The Art of Barbershop - Step by Step

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.

Many showmanship people will talk about standing up straight, shoulders back; chin up with your weight evenly distributed on each foot when they are talking about how you should stand in your space on the risers.    I guess in some way, all of these things make sense and describe the process in a very technical way, but I prefer to discuss the issue as “having presence”.

Presence (as defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
1) a: the bearing, carriage, or air of a person; especially:stately or distinguished bearing
b : a noteworthy quality of poise and effectiveness

Now doesn’t that say so much more?   I love the part about “a noteworthy quality of poise and EFFECTIVENESS.” 
When we enter the stage and take our place on the risers, what better way to carry ourselves than with distinguished poise and the idea of being ready to be effective in our performance.   Each member of EVERY chorus should enter the stage in a way that lights up the stage and tells the audience and/or judges that they are about to see and hear something very special.  In many regional contests and certainly international contest there are no curtains to “hide” the chorus as they enter the stage.  No matter how “cutesy or clever” front rows try to be up front to “hide” what is going on behind them, the audience and judges can see every member as they come on stage.  You should never walk on stage with the idea that the performance hasn’t started yet, or that no one is noticing you.  It is simply not true. 

Now, the judges do not begin scoring until you start singing, but you can bet that they notice how a chorus approaches their performance.  Whether they want it to or not, it will have an impact on how they perceive the performance.  You NEVER have a second chance to make a first impression.

My challenge to you and your chorus is to practice that your performance starts the minute the first foot of the first member steps on the stage, and ends when the last foot of the last member leaves the stage.  When your foot hits that stage, take deep breath, put your chin up, smile and walk with pride and presence.  Even if you have trouble walking and need to go a little slower, just remember that no one has a problem with that.  Show them that even though you may struggle to get there, you are proud to be a part of what is about to take place. Never, no matter the size of your chorus or  how nervous you feel, enter the stage in an apologetic way.  Or worse yet, like you’re trying to be quiet about it.  Make a statement.

Once you have your place on the risers, visualize that you are filling up your personal space with your presence.   Every atom in the space around you is buzzing with the energy that you have bottled in your body at that moment.  You own that spot on the risers for that 6 or 15 minutes and no one can take it away from you.  It doesn’t matter who stood in the spot before because you are the owner now.

As the pitch blows, think “PRESENCE”, breathe deep, smile and prepare yourself to be the most effective member of the chorus that you can possibly be.  It will make a difference how your chorus and your performance are perceived as well as how you perceive yourself as a performer.

Say it with me….. “PRESENCE!”

If not, let me help.

If moving your body to the rhythm or the soul of a song doesn’t come naturally it can be hard to do the things being asked of you by your showmanship or presentation team.  With a little focus and attention, you still may not be the best performer in your barbershop chorus or quartet, but you can learn to move your body and fit in to the overall look of your group.    Of course if you can master these techniques, you may be the best performer yet.

Let’s talk about some easy things that you can do to help move you in the right direction.  (Keep in mind that these are the things that you do when there is no “planned” choreography move)

Legs and Feet:
This is a simple as shifting your weight from one foot to another.

Try picking a foot up and shifting to the outside of your stance instead of just shifting.  Even on the risers, you have a small box of space that is yours to use.  Step forward slightly; step back slightly, to the right or to the left.  You should find that it frees you up vocally when you allow yourself to move this way.

Bend your knees and grow upward at the end of a phrase or where your dynamic plan has a shift.

Arms and Hands:
Make sure that you let your arms hand where your thumbs are pointed out to the audience, not the backs of your hands.  It looks unappealing and it tens to accentuate poor posture.

Allow your arms to move freely at the sides of your body instead of having them plastered to your sides.  Don’t get overzealous and move to the point of distraction, but a slight lift of the hand at the end of the phrase, or letting your hand float slightly upward so that you can make a “move” out of bringing it back down to your side can be very effective.

Remember that your hands are a separate extension of your body above and beyond arm movements.  Allow for a slight turn of the wrist, turn your hand out slightly so that the palm can be seen and bring it back.

Bend your elbow slightly – it will, in turn, bring your hand up above or at your waist.  You can also do any of these suggested moves with both hands at the same time.

When bringing your hand up in a slight move, think about leading with your wrist and thumb instead of your fingers.  It will put more presence in your move than just a “fan-type” hand move.

If you happen to stand on the outside of a row in your chorus or as the outside person in your quartet, always be conscious that you don’t move your hand in one similar way over and over.  For some reason that tends to happen and it can be very distracting during a performance.  Try to switch things up.
Head and Shoulders:
Never move your head and shoulders in a way that would negatively affect your singing instrument. 

However, a slight tilt to shake of the head in a plaintive or passionate movement is very effective.  Try a slight shrug of one should and then bring it back down.  Or, a very slight chin down and then bring it back up within a line of a song.

Putting it all together:

Now, of course, I haven’t mentioned every possible way that you can move, but you get the idea with these suggestions of ways to move from head to toe.

My challenge to you and/or your group:

Take these moves, and others that you know or have seen done, and try to sing a ballad with them.  Stay in CONSTANT motion.  Not jerky, big moves, but small, subtle, and smooth moves.  Keep moving from note to note, word to word, phrase to phrase.  At first it feels very uncomfortable, and it may, in fact, be too much.  But, if you do this enough times, you will free yourself up for movement while experimenting and finding the moves that worked for you and work for the song that you are singing.

A trick that you may, or may not know, is the “planned unplanned move”.  You will see people that are tremendous performers that move and make it seem so natural and spontaneous.  9 times out of 10, they have moves that are not part of the “planned” choreography, but they are “planned” for them.  They will do the same move in the same place of the song, every time that they sing it.  They have found something that is comfortable and tells the story of the moment that they are sharing and they stick to it.

Once you find moves that are comfortable for you and fit your music, you can put them in as your won “planned” moves even though your choreography didn’t dictate those moves.

Work this concept, over and over and over.  It will help.  I am a firm believer that if you can‘t move with the rhythm of the moment of the song (not the actual rhythms and beat, but the emotional rhythms) then you cannot portray the song to its fullest potential.

Keep Moving !!

I’m not content with just hearing the words and music in a barbershop performance.  I want you to “Show Me What You are Saying”.  OK, so I don’t live in Missouri, but close enough.  Show Me!!! 

This can be a ballad or an up-tune, it doesn’t matter.
I was working with a men’s chorus recently and really had to stress this point, so I thought it was worth addressing here.  So often barbershop performers are told to “smile”, or “raise your eyebrows” and that somehow constitutes and exciting visual performance.   I do not agree.  Sometimes you are singing something that has no real deep meaning or is just silly and fun and you might get away with the overall “excited” or “happy” look throughout.  However, most of the time, a song has an actual message.  Even if it is not profound, it is still a message that needs to be portrayed in order for the audience to really experience a song.

Let’s talk specifics…..
The chorus that I was working with is getting ready to compete at the men’s international contest in Indianapolis and is taking the popular up-tune Runnin’ Wild.  The intro of the song goes like this:

“Once I loved a hard hearted gal.  That hard hearted, mean tempered, two timing, man hating, back biting, brow beating gal brought me down; down to the ground.   I cursed that evil woman, stood up and turned around.  That gal won’t make a fool of me now, no not now.  Cuz now my heart’s (this poor shattered, torn tattered heart) – got a brand new start”

You cannot achieve a true performance of this song with just a general “excited” look on your face.  Think about those words….you’re saying some pretty spirited stuff about this gal.  Then, you admit that she basically brought you to your knees.   Then in a fit of anger and resignation you cursed her, stood up, and turned around to start a new life.  (Admitting briefly that your heart is torn and tattered)

Can you follow me on this?   Can you envision the difference between a generally “excited” look and someone that can portray this moment’s ups and downs more completely?

Let’s get even more specific…..

“Once I loved a hard hearted gal.”  (General excited energy, you’re getting ready to tell the story of what happened here)

“That hard hearted, mean tempered, “(This can have an angrier look to it)

“Two timing, man hating,” (this can be more desperate.  Descending into the pit of all that she was – portrayed almost unbelieving that she could be that way)

“Back biting, brow beating gal “ ( back biting is pretty bitter,  brow beating is more resigned like “oh for the love of God will she ever quit nagging at me””)

“Brought me down;”   (this descends to exhausted)

“Down to the ground.”   (Then resigned)

“I cursed that evil woman,” (OK, now he’s getting his spirit back)
“Stood up and turned around.” (He’s seeing that there is life after her)

 “That gal won’t make a fool of me now, no not now.”  (Now he’s standing up for himself – standing a little taller)

“Cuz now my heart’s” (this poor shattered, torn tattered heart)– (Admitting that his heart was broken)

“Got a brand new start” (standing up, brushing off his going out clothes and ready to hit the town with his buddies)  

So now he is ….  You guessed it….. “Runnin Wild – Lost Control”!!!!

It runs a gambit of emotions and it’s only the intro to the song.  It says all that and more, and not just because I say so, but because the WORDS demand it.

Other phrases -
“Runnin Wild – Lost Control” – the guys are getting wild

“Now I’m free, reckless too” - Finally FREE, even to the point of being reckless

“Don’t love nobody, not worth while” – Dismissive

There is a whole section in the middle of the song that talks about being the villain, and playing the villain’s part.   The music makes a definite style change to represent this “mood change”, so visually you have to change as well or the work that the composer and arranger did was mute.    Look evil, mysterious, and ominous.

At one point it says – “See me laugh…in an evil way”   This can be played with an ironic smile and joyful move during “laugh” and then it comes back to being evil.   A quick show of two entirely different emotions.

My point is that most songs have a lot to say.  The lyricist went to the trouble to write the words the way that they felt told the most compelling story.  It seems tragic (especially the loss of points) when the words and their meaning are lost when the song is performed with one general happy/sad/excited/lonely feel.   Even really sad love songs typically have a section that should be performed more wistful or as if you are remembering the good times.

Don’t sell your barbershop chorus or barbershop quartet short by not exploring all of the meaning of all of the words in every song that you sing.  It makes for a much more energetic, compelling, and interesting performance for your audience. And, it is so much more fun and compelling for you as a performer as well.

I’m sure that I am not the first barbershop choreography coach to tell you that it is important to not lock your knees while you are on the risers.  However, since it is a very important concept, I think that it is worth repeating.

Why does it matter?  Let me count the ways…

If you lock your knees very solidly, whether it is due to nerves or any other reason, you can end up fainting. The science behind that is pretty simple.  If you lock your knees, you are restricting the blood flow. You are remaining motionless so your feet and leg muscles aren’t helping at all. Combine this with a stressful situation (barbershop contest, a chorus performance, or just thinking too hard while rehearsing) and your legs are preventing a nice fresh flow of oxygenated blood to the control center where it is needed to keep you in the upright position.  In short, the blood is not getting to your brain and that’s makes your brain very unhappy.

Less severe than that reaction, and one more connected with barbershop performance mode is just the fact that if your knees are locked, you aren’t moving.  Brilliant! You say?  I know it sounds obvious, but if you are not moving, it is highly unlikely that you are emoting in any significant way.  Whether it be a ringing barbershop contest uptune, or an emotionally charged barbershop ballad, it makes the music less enjoyable for both you and your audience.  If you don’t feel a song in your body, there will be little chance that you will express a song’s intent on your face.  It is all connected.

What to do you about it… well, if you have a habit of locking your knees, you need to make a conscious effort to break that habit.  Even if it means telling yourself, mentally, to move every time you start singing barbershop (or any other type of music, but for the sake of this example, we’ll talk barbershop).  If it is difficult to remember, ask a neighbor on the chorus risers to help you out.  They don’t have to talk and annoy those around you, just ask them to put their hand on your back or elbow to be a reminder to you to start moving.

Just bend your knees, or shift your weight from one foot to another.  It is that simple, to start off with.

Of course, your choreography, presentation or visual team will ask more of you, but trust me when I tell you that they will be thrilled that you have started moving at all.

Once you conquer the impulse to stand stock still all of the time, then you can work towards other levels of comfortable, natural, body movement when you are singing those good old barbershop chords.

Try it, you’ll like it.

My first instinct this morning was to write a funny, bogus post only to proclaim “April Fools” at the end.  Then I decided that this site hasn’t been around long enough to build the kind of credibility it takes to pull something like that off.  I didn’t want a new visitor to stop by, read a few lines of a post and decide that I wasn’t in my right mind.

So instead, I’ve decided to debunk a barbershop myth that I hear quite often when coaching barbershop quartets and choruses.

Barbershop Myth #1:  “It doesn’t really matter how I perform in rehearsal, it only matters how I perform on stage.  I’ll “turn it on” when I’m in front of an audience”

There are two fundamentally wrong things about this particular statement.  First, there is the truth behind the idea that “practice makes permanent”.  We all know that the contest and performance stage bring a lot of unknowns to every performance.  When nerves play into the mix and there are the distractions of bright lights, or the amplification sounds strange, these distractions can throw a wrench into your plans.  In order to perform your very best when these things occur, you need to have practiced exactly what you want to put on stage.  Almost as if you could perform on auto-pilot.  This applies to both the physical and the musical parts of the performance.  I know there are many people, myself included, that can come off of the contest stage and not remember most of the performance.  So how did I do my plan?  My body literally has muscle memory of how I want to perform because I practice it that way every time.  As mentioned in a prior post, you can relax in between songs, or when your director or coach is giving you instructions.  Then when it is time to sing, you should be “on” all of the time.  It is the only way to assure that you will be ready no matter what distractions are thrown at you.

The second part of the statement about turning it on for an audience is almost more laughable than the first.  Ask anyone who has ever been contestant #1 how it feels to perform to a mostly empty audience.  Especially during the chorus contest when most of the people are waiting in the traffic pattern to perform with their chorus.  The judges don’t care that there isn’t a deafening applause when the curtain goes up, so neither can you.  I can speak from the experience of being in very large chorus that we have had performances that we were hired for where we outnumbered the audience.  It’s a little awkward, but you still have to hit them with all that you’ve got.  How about some other scenarios, the quartet gig where you “stroll” around and are basically singing to no one, or the one where you perform at a nursing home and some of your audience members fall asleep.  You can’t count on an audience to help you perform.  That is not what they are there for.  They are there to be entertained by you, even if they are not as large, energetic, or interested as you would like for them to be.

And that’s no joke!

If you have never had the opportunity, or taken the time, to attend a contest weekend in a region/district outside of your own, you are missing out.  Being able to take in the sights and sounds without the pressure of competing and having the opportunity to meet people that have a passion for music the way that you do is a fun and energizing experience.

This past weekend, my quartet had the opportunity to be the mic tester quartet at the Region 23 Sweet Adelines International Regional Competition.  What a treat!

As mic testers (also an experience I would recommend), we were able to experience the contest stage environment for the first time in this quartet without the pressure of actually competing.

As audience members, we were able to enjoy our hobby being on fine display by people that we are not familiar with.  It is fun to see how universal that experience was even though we were half way across the country from home. I enjoyed it very much and I highly recommend to you for when/if you get the chance.

A quick “shout out” to my new friends in the Tune Town Show Chorus in Nashville, TN.  They took the stage as a mid-size chorus with 59 members and outscored the large chorus in their region that has a history of wining.  And, they did it with a total of 623 points! (They also received the Most Improved Chorus award by raising their score 44 points from last year)

Way to go ladies, you truly were a “Dixieland Delight”.

You can always learn by watching and listening to others.  Each chorus and quartet in our organizations brings something different to the table.  You can take concepts or ideas from those that do well and use them in your own performances.  Or, you can see the things that got in the way of success for those that struggled and work to keep those things out of your repertoire.

With Region 23 and the Dixie District of the Barbershop Harmony Society having their contests the same weekend and in adjoining venues, we were able to see some wonderful performances with a large variety of performers.  It was a great barbershop weekend indeed.

I recently had a choreographer of a mid-size barbershop chorus ask me this question:

“How can I get my “C” level chorus

to move at an “A” level?”

Well, the short answer to that question is:  You can’t.

Now, let me explain….

You won’t be able to move at an “A” level until you can sing at an “A” level.  Now obviously, in barbershop contests, you can get “B” or “B+” scores in the other categories and get an “A” score in showmanship or presentation, but to me, the overall effect is that it has to go together.

There are lots of steps that you can use to start building your visual package, but you can move like Cirque du Soliel and it won’t really matter if you are not singing barbershop harmony well. The visual is only really scored in one category; the singing is scored in all of them.  And those that think that the music performance does not play a role in the showmanship/presentation categories are sorely mistaken.

Just know that if you tailor a simple plan that enhances the music and does not interfere with your work on the vocal product you will have much better results than if you try to dance “Richtones” level but cannot support it musically.

Stay tuned for more tips and techniques to help you continue to build the visual.  I will just take you on the Sweet Adelines International and Barbershop Harmony Society honor systems that you are already addressing the musical product.

Best of Luck!

OK, it’s confession time….”My name is Sheri, and I use my hands way too much in an “I’m directing” sort of way when I sing with my barbershop quartet.”  There.  I said it.

At the start of barbershopstep.com I said that I might talk about some of my own personal barbershop experiences from time to time, so here’s my story.  My new quartet was being coached this last Sunday by Jim Bagby (Baritone, Rural Route 4, 1986 Champs), and one of the things that I was told was that I was trying to guide my quartet to stay with me by using my hands.  His suggestion was to stick my hands in my pockets and use the natural inflections of my voice as the guide to the other three members of my quartet. Let me just say that this is a lot harder to do than it sounds.  I was able to accomplish what he was asking of me, and my quartet tuned into my sound better.  At that point, they had no choice.

So, lesson learned, right?  Well, not so much.

The very next evening we were auditioning for two of the three Sweet Adeline International choruses that we represent.  My husband was so kind as to make a video tape of our performance for my chorus.  Low and behold, despite the fact that I was actually making a conscious effort to keep my hands under control, the old adage of “old habits die hard” reared its ugly head.  I could see the times that I was making the effort to either hold my hands still, or even do some other things to add to the story telling process, but there was WAY too much arm waiving going on.  I will even admit that it was distracting from the message that I was trying to portray.

So, long story short.  “Watch the hand waiving kiddo!”

In barbershop singing, the ebb and flow that must take place in the phrase that you are singing must happen with your own vocal energy.  Not by pushing and pulling with your arms to try and “make” it happen.

I’m trying not to be too hard on myself since this quartet has only had five rehearsals together so far, but I don’t like to make excuses.  So, I guess I’ll be spending more time with my hands in my pockets until can work my hands in a more relaxed manner.

You should try it sometime.  If you do, come back and tell me what you think.

Note to self….never teach new choreography on a night when you know that next week’s schedule does not allow time for a review.  It’s a waste of time….two weeks later, no one remembers.