Constable: Barbershop augments fun, diminishes chords

Invented in the 19th century, barbershop music and its intricate four-part harmonies were fading from the American landscape when a singer named Owen Clifton Cash wrote a letter on April 11, 1938.

“In this age of dictators and government control of everything, about the only privilege guaranteed by the Bill of Rights not in some way supervised and directed, is the art of Barber Shop Quartet singing,” Cash wrote. Calling barbershop music the “last remaining source of human liberty,” Cash organized a revival concert that drew 26 men to the roof of an exclusive club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That led to the formation of the Society for The Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America.

Eight decades later, the group's name, the Barbershop Harmony Society, is shorter, and its membership roll, nearly 25,000 members, is far longer. There are more than 30 barbershop chorus chapters in Illinois, And that's why Fox Valley Men of Harmony in Elgin takes pride in billing its chorus as the “Most Improved Barbershop Chorus in Illinois in 2014.”

“It was a big deal,” director Doug Smith says of the award. “We worked hard. We had some coaching.”

The results will be on display at 2:30 p.m. Sunday when 20 members present a concert of holiday music at the First United Methodist Church in Elgin. Tickets, $10, are available at the church, 216 E. Highland Ave.

“It isn't just singing. It's entertainment,” says 80-year-old Carl Missele of Elgin, who has been singing baritone, and entertaining audiences, as a member of the Fox Valley Men of Harmony for the past 58 years. Singers perform barbershop music by heart so “no one is looking at sheet music,” notes Missele. He says that allows singers to connect on a personal level with the audience.

“We're a jovial bunch,” says Al Boeldt, 84, a retired speech and language pathologist from McHenry who is one of the chorus' six basses.

But it's not all about the bass.

“When you have a barbershop chorus, you have four parts, but they all sound like one voice,” says John Jeide, 79, a tenor from St. Charles. “I find it's more fun just singing harmony. It's simple to start, but the more you learn, the more complicated it gets.”

Members of the Fox Valley Men of Harmony include men who don't read music. “Some guys, they sing in the shower because that's the only place they are allowed to sing,” teases Bill Miller, 69, of St. Charles, who serves as master of ceremonies for the holiday program and sings tenor.

Other members, such as Jim Scholtz, 59, of McHenry, can discuss details of chord differences between a one-third diminished and a dominant seventh.

“The one thing I like is the camaraderie,” says Scholtz, a retired tennis pro who now serves as executive director of the McHenry Public Library and sings lead in the chorus. “It's like you've been brothers forever.”

Members range in age from nearly 40 to 91, and come from all walks of life.

“We have bylaws,” director Smith says. “We don't argue about politics or religion. The singing brings us together and keeps us together.”

The group practices at the Elgin church from 7 p.m. until about 9:30 p.m. every Monday. Most of the $120 annual membership dues goes to the parent organization, which hosts a couple of conventions a year and attracts thousands of fans and dozens of the world's best barbershop quartets and choruses to international competitions.

At 22, Smith was a star in the barbershop circuit. His quartet, The Sundowners, finished second twice and third once in international competitions. “On weekends, I'd fly somewhere and do a show,” remembers Smith. “We did 30 or 40 shows all over the United States and Canada.”

He started directing the Fox Valley group in 1979, but left after a decade to sing with the New Tradition in Northbrook, which focuses more on competition. Other suburban groups include the Brotherhood of Harmony in Schaumburg, the Chorus of DuPage in Naperville and the West Towns Chorus in Downers Grove, Smith returned as director of the Fox Valley chorus in 2003.

While the Men of Harmony perform at senior centers, nursing homes and for community festivals, other barbershop choruses focus on perfecting songs for competitions.

“I can't see myself standing on a riser for three hours on Monday nights to practice two songs,” Jeide says. “That's a good thing, but it's not my thing.”

He says he takes the music seriously, but he always has fun. For instance, the Clef Hangers quartet used to be The Huntley and Wrinkly Four, because two members lived in Huntley.

“And the other two were wrinkly,” says Bill Dysart, 86, of Crystal Lake, a retired mechanical engineer who likes to say that his age is only 30 in Celsius.

Clef Hangers members talk about how the 19th-century style that enjoyed a revival in the 20th century can draw new fans in the 21st century. The Crystal Lake South High School Madrigal Choir, while not a barbershop group, will be part of Sunday's concert. Jeide, Boeldt and Dysart work with kids at Huntley High School to develop the next generation of barbershop chorus members.

”Hopefully, when they are 40 and looking for a chance to get out of the house, they'll come back,” Jeide says, adding that he's been singing with the chorus for 30 years, “or maybe 31.”

Winners at the international competitions include hot, young groups such as Instant Classic singing a Billie Holiday classic “Love Me or Leave Me.” Main Street crooning the NSYNC song, “Bye, Bye, Bye,” and Sweden's Lemon Squeezy rocking to the The Turtles' 1967 hit, “Happy Together.” Others stick with the classics, such as the version of “Lida Rose” made famous by the Broadway music, “The Music Man.”

“I've probably sung 'Lida Rose' 500 or 600 times,” Missele says. “But you're learning new music all the time.”

Done right, barbershop can lead to moments of bliss when all the singers combine to strike the perfect chord, which resonates in a singer's soul.

“It's really something else,” Missele says. “You go, 'Wow!' And that's what we always strive for.”