'Barbershop Harmony’

Press, 15 September 1986, Page 6

'Barbershop Harmony’

“Barbershop Harmony Premiere,” presented by the Christchurch Prospective Chapter of Sweet Adelines, directed by John Harker, Hornby High School auditorium, September 13 and 20, 7.45 p.m. Running time: 2% hours. Reviewed by Nan Anderson. Yet another bastion of male dominance is under threat. Tenor, baritone and bass barber-shoppers have gone unisex, evidenced by Saturday’s entertaining and enjoyable public debut by the Christchurch Sweet Adelines.

These were the qualities that made a very favourable impression on a big first-night audience. Obvious and infectious enjoyment of their singing was readily communicated by the participants. They are amateurs in the truest sense of the word. They really love what they are doing. As well they know how to make their brand of music a stylistically valid form of entertainment. Simple and effective costumes and props, well synchronised choreography, and multi-media-style projections of sound, light and image made for

a polished presentation that had professional quality. The singing had much to commend it, not least of which was the achievement in memorising every word, note, and movement. In the massed sound the parts were mainly well balanced, and diction was exemplary throughout. The most successful songs were the old standards, "Play a Simple Melody” and “Carolina,” and three numbers specially written for the Sweet Adelines suited their sound well. From his own considerable experience in this field, the director, John Harker, will be well aware that special effects do not solve the problems inherent in female barbershop sound: the limits on dynamic range and on the variety of keys that can comfortably be used. It is to his credit that one was only intermittently conscious of a certain artificiality in female bass sound and of the constraints on free-flowing tenor (or soprano) sound. Three quarters from within the group gave variety to the programme. Here there were some balance problems which

were not helped by one or two uninspired and uninspiring settings, but their second-half offerings were more assured and effective.

With more experience, the quartets and the group as a whole are capable of developing a wider range of tonal colour and tempo flexibility, and so build even greater ensemble finesse on the sound foundations that have been laid.

The guest artists provided ideal contrasts in sound. lan Harvey gave new meaning to the term “one-man band” and the relaxed, polished style of the Kilmarnock Quartet set even Sassenach toes tapping. All of these entertainers and the genial compere, Brian Cotter, used microphones set at a level somewhat.in excess of what the auditorium required. Female barbershop harmony may not be everyone’s cup of shaving water, but this chorus can be warmly commended for its enthusiasm, for the progress it has made in just 18 months, and for the quality of the entertainment it promotes. It deserves a full house this Saturday.