Hello world! Welcome to my passion blog for the Spring 2024 semester as I begin my journey in this new English section. I look forward to sharing my passion with all of you as well as the unique excitement that comes with being passionate about something.
For my passion blog, it will be about music. I am a music education major, and nothing brings me as much joy as making music and sharing it with others. I have now been playing saxophone for nine years and have been singing for around four. I am hugely into barbershop music and attended an international barbershop music education event this summer, known as Harmony University. Here, we had a wonderful time, made lasting relationships, and learned so much. From this, I joined a newly formed international-level chorus, Prism. Perhaps I can even do a blog on that organization one day, but today I’d love to talk to all of you about my weekend.
This past weekend, I was at Caldwell High School in New Jersey. I was here for an event called “Jersey Harmony Explosion.” It was a barbershop event and WOW, it was awesome! The main gist is that it is a yearly youth in harmony effort supported by Harmony Foundation International. Choir directors from all over are invited to bring their students completely free of charge. Furthermore, it is an all-day affair from 9AM to 9PM with world class clinicians and quartets.
This year’s feature quartets were Signature and GQ. Signature won an international title and GQ has placed as high as fourth. Both quartets are phenomenal and filled with amazing musicians and great human beings. Students were gifted the opportunity to work with these stars all day and receive coaching and mentoring. Here is a picture of me with the famous Signature. I also attached a video link of them singing that could bring anyone to tears. They are credited for creating the subgenre “barber soul.”
As a 19-year-old out of high school, I feel grateful for the opportunity to go back and attend an event like this. I was able to observe from a new perspective and get behind the scenes for what it takes to put on an event of this nature. My HS choir director ignited my love for barbershop and I feel so proud of the work he does to bring his students to events like these and share this love with them.
Now for the event itself, we got to put on a show that night! There was a Tenor Bass Chorus (TTBB), Soprano Alto Chorus (SSAA), and Soprano Alto Tenor Bass Chorus (SATB). Each group sang one song that was learned and rehearsed that day! In addition to this, each group that attended received coaching and performed on the show that night. I got to see music education in action from a new view and it was wonderful.
If anyone enjoys barbershop music or wants to hear more about it, I’d be happy to talk with you. I’ll be performing singing valentines on Wednesday the 14th as well in the NEPA area. Here’s a picture of my quartet. Thank you so much for the opportunity to share my passion with you and thanks for reading!