone from our Chapter to be available. This is going to be a massive undertaking, but it will be a lot of fun.

If it is possible for you, plan to come to Portland, OR for the SPEBSQSA 2002 International Convention and Contest. Besides having a wonderful time, you will be able to help us promote Montreal 2003, and to sell advance registrations. We hope that we will have the largest ever attendance at a SPEBSQSA International.

Singing and performing well is fun, isn’t it? We are singing well. Let's make sure that the audience (including Judges!) sees us at our best in all areas!

Let’s get the Division Contest Package nailed! Then we can work on making it a record breaker of us.

Feet, knees, shoulders, tongue, jaw. Remember what to do with each, and do it before each song we sing.

Here is our current repertoire list:

Practice is something we do at home, every day, between rehearsals!

Rehearsal is where we reinforce what we have been practising every day!