 Media Credit: Dave Mosher The Alliance Chorus performed Saturday at Mershon Auditorium.
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For 549 students last week, each day at the Ohio State University began in Independence Hall with waving hands, twisting torsos, shaking bodies and buzzing lips.
But these 549 students were not OSU students. They were men and women of all ages from across the United States, Australia, Canada, Finland, Israel and the United Kingdom who showed up for Harmony College, an international conference on barbershop quartet singing.
Hosted by the world's parent barbershop singing organization, the Barbershop Harmony Society, Harmony College attracted singers, music educators, directors, newcomers and enthusiasts to learn about the "best kept secret" in the musical world. Whether students came to enjoy the company of other quartet singers or to improve the quality of their local chapters and their voices, they all share a common bond - music.
The love of making music is what brings everyone together for this event, said Todd Wilson, the 45-year-old marketing director hired by the society just over a year ago.
"It's fun, it's easy, and anyone can do it," said Wilson, a Florida native and current Kenosha, Wis. resident.
It was so easy that Wilson and his accomplices tried to get me to sing a part in what is called a "tag."
A tag, otherwise known as a grand finale "tagging" the end of harmonic barbershop-style songs, is what many barbershop quartet singers enjoy the most.
"They're special endings to a song, sometimes so popular we write tags to songs that don't exist," said Joe Liles, 74, dean of the Harmony College event. "Singers call it ear candy. You get all sorts of overtones and different tones from four voices singing together, locked in harmony."
For the men of the Mitts family of Amity, Ore., the bond of barbershop singing goes much deeper than the joy music -- it's a family tradition. Nathan Mitts, 72, is the oldest of the quartet and is father to Ceric Mitts, 43, and grandfather to Jordan Mitts, 14. The odd man out in the quartet is Aron Helligas, 51, of West Linn, Ore., who joined the Mitts three years ago after a member of his church told him about barbershop singing.
"Barbershop singing lets us share something across generations," said Ceric, who sings baritone in the quartet. "There are a lot of benefits to spending time with others."
Spring Break
