The Art of Barbershop - Step by Step

I had someone ask me for some tips/tricks for calming performance nerves when performing with their barbershop chorus or barbershop quartet. So, I thought I would address the topic here.

 I’m sure that you have heard all of the silly things like picturing your audience in their underwear and such.  Frankly, I don’t want to see my audience in their underwear any more than they would want to see me in mine.  :)

 I can tell you some basics like, never approach a performance apologetically, (i.e. telling people you haven’t rehearsed in a while, or that a song is new) or always stand up in front of others whether on stage or in a small “sing-out” environment with presence, but there is really only one way to calm your nerves.

 Be prepared.

 If you are truly prepared to perform, you have rehearsed every aspect of the performance, and you know that you are ready to do the best performance that you are capable of, then you shouldn’t be nervous.  I know that the only time that I personally get nervous is if I don’t feel prepared.

 This can be as easy as knowing that your barbershop quartet needs to be fully warmed up and have sung through whatever music you plan to present before going on stage.

 Nervousness can happen because you haven’t taken the time to talk about how you’re going to enter the stage and take the pitch.  Or, you don’t know how long to bow in between songs.  Maybe you’ve made some changes to your interpretive plan and haven’t gotten them solidly in your memory bank.

 I’ve had it happen where the quartet had a singing engagement and we hadn’t had time to really work the script.  I’m a pretty confident speaker, but if unprepared, even I will throw in some “uh…ummm..whatever” type phrases because I get nervous.

 One major culprit of this can also be making changes too close to your performance or Sweet Adeline Regional Contest or Barbershop Harmony Society District or Prelims.  I am a firm believer that you should not be coaching contest music with less than three weeks to work the changes that will be discussed.  If you coach the same week of a contest or make interpretation changes in your hotel room, you are not going to be able to be as confident in your ability to “do the plan” when you get on stage.  Or worse, you will be concerned about the others in your quartet or chorus and their capability to remember and execute all of the changes and not allow yourself to get past that and sing the emotional message of your songs.

 I hope that you weren’t looking for some magic potion or pixie dust to make it all better.  It really is this simple, so I will say it again.

 BE PREPARED.

1) Stick to your guns when teaching a new plan to the chorus. Don’t give up because it doesn’t happen 100% right after you teach it.

2) Be willing to CHALLENGE your chorus to grow visually. What wowed on the barbershop stage even 5 years ago doesn’t necessarily wow them now.

3) Teach your chorus about hand positions. I.E. Jazz Hands – Blade Hands, etc. – It DOES matter. “Just get your hand up there” Does not work.

4) Be prepared to teach to different types of learners. In every barbershop chorus there are people who operate from the right brain and the left.  Speak with clear directions, have demonstrators on hand, AND provide written instructions. This gives lots of different types of people the chance to learn in a way that is comfortable for them.

5) Get a CD made of each song that has a choreo plan. Put the song on there 3-4 times in a row. When running early choreography review sessions, play the song through 4 times while providing demonstration for each run through. THEN answer questions. Then run it 4 times again. The repetition does a world of good.

6) Have specific times for questions. If you just leave it as an open forum at all times, you’ll spend too much time talking and not enough time practicing your choreography.

7) Even when YOU are tired or have had a bad day, if you are one of the visual leaders in your chorus, it is up to YOU to provide a good example.

8) Even when you are frustrated, always think of something positive to say. Sometimes, as a person that feels the visual commitment to the barbershop style of music so naturally, we forget that some people really are trying even if it may not seem that they are doing enough. BE POSITIVE.

9) It is OK to steal from other groups that you have seen. Other barbershop groups, other performance arts, etc. Just modify something that you like to fit your group. Watch videos of everything from school plays to Cirque Du Soleil and see if there are concepts that will transfer to the barbershop stage. ** Although if you are taking from another barbershop group, I highly advise that you don’t just use and entire routine. A) It is rude, and B) They will have designed it to work for their performers and it might not be a good fit for yours.

10) Last but not least, SMILE…..enjoy this wonderful opportunity to teach others how to expressively perform this amazing art form we call barbershop.

I have been doing quite a bit of chorus coaching lately and have found myself repeating a couple of concepts over and over so I thought that I would just share them here.

Basically, as an audience member, I am GREEDY. When you are performing a song, if you don’t go above and beyond to express the story to me from every angle, you lose me. I don’t think that I am all that different from most barbershop audience members. Some are like me and are watching very intently to see the expression and emotion that are being portrayed, while others don’t necessarily know what they are looking for, but they definitely know when they don’t see/feel it.

We’ve all been there… you look out into the audience and you can see the people that are engaged in the performance and the ones that are NOT. I wish there were some kind of scientific research that had been done so that I could quote the answer to a question that I often ask…
“Do you know how long it takes to get an audience member back once you’ve lost them?”

I don’t know the EXACT answer, but I do know that whatever it is, it is TOO LONG.

So where does “Deliver +1” come in? This is my basic statement of how to work on emotional involvement and grow it into a full blown production each time that you perform barbershop music and barbershop choreography. Every time that you try to put your best effort into a rehearsal, “Deliver +1”. That way you don’t have to feel like you are being asked to duplicate and triplicate your effort level. Just think to yourself, every time that you perform, to add “+1” to what you did the last time that you performed that song. By the time that song is ready to be performed for an audience, you will have added, and added, and added emotional impact.

The final product will be worth the effort and your GREEDY audience members will thank you AND remember you.

OK - so to recap, we now know that the word ENERGY appears in some form in all four categories of the Sweet Adeline judging system. 

What are some other ways that we can view across all four categories and make some connections?

One that I found is the word CHARACTERIZATION.  Now, this one isn’t as easy as the word energy because it is more the concept that carries across the categories instead of an actual word.

If it appears as CHARACTERIZATION in the Showmanship category, what is it called in the other three?

Expression Category = Emotional Communication and/or Finesse

Music Category = Musical Artistry 

Sound Category = Vocal Style

In my opinion, to achieve CHARACTERIZATION, you must have a VOCAL STYLE that can use MUSICAL ARTISTRY and FINESSE to create an EMOTIONAL COMMUNICATION/CONNECTION to your audience.

Once again, just like with the concept of ENERGY it is easy to see how important it is to consider the interlocking relationship between ALL of the Sweet Adeline judging categories to get the most bang for your buck in your contest performance.

Contest season is just around the corner, so consider this as you begin to create your musical plans.

OK, so now the secret is out.  The word ENERGY appears in all FOUR categories of the Sweet Adelines judging system. 

What does this mean to you?  It means that when someone tells you that only one judge is looking at you in an effort to minimize the showmanship category down to the obvious “visual” impact that it has, you should think twice before agreeing with them. 

We’ve already established that the word ENERGY appears in the Sweet Adelines International Showmanship Category. 

How does it appear in the other three?

In the Sweet Adelines International Expression Category the word ENERGY appears.  

In the Sweet Adelines International Music Category the words MUSICAL ENGERGY appear.

In the Sweet Adelines International Sound Category the words ENERGIZED VOCAL LINE appear. 

So even though choreography may play a part in how your quartet or chorus chooses to rev up the energy in your performance, you have to remember that the energy has to be something that the judges can HEAR, and not just SEE. 

There are some other items that appear in all four Sweet Adeline judging categories, but I’ll save those for another post. 

I am teaching a class this weekend for the Sweet Adelines International - Region 7 Quartet Music School where I will talk about ways that the Sweet Adelines International Showmanship category can reach across and touch all FOUR categories - I am going to post a series here where I give you the Net-Net of what the class will entail.
 
When your barbershop quartet starts to think about the Showmanship category, what do you think of first?

Choreography is the easy answer and one that usually comes to mind first for all of us in the Sweet Adeline and Barbershop world.  Choreography is very specific per the song that you are singing and per the group that is performing.  So what I want to focus on is something a little bigger than that.  Something that reaches the Sweet Adelines International Showmanship judge; but also reaches out and touches ALL FOUR categories.  Fellas, keep in mind that your Presentation category may not follow these exact guidelines, but this concept works for you as well.
 
Here is a list of words that are used in the official category description for the Sweet Adelines International Showmanship category:

PERFORMANCE (0-70 Points)

VISUAL COMMUNICATION OF MUSICAL PRODUCT
Vocal Skills
Poise and Command
Entrance/Break/Exit
Pitch Pipe Technique
Physical Expression
Posture
Unity
Choreography
Characterization
Audience Rapport
Energy

PREPARATION (0-30 Points)

VISUAL PLAN
Entrance/Break/Exit
Costume
          Makeup/Grooming
          Choreography
Creativity
 

Do you want to know what one word appears in all FOUR Sweet Adelines International judging categories?
 
ENERGY
 
Think about it…….
   

I have always been a very emotional person.  It is sort of a joke amongst my friends that it takes very little to bring me to tears in either a happy or a sad moment in time.  I’m a firm believer in wearing your heart on your sleeve, so I am not apologizing for this piece of my character.  I am just bringing it up to discuss the topic of portraying emotions while singing.

My mom used to remind me to “cry pretty”.  Remember to cover my mouth and not scrunch up my face to terribly much when in a situation where you are crying in front of a large group of people.   Now, in private I suppose that I can cry however, I darn well please, but when performing or participating in part of a performance I need to not make a scene.  At least that’s how I see it.

How does this apply to barbershop chroreography?  Recently, my chorus began signing the song “There Goes My Heart”.   We always try to find the lighter aspects of ballads and the most positive emotions that can be portrayed in an effort to not make a song too heavy.  However, with phrases like “There goes my happiness, it couldn’t be. There goes somebody else, in place of me” there are only so many ways to try to spin that emotion.  By the end of this song, there is total devastation and isolation.  “There goes my heart….. and here am I”  So we are faced with our only option - try to portray these emotions without singing too heavy and creating a visual that is too disturbing or ugly.  (If I can use that word).

I’ve been working with the chorus to bring the emotions out and to the next level, but I am finding that many are scrunching up their faces and truly looking unpleasant.   I am also concerned about what all of this face scrunching and mouth twisting is doing to the musical product that they are creating.

Therefore, I offer this advice.   Spend time in front of the mirror.  It is completely possible to display despair, loneliness, and devastation while maintaining a raised eyebrow and lifted cheekbone to keep the ping in your sound.   Work in front of the mirror and choose selected phrases of the song to sing and see what exactly it is that you are doing with your face and body.   Keep the eyebrow lifted, remembering that it is OK to furrow it a bit to portray and emotion now and then.  It is OK to show some teeth without appearing to be smiling.   Choose words that work for you.  If “devastation” is too strong, think “despair” and so on.

Also, remember that your body plays as much a part of the emotional portrayal as your face.  Use your shoulders, your chest, a tilt of the head, or a quick look down and back up to make the true emotion of what the song is saying come to life.   Say the words of the song out loud as if it were a spoken piece of poetry and see what your body does.  

What if you were performing this poem at an open mic night at a club? Would you stand there with your feet glued to the ground and not move your hands, arms, shoulders, or head?  I’m going to assume that the answer to that question is “no”.   Once you see some of your natural movement, work to incorporate that into your musical message.  Don’t be afraid to experiment.  Once you find something that works for you, something that you think is powerful, remember it.  Use that movement every time you are at that place in the song.  It is best to rehearse these types of emotions and have a plan in place.  This way you can tell a compelling story without having to remember to move once the performance zone hits you.   Your audience will not know that you have “planned” that tilt of the head or lift of the hand; they will just see the emotional message portrayed by your entire body.

So… recite the song – watch how you move in the mirror – incorporate the movement and facial expression into your musical product.   And don’t forget to “cry pretty”.
 

Sometimes chorus members do not seem to understand why a choreographer or presentation team may decide to choreograph a certain song or why they choose to choreograph it differently than another.  I thought I would just write a short list of reasons to choreograph a song as well as give choreographers a little food for thought.

Obviously  95% of uptunes are choreographed, especially ones being used for contest, but what are the reasons?  And why are you seeing more choreography in ballads?

• -  Choreography is placed on a song to further the story of what we are saying and portray the energy of a song’s intent.   A choreo team should create moves that are within the style of the song and allow audience members to further understand what you are singing. Don’t move just to move.  Fun, jazzy moves don’t work with a “good-bye, take the dog he’s yours” kind of song any better than strong arms, and forceful stepping work with “don’t sit under the apple tree”.   In the same token as you wouldn’t put a big costume change in a song where it doesn’t make sense, just because your director likes to wear hot pants.
• Choreography can be used to help chorus members remember the words of a song.   It sounds strange, but muscle memory of choreography CAN help actual memory lapses during a song.   If you have one verse where the song uses the word “march”, and the next verse where it is all the same except this time you “salute”, then it would make sense to place choreography moves that do those two things if your chorus seems to get the two verses mixed up.   That is sort of an extreme example, but you get the idea.
• Choreography can be used (especially in ballads) when you have a chorus that doesn’t tend to move well on their own.   Even simple moves like a “sway”, a “step on the outside foot”, or a “slight lift of a hand”, can be choreographed where it just look like natural movement.   The audience doesn’t need to know its and actual move, but it keeps the chorus from getting too grounded and not moving at all.
• Choreography can be used to break up visually what can be a vocally long song.  Medleys seem to be a big culprit here.   For those that don’t move naturally to keep their vocal energy up, the stamina to sing a medley with 6 or 8 songs in it can get to be too much.  By the end, you’ve lost energy and your audience may have lost interest.   You don’t have to choreograph every song within the medley, but if you put some staging in even 3 of those songs it creates a better ebb and flow of energy and interest within the song.  This is for both your chorus members, and for your audience.
• Ballad choreography seems to be becoming more popular these days.  I am all for it.   Many of the ballads that we sing are fraught with great emotion.   I am always stunned at the number of people who can sing those songs without moving.  Putting those planned moves in helps further the emotional level for all and will get your non-movers involved as well.

Of course there are many reasons and many ways to choreograph or stage a song; these are just the tip of the iceberg.  However, I hope they help you review your song selections and work choreography and staging into them more often.

PS – Just for all the directors out there, remember that I never recommend moving in a way or during a song where it gets in the way of the singing.  

**THIS IS A RE-POST OF AN ARTICLE LAST WRITTEN LAST APRIL - HOWEVER, IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON COMPETING IN SPRING REGIONALS OR PRELIMS, THESE ARE THINGS YOU NEED TO BE IN THE PROCESS OF WORKING SO I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE GOOD TO RE-POST THESE TIPS - BEST OF LUCK!** 

The months of March, April, and May mean only one thing in the Sweet Adelines International organization.  Regional Competition.  It’s a time of year when all of the hard work that you have put into learning music, practicing choreography, passing your songs to compete, and finding costumes, etc. finally have a chance to pay off.

First, let me send my best wishes to all of you that have already or are preparing to walk across the competition stage either in your barbershop quartet or barbershop chorus.  No matter what the actual outcome of the contest, you should all consider yourselves a winner for being brave enough just to compete.  It is a rare opportunity offered to all of us that most people don’t get in their adult life, a chance to compete to be the very best at something.  Plus, these Sweet Adelines Regional Competition’s are a stepping stone for you to possibly compete to be the very best in the world at something.  How many of your friends and co-workers get that opportunity?  It’s unique, and a thrill that can be tough to explain to those who do not participate. 

If you’ve been working your way towards this chance to compete, what are some of the key steps that you have taken?  I’ll list the ones that I think are vital, but I would love to hear what you and your quartet or chorus do to prepare for contest.

- Song Selection –

This can be the most important part of the whole journey.  Typically, you are looking for an Uptune and a Ballad that are considered “contest material” that follow all of the rules for chord and song structure to satisfy your music judge.  Keep in mind that the rules only tell you to sing two songs, so you could sing two uptunes or two ballads if you like.  I personally don’t recommend it, only because it doesn’t always show off the range of what you are capable of singing to the judging panel, but if you can sing the snot out of two ballads and think that is the best for you, then go for it.  A lot of people will work a swing song in to replace one or the other of those choices to show some versatility as well.  The most important thing is to find songs that adequately represent the personality of your chorus or quartet, while playing to the strengths of what you do best.  If you know that your bass section struggles with higher notes, don’t pick a song that is voiced high for them. No matter how great the song may be, if it doesn’t work for one part, then it doesn’t work for the group as a whole.  People often wonder why you hear the same songs over and over and year after year at contest.  That is because they are songs that are well written to show off all of the marvelous aspects of our barbershop art form, and tend to score well for that reason.  Why try to reinvent the wheel when there is something that already works?  Don’t always pick the song that is “cool” or “popular” right now; pick what is right for you.  So many people pick a song that they just heard the new Queens of Harmony perform at contest that sounded so great.  Well, guess what…. we can’t all sing like that.  It sounded great for them because it worked for those four people with extraordinary skills, so their song or their interpretation of a song might not be the best vehicle for you and your group.  Just be smart about it from the start and I promise you that it won’t be such a struggle to learn and polish the music that you choose.

- Learning the music –

A chorus will probably provide the opportunity to hear your music team sing the song, have section rehearsals, and then probably provide some type of learning resource.  (CD/tape/mp3 or something of that nature)  Take your time to learn the notes and words with great accuracy.  You will spend lots of time doing all of the finesse, polish work, dynamics, and visual plan, so you want to make sure that you know the song accurately to build all of the other layers onto.  A quartet may not have those resources, so you have to be more creative.  While you don’t want to try and recreate what they did exactly, it doesn’t hurt if you can find a recording of a song just to get familiar with it if you aren’t already.  There are all kinds of resources available for CD’s, whether it is directly from a quartet or chorus, or from the various compilation recordings from International Contests.  If someone in your group is a better sight reader or piano player than others, have them make a tape for all four parts.  If you really learn better with a learning tape, there are more and more resources to purchase learning CD’s these days.  Two that I would recommend are http://www.kimkraut.com/ and http://www.timtracks.com/.  Kim is member of the Sweet Adelines International Faculty, the Kansas City Chorus, and the quartet PRIMO!.  She is also the director of the St. Joseph Show Chorus and a former opera singer with a degree in Voice. Tim Waurick is a young man with extraordinary talent that currently sings tenor with the 6th place International Medalists in the Barbershop Harmony Society, Vocal Spectrum, and sings with the International Championship Chorus the Ambassadors of Harmony in St. Louis, MO.  He is also studying for a degree in Music Education.  Both are extremely talented and can offer you superior services for learning CDs. **** UPDATE - Three months after this post was published, Tim’s quartet, Vocal Spectrum, went to their 2nd Barbershop Harmony Society contest and came home with GOLD medals.  He is now an International Champion Quartet Tenor - Way to go, Tim!****

- Story Time –

You have your two songs, and know your notes and words…now what?  Take the time to find out who you are when you are singing these two songs.  Is your uptune a funny, tongue in cheek message, or are you actually angry or sad?  Is your ballad a happy memory of past love or a sad story of love lost?  You can decide.  Even if people always sing a certain song a certain way, you can decide that you want to tell the story differently.  Just remember that if you are going to go against what people are used to, you had better REALLY sell what you are trying to say.  A technique used by a chorus and several quartets that I work closely with is to actually write a story.  Tell a story with a real message that has specific keywords you are trying to portray.  One place in the song is “matter of fact”, but then it moves into “pensive” and then to “despair”.  Maybe then you see the end of the tunnel of despair and end with “hope”.  I think you can see where I’m going with this.  Be specific, making sure that all members of your chorus or quartet are on the same page, telling the exact same message at every moment of the song.  Most of all, you have to buy into it.  Don’t settle for it unless it really means something to you.  It will pay off in your Expression and Showmanship categories.  Really.

- Visual Planning –

Now that you know who you are and what you want to say, put a visual plan to it.  It can be very specific “we all move together” choreography, or you can put moves in that just look like natural movement, but are actually well crafted to send a specific visual image.  Work to accent the rises and falls in the story and vocal line.  Don’t try to do too much just for the sake of moving, and have it get in the way of the musical product.  Find a plan, implement it, tweak it, decide on the final product, and then do it that way, exactly, every time that you perform the song from that time out.  The more that it becomes second nature, the more likely you are to perform it that way on the contest stage.  And, if you are doing the moves easily, it will give a more polished and professional look to the judges.

- Coaching –

Depending where you are located, find all of the coaching resources that you can.  If there aren’t any big name coaches in your area, take advantage of the opportunities at your regional music schools.  You can also call on a director, choreographer, or section leader from a chorus that you respect in your region that you think could help you.   Try to get a few different people that have different areas of expertise.  Find one that is great with music and sound and one that can work expression and showmanship.  (of course for Expression, Showmanship or Presentation, you can always contact me at sheri@barbershopstep.com – how convenient)  Each coach will have a unique way of expressing their thoughts and it helps to have different ideas to consider and use.  My personal recommendation is to quit coaching at least two to three weeks out before contest.  You can always have someone encouraging and helping you really keep everything together, but quit making major changes and adjustments.  This is so that you can really drill the exact plan that you want to put on contest stage.  If you make a major change to choreography, interpretation, or music right before contest, it might sound cool when you do it, but it is highly likely that all members will not have it “saved” well enough to not forget in the excitement of the contest stage.  When contest is near, be consistent; sing the set from top to bottom over and over without stopping in between the two songs of your set.  Make your comments and minor adjustments and then sing it through again.  You would be amazed at how many people don’t think about how it feels to sing the songs back to back until it is too late.  It takes a tremendous amount of stamina to do what we do.  The ability to maintain breath support, energy, and vocal production through a contest set does not happen over night.  You have to practice it that way.

- Perform –

Try to find a way to perform for a live audience as much as possible.  If your chorus has a Friends and Family night before contest that is a great way to sing for an audience.  If they don’t, try to invite people to stop by and watch, or book a performance (even if it is for free) where you can sing for a live audience.  It makes such a difference in how you perform.

- Enjoy –

Once the contest weekend starts, don’t spend the entire time rehearsing with your chorus or quartet.  It is what it is at that point.  Enjoy the contest, cheer on your peers, sing in the hallways, meet new people and enjoy this fantastic art form we call barbershop. 

You’ve done your homework and you are ready.  Go for it!
 

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month so I wanted to do my part to raise awareness here on BarbershopStep.

Breast cancer is the leading cancer among American women and is second only to lung cancer in cancer deaths. This year in the United States, 212,920 women and 1,720 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 40,970 women and 460 men will die from the disease. When breast cancer is found early (and confined to the breast), your chances for survival are the greatest. For information on general breast health, early detection, risk factors, diagnosis, treatment and support, please visit the Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer Foundation’s ABC’s of Breast Cancer.

Also, can go to TheBreastCancerSite.com, where your click on the “Fund Free Mammograms” button helps fund free mammograms, paid for by site sponsors whose ads appear after you click and provided to women in need through the efforts of the National Breast Cancer Foundation to low-income, inner-city and minority women, whose awareness of breast cancer and opportunity for help is often limited.