THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 6, 1995 TAG: 9501040190
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02P EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Teens At Large
SOURCE: BY SAREIT HESS, HIGH SCHOOL CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
Four clear notes ring out from the group. As they fade, applause rings throughout Bayside High School's auditorium and 30 girls stand proudly in pink dresses, smiling and thinking that the hard work and rehearsing have paid off.
Bayside High's Darlin' Marlins chorus exits the stage knowing their Christmas concert was perfect, even though it was the first time performing ``barbershop'' music.
Conductor Sheila McWaters-Wilkes introduced barbershop music last year at Bayside but it really took off this year.
``The girls still do soprano/alto music, but now they are incorporating barbershop into their music,'' McWaters-Wilkes said.
``I decided they needed a challenge and this was it. It is much more difficult because they have to listen to each other and tune together.''
Barbershop music is four-part, very close harmony and the songs are characterized by sentimental lyrics and sung a cappella, or without accompaniment, McWaters-Wilkes said.
Barbershop music, originally sung by men, was popular from the 1860s to about the 1920s.
In 1945, women in Tulsa, Okla., founded the Sweet Adelines, a barbershop harmony organization for women.
In 1947, they invited women from all across the nation to sing in a contest and to start chapters in their towns.
Sweet Adelines was an instant hit.
A characteristic of barbershop music is the ``cone'' sound. When sung, the four parts - tenor, lead, baritone and bass - fit together with the bass as the loudest and the tenor as the quietest. The tenor carries the harmony, the lead has the melody, the baritone unites the lead and tenor, and the bass has the foundation of the chords.
``Emotion plays a key role in barbershop,'' said David Lawrence, a Plaza Middle School teacher who sings lead in the Old Dominion Line, a local barbershop quartet. ``You start it before you sing and carry it to the end. You relate it to past experience or to how you think you would feel.''
Don Krudop, who sings tenor with the group, is a teacher at Salem High School. He said that in order to do good barbershop, singers need to sing from the heart, not from the throat.
Jeanne Heim, 17, a senior at Bayside, has been in the Madrigals since she was a freshman, but when she saw what the Darlin' Marlins were doing she decided to try.
``I love challenges and barbershop has definitely presented many of them. The music leaves more room for error, but you work at it until you get it right and then it sounds really good,'' Jeanne said.
Junior Tonya Weese, 16, is in her third year in the Darlin' Marlins. ``Barbershop is very difficult but when we hit all four chords perfectly there is this ringing vibration that sends chills,'' she said. ``There is also more emotion and movement involved so you get to have a lot of fun with the music.''
After the Darlin' Marlins' Christmas concert, some audience members were amazed. Deane Donohue, mother of one of the Darlin' Marlins, said that she could tell the girls were really listening to each other because it sounded so beautiful.
McWaters-Wilkes agreed. ``Instead of singing individually, they sang in a harmonic group, which is the purpose of barbershop music,'' she said.
The group is trying to raise money for competition in Florida this spring. In March they will stage another concert to raise money, but in smaller quartets.
``Barbershop music is a different style that needs to be exposed to more people,'' said junior Anthenia Johnson, 16, president of the chorus. `` . . It should be introduced into the school system . . . . The great thing is, is that barbershop can be enhanced which gives it spice and a kick. A good kick.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
Bayside High's Darlin' Marlins chorus perform ``barbershop'' music
for the Bayside High Christmas concert.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sareit Hess is a sophmore at Bayside High School.
by CNB