W. Pa. barbershop chorus warms up for Valentine’s Day

By LINDA M. LINONIS

linonis@vindy.com

GROVE CITY, PA.

A group from Olde Town Harmony will sing love songs this Valentine’s Day.

Barbershoppers Sing Valentines Greetings

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A popular singing group is singing Valentines greetings.

They’ll deliver the musical “I love you” with such selections as “Let Me Call You Sweetheart,” “My Wild Irish Rose” and “Sweet and Lovely.” They’ll also present a card and rose to recipients.

The valentine greeting is a project of the chorus to raise funds for its general fund. The cost is $35.

“We’ve done the singing valentines a few times,” said Steve Smith of Sharon, Pa.

A baritone in the chorus for six years, Smith said the quartet sang about 30 valentines over a two-day period in 2012. Last year, conflicting schedules among members prevented the project.

“The reactions are really something ... especially if it’s for a guy,” Smith said. “Those are really fun.”

Delivering the singing valentines at the recipient’s workplace usually attracts a crowd of appreciative onlookers.

Don Connell of Clarks Mills, Pa., is co-director with Rick Swanson of Grove City, Pa. Connell said six singers from the group have volunteered to be part of the quartet. They’ll take turns singing to make up the foursome.

Olde Town Harmony is a barbershop chorus of about 20 male singers ranging in age from about 15 years old to the 80-plus range who live in the Shenango Valley. They rehearse Thursdays at Center Presbyterian Church in Grove City.

Connell, who has been involved in barbershop singing for some 32 years, said the barbershop harmony is “unique” and distinctive

because it is a cappella — that is, with no instrumental accompaniment.

Olde Town Harmony is the Grove City Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society. According to its website, www.barbershop.org, it is legally and historically named the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America Inc. It promotes and preserves barbershop music as an art form. The organization was founded by Owen C. Cash in 1938. Simply put, barbershop harmony is vocal harmony produced by four parts — lead, tenor, baritone and bass. It is different from any other kind of choral or group singing.

“I just love the sound,” Connell said. “It’s true harmony.”

He said the chorus performs various genres of music in the barbershop style. “If you like to sing, this is the place to be,” Connell said.

In addition to the music, he added, there is a wonderful fellowship among the men who share a love of and interest in singing.

Connell, 73, was band director and music teacher at Commodore Perry schools in Hadley, Pa., for some 31 years.

Connell said the group presents benefit concerts with proceeds going to community food banks.

The barbershop chorus is preparing for its spring concert at 4:30 p.m. April 26 at Grove City High School. Tickets will be available at the door.