Masters of Harmony

Terrace Talent Targets Tabernacle

Successful Long Beach show shifts focus to Salt Lake City

Dane Hutchins, May 5, 2005

Many hours of preparation for the Masters of Harmony Spring Show paid off handsomely at the Terrace Theater in Long Beach on Saturday, April 30th. Two large audiences paid the highest compliments sought by stage performers by first buying tickets to our show and then by responding to our performance with hyper-enthusiasm and thunderous applause. During our weekly drill sessions leading up to the show -- with Music Director Mark Hale justifiably pinging us again and again with what must be done to lift ourselves to the next level, with section leaders pointing out our all-too-frequent errors, and with our rising-star choreo instructor Justin Miller cracking the whip at every turn -- we could easily forget that by audience standards we perform at an ever-improving, professional level. But there it was again – that thunderous applause and standing O’s that keep us working hard and coming back for more. Many members reported how thrilled first-time attendees were – surprised by the performance level and totally amazed by the choreography. In short, the audiences loved us!

But thrilling an audience of mostly long-standing fans and camp followers in Long Beach mustn’t be considered on the same plane as scoring points with a long row of Barbershop Harmony Society judges in Salt Lake City. Friendly audiences don’t deduct for little errors that might occur along the way; in large part they don’t even notice. Judges, on the other hand, won’t be in front of us for pure entertainment’s sake. Those trained ears will twitch every time a chord doesn’t ring, every time vowels don’t match, every time diphthongs aren’t turned. Sharp eyes will zoom in on faces that belie the emotions of the lyric, and on unconvincing moves and gestures. Every twitch of the ear and affront to the eye triggers rapid little movements in fingertips holding pencils, resulting in point deductions posted to score sheets.

The key to winning a gold medal, of course, is not to somehow trick the judges into overlooking mistakes while catching those of competitors. Rather, by using the next few weeks to train our ears to listen to ourselves as the judges would, and learning to view our own performance with the critical vision of well-trained eyes. Winning comes with knowledge, translated into elevated performance and delivered with bold confidence.

This year’s spring show will be long remembered by the men who participated. The best memories, though, are yet to be made. Building on the positive energy of this remarkable show and using it to propel ourselves forward, we can work together to create the new memory of taking gold No. 6 in Salt Lake City.