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One of the totally unexpected events of the last six months has been the emergence of a group of boys from the Senior Choir who have formed their own barbershop ensemble. They rehearse on their own, they keep their activities somewhat secret - until they are ready to perform their latest 'hit'. Let it be said at the start that this is not easy music. The harmony is challenging - and tradition dictates that it should all be memorized. So when this group gets up to perform at one of our classes with a new song, I am in awe at their level of musicianship. When they perform at one of our outreach performances, they become audience favourites within minutes. Barbershop is largely an African-American folk art - not surprisingly, as is jazz. The Black community harmonized recreationally the popular songs of the day. As barbershop patrons (all men) socialized in the barbershop or other places, this improvised harmony would include a man singing the melody, one other singing above the melody, (the tenor) -someone singing below, (the bass) and then someone singing a middle part to fill out the chord. This latter part is the most difficult to perform and to tune. In 1938 the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America (SPEBQSA) was formed and as of recent years there are 23000 men singing in barbershop choruses across North America. I am fairly confident that a barbershop group does not happen in most Calgary high schools. It would be an activity that would immediately brand you as a 'weirdo music geek.' I am therefore very pleased that our males can swim against the tide, and demonstrate their skill in this challenging music, and in so doing, give joy and uplift to all who hear them. Malcolm V. Edwards  Comments are closed.
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Malcolm EdwardsMalcolm Edwards was born in Halifax, England and emigrated to Canada in 1967. He is a graduate of Sheffield College of Education (UK), Trinity College of Music, London, the University of Lethbridge, the University of Montana and has done further graduate work at the University of Northern Colorado. He taught music in junior and senior high school for twelve years in southern Alberta before joining the University of Calgary as a Professor of Music Education in 1980. He retired from the university after thirty-one years of service in 2011. In the community he was affiliated with the Youth Singers of Calgary for 21 years directing the Act Three and Senior divisions. In his retirement, he is now employed as an Adjunct Professor of Music at St Mary’s University, as the Artistic Director of the Calgary Men’s Chorus and as the Senior Choir Director at St John’s Choir Schola. He has held leadership positions within the Alberta Choral Federation, the Association of Canadian Choral Communities, served on the Board of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and is active as a choral adjudicator and workshop leader in schools and churches. He is the recipient of two awards from the Provincial Federation – one in recognition of advocacy in arts education and the second in recognition of exemplary service to choral music within the Province of Alberta. In 2004 he received recognition from the national body (ACCC) for twenty-five years of service to the Canadian choral community. Archives
September 2024
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