Masters of Harmony

Masters of Harmony Update – Spring 2008

Ron Larson, Apr 26, 2008

Thanks to Youth in Harmony Chairman Mark Freedkin’s meticulous planning, this year’s Young Men’s Harmony Festival at Orange Coast College in February was regarded as the best festival ever by the choral music directors who attended. Mark commended OC Times and Gotcha! quartets for being positive role models while demonstrating the barbershop art form at its highest levels. He also thanked Ken Potter, Craig Ewing, and Royce Ferguson, widely regarded as some of our Society’s finest coaches, for serving as clinicians and directors for the 217 young men who came from 27 different area schools. A number of Masters of Harmony members and MOH Harmony Sweethearts volunteered their time to the all-day event by serving as chaperones. Congratulations, Mark, for organizing and overseeing an event these young men will remember for the rest of their lives. In years to come, this memorable day will most likely motivate some of them to join chapters around the country thus helping to keep barbershop harmony alive and well!

To help the Masters prepare for the toughest competition they have ever faced, they called on coaches who have been so much a part of past Masters’ successes: choreographic genius Erin Howden, Greg Clancy of Vocal Majority and Max Q fame, and former MOH Director Dr. Greg Lyne. Erin and Greg have provided valuable coaching insights the Masters hope will help them win Gold in Nashville. Dr. Lyne will take his turn and bring his unique perspectives to the Masters’ rehearsal in late May.

Thanks to the efforts of MOH chorus member and Bakersfield resident Bill Rosica, the Bakersfield Association for Retarded Citizens (BARC), agreed to sponsor a benefit concert on April 19, at Bakersfield’s historic Fox Theater. BARC is a local organization long known for its successful training and rehabilitation programs for the area’s disabled and disadvantaged. This was the first Masters’ appearance in Bakersfield in two years. The concert program also included current Far Western District Quartet Champion VocalEase, as well as MOH quartets The Crush and Expedia.

Since the last report, Yasumichi Ichikawa, Matt Schoonmaker-Gates, Steve Sanders, J.P. Krauss, Chris Peterson, Kent Richardson, John Forrest and Dave Phinney, all basses, have become members of the Masters family, along with Jonny Tillery, Cody Littlefield and Joey Buss, leads, and Peter Drew and John Brockman, baritones.