A Cappella Harmony

This is a mixed, contemporary a cappella group.  Total membership varies from eight to twelve people, and arrangements may have from as few as 4 to as many as 9 or 10 distinct vocal parts, plus vocal percussion.  We sing a variety of musical styles, from country to jazz, classical to rock, all arranged for voices only.

The NCHB is an organization dedicated to "Extreme Quartetting" in the barbershop harmony style.  Each year, members get a packet of 10-12 songs to learn (from memory).  In January, we show up in Southern Pines, NC for a weekend of full-contact, slam-dunk, no-holds-barred barbershop.  Each member is assigned to a quartet upon arrival, and competes for bragging rights in a contest later that evening.  The song with which the quartet will compete is assigned to them from the song packet about an hour before the contest.  On Saturday of the Brigade weekend, a massed chorus composed of all those quartetters performs a show for the community.  In between all that, and late into the night both Friday and Saturday, is the real meat of the weekend... finding three other parts (barbershoppers sing Bass, Baritone, Lead, or Tenor) and ringing as many chords as you can, in as many different configurations as you can.  The NCHB is the mother of the Extreme Quartetting movement, and has birthed a number of other, regional Brigades across the country. 

 

These are both choruses affiliated with the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS).  Barbershop harmony is one of the two indigenous American music forms (the other is jazz).  These groups perform in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area of North Carolina, and compete as part of the Carolinas District of the Barbershop Harmony Society.  

 

This quartet (now retired) was composed of guys from both Virginia and North Carolina, and was a performance-only quartet.  This was actually a pre-existing quartet that I joined in 2005 when they needed a new bass.  In the 1+ year we sang together, we maintained an extensive performance schedule for public and private events across Virginia and North Carolina.

Formed in 2015, Midtown originally consisted of Todd Hudson (tenor), Dan Winer (lead), Fern Sicilia (bari), and Dave on bass.  In mid 2015 Todd stepped out and was replaced on tenor by Scott Feldmann.  This configuration performed and competed together for about two years, and placed as high as 2nd place in the Carolinas.  In 2017, Dave retired and moved from RTP to the mountains of NC and stepped out of the quartet.

PRISM started as a chapter quartet of the HOCC, above, and sang for a number of chapter shows and other performances.  In 2007, several of the quartet wanted to get more serious, and Dave bowed out because he was getting busy in Looney Tunes.  PRISM went on to find a great bass, and that configuration can be seen here.

This quartet, composed of members from Charlotte, Cary, and Hillsborough, NC and from Pennsylvania, wasn't together long... it was put together for the sole purpose of competing at the Dixie District quartet contest in 2005.  In it's only appearance, it nearly cracked the top-10, but finished instead in the mic-tester (11th place) slot.  Members were Randy Dills (tenor), Jim Adams (lead), Joe Kane (bari), and Dave (bass).

Pyramid was an incredibly fun quartet to sing with.  Composed of Dale Bieber (tenor), Jim Adams (lead), Joey Hart (bari), and Dave (bass), we were together from 2002-2005.  We performed throughout NC, and competed numerous times in Dixie District quartet contests, placing as high as 9th in the Southeast, and developed a loyal group of fans.  

This was my first barbershop quartet, and it was active from 1998 'til 2002.  It consisted of George Cherny (tenor), Jack Deere (lead), Steve Mark (bari), and Dave (bass).  City Market performed across the Triangle area of NC, and placed as high as 9th in Dixie District competetions.

OK, so Collage wasn't strictly an a cappella group, but we did sing some a cappella pieces. Collage was formed by a group of friends in Roanoke, Virginia who had attended Bridgewater College together, and sung in some of the same groups (Chorale, Concert Choir, Oratorio Choir).  It was originally formed in response to a need for a performing group for a service at one of the members' churches.  We had so much fun learning and performing music together, that what started as a one-time thing morphed into an ongoing performing partnership.  There were many configurations of the group, which ranged from 3-6 people at any given time.  We sang a variety of sacred and secular music, for church services, banquets, and other events between 1992-1994.  Collage finally disbanded when Dave & Lynette moved to North Carolina.  Members were: Leigh Beard, Wendy Anderson, Scott & Mindy Sarver, Carol Elmore, and Dave Minnich.