After attending as a long time guest, Walt Thomas has decided to join us as our newest member of the Greater Pittsburgh Chapter. Walt brings with him a varied background in music and says he has had a life-long interest in good music of wide variety. In his youth he played violin briefly before switching to trombone in Jr. & Sr. High Schools and college where he played in marching and concert bands, dance bands and symphony.

In later life Walt got involved in singing and sang with the Westinghouse Male Chorus from 1985 to 2005 (when the chorus gave its' final performance). He indicates that he always enjoyed listening to male harmony and was invited to visit Greater Pittsburgh Chapter by members Ken Moelk, "Skip" Gillis and Ralph Ostlund. [who gets the "man of note" here?]

Walt is not a native Pittsburgher having been born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota. He has also lived in Minneapolis (University of Minnesota) and Buffalo, NY. Walt currently lives on Greensburg Pike with his wife Gladys who he married back in 1951:

During the period of 1943-1946, Walt was enrolled in the U.S. Navy Officer Training Program, obtaining an engineering degree and commission as an Ensign, then served in U.S. Navy Reserves being released in 1949 (Ltjg.).

Walt retired from Westinghouse Electric Corp. where he was an electrical engineer at Buffalo, East Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh (Gateway) and Ardmore Blvd. (Forrest Hills). He was involved in application of power and control apparatus to industrial and commercial power systems: movable bridges, submarines, mine hoists & mining equipment and power distribution systems.

Walt expresses that he has enjoyed the very friendly reception extended by the chapter membership including patience while he experienced a very steep learning curve. Welcome aboard, Walt!

Doing the "Barbershop Chop"

[Director Ron Brooks has been trying to "smooth out" our singing style - hence the reason for this article]

In case you're not familiar with the term, "Barbershop Chop" refers to the collective habits of punching the words to accentuate the rhythm and also not holding the vowel sounds to their full value, resulting in a choppy sound as opposed to the smooth legato that should be sung.

We are learning a new rhythm song for the fall contest. Judges tend to categorize a chorus or quartet rather quickly into C, C+, B-, B+ and so forth, according to what they hear in the first few phrases of a song. Then they adjust points up or down from there. Our new song has a very free form introduction. We could do it with great sound and expression and the judges may think, "Hmmm. This may be a B chorus." Then we get to the rhythm part, do the "barbershop chop," and the judges say to themselves, "Nope, this is a C chorus," and we may end up with a C+ because we know the words and notes and have a good sound. Nothing good enough to overcome the "barbershop chop" though.

If we perform on a show or other performance and do the "barbershop chop," the audience may not notice that in particular and will tell you how much they enjoyed us. If we sing without a chop, they will notice that and say "Wow! This group is really good!" Nothing spells "amateur" like the chop because that is the way amateurs sing... campfires, church choirs, gang singing. We should not sing like amateurs... we are trained professionals!

There are many analogies that have been used to illustrate how to get that legato sound and avoid the chop. "Imagine you are drawing with a piece of chalk across a blackboard." or "hold your hand in front of you and press as if you are moving a heavy object" Those work for some people but they don't reach me. I prefer the accordion or the bagpipe version. While you are singing, imagine that your lungs are like an accordion and you squeeze the accordion while playing the keys. The sound is continuous and the pressure is constant An accordion player does not pump or pound except for special effects. The bagpipe is also a good analogy because the player squeezes the bag and the sound is continuous. They both can produce good rhythm and continuous sound. Think about it and try it out. We must avoid "barberchopping."

Source - borrowed from the Johnnycake Ridgerunner with credit to Clare McCreary, Editor, Scoops & Swipes, St Petersburg Chapter, and as reprinted in Suburban By-Lines, St Louis Suburban Chapter, John E. Conrad, editor (2002 International Bulletin Editor of the Year).