Chordsmen bring harmony to Savoy.
Cape Breton Chordsmen presenting concert on Sunday in Glace Bay
For Hal Higgins, hearing four students singing barbershop harmony at a concert during his freshman year at Mount Alison University forever changed his life.
“Four students from the department came out during the frosh week variety concert, and it just blew me away,” recalls Higgins. “The sound that they made. Four young music students singing four-part unaccompanied harmony, I thought I want to be part of this. So it wasn’t too long afterwards that I became a barbershopper.”
Today, Higgins, 66, is the director of the Cape Breton Chordsmen, Cape Breton’s only male barbershop chorus.
The group was first formed in 1972 (Higgins joined in 1978) and has about 30 members.
While some may consider it an older person’s music, Higgins is heartened by the fact that the last two members to join the chorus are in their 20s.
Ben Reinhart, 29, joined earlier this year and has no regrets about his decision.
“Growing up I was always intrigued by barbershop harmony and I saw some examples of barbershop in the popular culture on TV shows and that kind of piqued my interest,” said Reinhart. “When I moved to Cape Breton (from New Brunswick) I actually saw the Cape Breton Chordsmen playing and that was my first experience with face to face barbershop harmony. It sounded so much better in person than it did on the TV so I decided to give a call and join up.”
Although Reinhart had sung in choirs before and plays guitar, mandolin and banjo, he admits he was a little nervous about joining.
“You kind of get intimidated as a younger person joining a big group like that because they sound so powerful but as soon as I got in there, everybody was
very friendly and welcoming — it worked out great.”
Reinhart, Higgins and the rest of the Chordsmen are preparing for their annual November concert, “Keep A Song In Your
Heart,” which will be held Sunday at Glace Bay’s Savoy Theatre at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20.
The concert will feature, in addition to the Cape Breton Chordsmen, Quattro, a four-
man barbershop quartet, and Richard Burke and Friends, a newly formed big band.
Among the highlights of the evening will be the usual singalong but this time it will be to the music of Elvis Presley.
“We’ll put the words on the big screen and people can sing along to all the songs they know and love by Elvis,” said Higgins.
Higgins acknowledges his group has a loyal fan base and they usually see the same faces attending every concert. He would like to build upon that
loyalty and attract more fans, perhaps by encouraging more younger singers to join.
“As a reflection of Cape Breton in general, we are aging and we want to make sure of our future by bringing in younger members. They can get in touch with any members — we do have a website capebretonchordsmen.com — feel free to get in touch with any one of us and we meet on Monday night, 7 o’clock, at United Heritage Church, corner of Townsend and Charlotte (streets in Sydney).”
For Reinhart, the concerts and the Monday night rehearsals are something he looks forward to on a regular basis.
“This is a great form of stress release,” he said. “There are lots of benefits to singing that I am taking advantage of on a weekly basis.”