Bringing barbershop music to the Somerset community for 40 years
The Roof Garden Barbershop Chorus has been bringing music to Somerset County's ears for 40 years and hopes to continue entertaining crowds for many more to come.
But for right now, they are searching for a new director and more members.
The chorus performs at least one main show a year. It also does Christmas caroling and singing valentines.
"These are really fun. It often brings tears to the recipient who is touched by the occasion," member Larry Shober said. "We often do the same thing for Mother’s Day. We sing at nursing homes. At Christmas we make the rounds to many of these places including places like The Towers, Lutheran Commons, Meadow View, etcetera. This is a fun time for us."
Charter member Dave Emert agrees.
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"The feeling that you get after you go and surprise people and see the look on their face, it's something you'll never forget," he said.
The Barbershop Chorus is available to sing for almost any kind of gathering, sometimes for a fee and sometimes for a donation. The Saturday before Christmas Eve members can be found singing Christmas carols around Uptown Somerset.
Shober said it’s not uncommon for the Barbershop Chorus to do more than 20 sing-outs in a year.
Barbershop harmony
Barbershop harmony involves four parts ― a tenor, lead, baritone and bass, singing a cappella. The Barbershop Harmony Society began in 1938 when O.C. Cash and Ruppert Hall held a singing get-together of local men who had an interest in barbershop harmony on the roof of a hotel in Tulsa, Oklahoma. When the singing started, activity in the downtown area stopped to listen, Shober found in a history of barbershop music.
Word of this meeting spread throughout the nearby area and other parts of the country. Several groups began forming local organizations.
The Somerset County Roof Garden Barbershop Chorus was formed in 1983 by the Rev. Roger Forry, Ross Walker and Dave Emert, who had been members of the Johnstown Barbershop Chorus. But they lived in Somerset. Emert is the only charter member who is still singing with the chorus.
Emert explained that Somerset is in the Mid-Atlantic District and Johnstown was in the Johnny Appleseed District. The men felt they were closer to the Mid-Atlantic District, and got Altoona's Barbershop Harmony Society to sponsor the Somerset unit.
The original director was Ed Minahan from the Johnstown Chapter who, along with about six to eight other members of the chapter, guided the Somerset chapter until they were able to go it alone. Bob Locklin directed the chorus for about 15 years. It was during his tenure that the chorus won first place multiple times in the Mid Atlantic District small chorus competition and one year they received the award for the most improved chorus.
"It was Bob Locklin's philosophy that, if we're going to do this, we had to compete. We had to work and work and work at it," Emert said.
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Dave Bash of Allegheny County, a 30-year barbershopper, directed the chorus for about three years after that.
Following Bash was Richard Bambino, another Johnstown chorus member who directed the Somerset group for about a year. Then Ed Corneilson came on and directed the group for about a year until Locklin came back. When Locklin retired as the director of Laurel Arts, he and his wife, Sally, moved to Virginia.
Kerry Bodes took over and led the group for about seven years. David Garwood came to the group with a background in music and stage and barbershop directing. He moved away after two years. Phillip Parlock II was hired as the director to replace Garwood. He is the chorus director at Forest Hills High School. He was singing with a barbershop chorus at that time and had a good understanding of how the close harmony of barbershop music works.
Parlock was the director for 11 years. He resigned in January to spend more time with his three young daughters who are getting involved in many activities.
So, the Roof Garden Barbershop Chorus is looking for a replacement.
"We need somebody who understands music and can hear the various parts and can put them together," Shober said.
Someone who is familiar with the piano and music theory would be helpful, Lee Hoffman, president of the chorus, added.
Performances
"Because there are expenses – the chorus pays the director and buys music – we try to have an annual show every year. Putting on the show is how we fund this program," Shober said. "Music isn't cheap. The performances include invited guest performers, to raise money so we can continue to provide entertainment to the area."
For 27 years the chorus has hosted an annual show at Somerset Area High School. For years they hired a guest quartet. In 1995 they decided to hire a past International Chorus Champion, the "Alexandria Harmonizers." They came back for three more appearances, including October 2001, right after the Sept. 11 attacks.
This time the theme of the show was the Sept. 11 connection between the two areas.
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The next year, one of the members suggested they bring "The Big Apple Chorus" from New York City. The group presented a show that again connected the two areas that were affected by Sept. 11.
In other years they've had the "Keystone Capitol Chorus" of Harrisburg; "The Singing Buckeyer" of Columbus, Ohio; "The Chorus of the Chesapeake" from Dundalk, Maryland; and the Sweet Adeline chorus from Harrisburg.
Stu Kreinbrook said it was a performance at Berlin's Sesquicentennial in 1987 that got him hooked.
"I heard them sing and fell in love with it," he said. He asked a member how he could become part of the group.
"A week later I got a letter from Ken Halverson," he laughed.
Shober also credits Halverson for his involvement.
"When I worked at Somerset REC I would get Ken’s quartet to entertain for different events," Shober said. "He found out that I sang in a quartet when I was a teenager so every year I would get an invitation to the chorus guest night.
"After about 15 years, when I retired, I finally went to a guest night and was hooked. I remembered how much I enjoyed singing barbershop as a kid."
Membership decreasing
The Barbershop Chorus met at the Somerset Church of the Brethren for about 24 years until the church was demolished. Then it moved to Grace United Methodist Church on Felgar Road, Somerset, where it continues to meet at 7 p.m. Tuesdays. It used to have a large membership but is down to about 12.
"COVID changed everything," Emert said. "People just don't want to get involved. I wish there was something that we could pull out of the air that would make a difference."
The men invite anyone who loves to sing to stop by and check out the group.
"They can come any Tuesday evening to a practice and see what we do," Hoffman said. "The practices are fun. We enjoy the time together and become friends. We have zingers – one-liners that have always been a part of barbershop chorus."
And there are refreshments.
"It's best to sing as a chorus and get used to singing together, then they can break out into a quartet," Hoffman said. "The chorus helps you to learn your part along with the others in your group."
The men agree that it is more than just singing to them.
"The feeling and satisfaction when you sing for something … there's no words to describe it," Emert said.
Shober agrees.
"Singing barbershop is like therapy," he said. "It doesn’t matter what’s going on in your life, when you come here and start busting some chords. … It's good for the soul."
"It's the highlight of my week," Kreinbrook said.
For information on the Roof Garden Barbershop Chorus, call Lee Hoffman at 814-279-1733 or email leehoffmanrog@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Roof Garden Barbershop chorus is looking for a new director, members
