Masters of Harmony

Young Men’s Harmony Festival an Overwhelming Success

February 21, 2004

Mark Freedkin, Mar 5, 2004

After more than eight months of planning, the Masters of Harmony once again “raised the bar” in supporting the Society’s Young Men In Harmony program by hosting the Fourth Annual Young Men’s Harmony Festival on February 21 at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. About 25 MOH men and ladies were on hand to take care of registration, serve meals and coordinate all logistics for over 200 young men from 32 high schools throughout Southern California.

The event was co-sponsored and supported by the Southern California Vocal Association (SCVA). For the first time ever, the SCVA decided to abandon their traditional “Young Men’s Clinic” which had always been poorly attended, and embraced our festival as their official young men’s choral event in its place. This was a significant departure for SCVA, and represents a major acceptance by the choral music education community of the barbershop style as a viable musical art form.

All of the festival participants received sheet music and voice-dominant learning tapes for six songs about three weeks prior to the event. The boys learned the music on their own and came prepared knowing the notes and words. In the weeks leading up to the festival, many of the choral music teachers were impressed with how quickly and easily their singers were learning their music.

This year’s event had the largest number of singers ever, and the overall quality and musicianship of the singers were significantly better this year. This is primarily due to the increased awareness from choral music educators that this event is targeted at those singers who really want to work hard at producing a high-quality musical product. Fourteen music educators accompanied their singers to the event. Several more choral directors were unable to participate all day, but joined us for the evening performance.

The festival day began with an outstanding vocal warm-up by Terry Ghiselli, followed by a brief demonstration of the Barbershop Style by O.C. Times quartet. We rehearsed all of the songs until lunch, and the young men worked diligently without a break for the entire session. Lunch consisted of Arby’s Roast Beef sandwiches, chips and soft drinks. While waiting for the delivery of the roast beef sandwiches (which was delayed by 40 minutes because of the large order), the young men stood patiently in line -- and sang. Once the sandwiches finally arrived, the singing stopped (briefly) and over 600 sandwiches were gone within minutes.

After lunch, we broke into section rehearsals to work out the rough spots, and then we reconvened on the risers for final polishing. The improvement was astounding. In the meantime, we took the five male choral directors off to another room to teach them “Sweet Rosie O’Grady” and “My Gal Sal.” which they then sang for the young men as the world’s newest barbershop ensemble, affectionately named Fermata Nowhere. The choral directors had a great time, and the young men had a chance to see their teachers experiencing the joy of ringing a chord. It was a major “Prof. Harold Hill” experience for all of us.

The music team -- consisting of co-directors Dave Tautkus, Terry Ghiselli and myself, along with section leaders Shawn York, Sean Devine, Patrick Claypool, Drew Harrah, Steve Pence, Jim Crowley and Terry Aramian -- continued polishing all of the songs throughout the afternoon. The other MOH men who were helping with logistics and chaperoning duties “pitched” in to sing the second chorus of “Fun In Just One Lifetime.” We also introduced a few simple moves for “Coney Island Baby.” The choral music teachers were amazed (again) at how quickly the young men were able to pick up the moves.

As an unexpected surprise, a young women’s quartet named Forefront from Vanguard University (and also members of the Sweet Adelines International Harborlites chorus) sang for the young men. They were so good that we decided to include them in the evening public performance.

The afternoon ended with a run-through of the entire set, and the improvement from the morning rehearsal session was readily apparent. At 5 p.m. we released the boys for dinner, consisting of pizza and soft drinks. We also provided a pasta dinner (generously prepared and delivered by my wife) for the choral directors and MOH staff. Then it was time to distribute bow ties and cummerbunds (also provided by MOH) to the young men, who had changed into their tux shirts and pants. Finally, they came into the auditorium where the MOH were rehearsing and observed our focus and intensity. At the end of the MOH rehearsal, the boys joined us on the risers for a run-through of “Fun In Just One Lifetime” and “God Bless America” in preparation for the evening show.

In the evening, a public performance capped the day’s efforts. The young men opened the show and really “turned it on” during their segment. They were followed on stage by O.C. Times, the Westminster Harmony Showcase Chorus, Forefront quartet, and the MOH. The young men returned to the stage for the grand finale of “Fun In Just One Lifetime” with MOH and “I Have A Song To Sing” with the two guest quartets, all directed by Mark Hale. We then thanked the parents and teachers for supporting the event, and asked them to encourage their sons to keep music in their hearts throughout their lives. The show closed with a rendition of “God Bless America” sung by all performers.

At the end of the show, the entire audience (about 300 people) rose to their feet and demonstrated their approval and appreciation for the gift of music that we shared with those young men. We heard music educators say this was the best musical experience their singers had ever had.