By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The men of the Voice of Harmony want to share the love.
On Valentine’s Day — that’s Friday Feb. 14 for those who need reminding — quartets from the chorus will head to points throughout Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan to deliver songs of love in resonant four-part harmony.
The Voices of Harmony have offered Singing Valentines throughout their 15-year history, said Nick Dian, the organization’s vice president of marketing and public relations.
For $45, a quartet made up of members of the Bowling Green-based chorus will arrive at a home, office, nursing home, or any other place accessible, and perform a love song and deliver a long-stemmed rose, and a card with a personalized message to the recipient. For an extra $5 a gourmet cupcake from Creative Confections can be added.
For $10 the song can be delivered by telephone.
Call 888-741-7464 to make arrangements.
“There’s nothing better than going into somebody’s office and seeing the emotion on their faces,” said chorus member Kerry Conrad.
The reactions range from happy tears to polite expressions of appreciation.
Conrad recalled going into classroom of a special education teacher to serenade her. “All her students were just mesmerized,” he said.
About 80 percent of the Valetine recipients are women, Conrad noted.
The Valentines can go to significant others, spouses, and friends, Dian said.
This year the quartets are offering one of two songs, “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” and “Heart of My Heart.”
Sometimes as the occasion allows, the quartet may offer a second tune. The quartet’s will have a third song, “Sweet and Lovely,” ready just in case.
The telephone Valentines, which may be just right for those in the military service or otherwise far from home, can prove a challenge to deliver in these days of robocalls.
One woman refused to answer the call, until contacted by the party who’d arranged for the Valentine.
She did enjoy the gift once she heard it, Conrad said.
The Valentines also offer the Voices the opportunity to share their love of barbershop music.
Dian, a 2014 graduate of Bowling Green State University, has been a member for three years. The two years before that he attended weekly rehearsals occasionally when his job as stage manager for the Toledo Symphony would allow. The chorus, he said, has an open door policy for anyone who wants “to join us on the risers.”
He was introduced to the style as a member of the Men’s Chorus at BGSU. The chorus has a tradition of promoting barbershop singing dating back to R.D. Mathey’s tenure as director. Mathey, who retired from BGSU in 2000 after 28 years, was the founding director of the Voices of Harmony. C.C. Snyder, who co-directs with Will Baughman, studied with Mathey. Baughman is also a BGSU graduate.
Dian, who was a percussion major, said that the attraction of barbershop is strong.
“The notes ring and buzz in a way that’s so exciting,” he said. “It elevates you. It gets you amped up. It gives you goosebumps.”
Conrad got his first taste of those harmonies when he was a 15.
He was in a gospel octet at his church, and the Fostoria Lake Plains Barbershop Chorus held a gathering for other singing ensembles.
Conrad at that time had a “full voice tenor.” When members of the chorus heard him, they offered to teach him the tag at the end of the song “Run to the City of Refuge.”
He was hooked, or as Dian put it “bit by the barbershop bug.”
That was 36 years ago. Conrad, from Risingsun, continues to sing with the Fostoria chorus as well as Voice for Harmony. Until recently he also traveled to Cleveland to sing in a chorus there. He’s not alone in traveling a distance to sing barbershop. Voices of Harmony has members from the Cleveland area and Indiana.
Chorus members come from all walks of life. Conrad works in the construction industry, and Dian is now an administrative assistant in programming for Metroparks Toledo.
The chorus includes teenagers through retirees. Those connections are part of the appeal.
Barbershop has given Conrad, “a lifetime of friendships.”
The Voices of Harmony perform concerts in fall, spring, and Christmastime. In the past, the chorus paired with a Sweet Adeline chorus from Toledo to perform a summer music in the park show.
The Voices take part in competitions for the Barbershop Harmony Society’s district competitions.
In the October competition, the chorus earned the right to compete in the International event this summer in Los Angeles. The Singing Valentines proceeds will help pay for that trip.
