The Art of Barbershop - Step by Step

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”.