Masters of Harmony

Hugh Brown: Keeper of All the Keys

Dan Place, Feb 26, 2005

For many years Hugh Brown has been the man in the middle of the chorus to whom the director points when he wants the pitch. We asked Hugh what it takes to be the pitchman for the Masters of Harmony.

MV: How did you first become involved in blowing the pitch pipe for the chorus?
HB: In our “shotgun” positions about eight years ago, I stood on the risers behind J. D. Ahmanson, who was one of the three pitch blowers. One day he turned to me and said, “I don’t want to do this any more. You do it.” The following week I was blowing the pipe, but little did I realize that to do the job you have to know the pitches. I figured that the director would tell us what pitch to blow and we’d blow it. To further complicate the problem, three of us were blowing the key and not always on the same note. Joe D’Amore took me aside and said, “Someone has to know all the keys, and I need you to make sure we get the right note every time.”

MV: How did you prepare yourself to blow the proper pitches?
HB: I took it upon myself to make a cheat sheet for every song so I could tell the starting notes. In any given song there are 10 to 15 different places where the director can start a song during a rehearsal. In a song with multiple key changes, it is difficult to figure out what the key is at different points in the song. Half of the songs we sing are in one key throughout the entire song. These are easy. You blow one key all the time. The other half of our repertoire has multiple keys. A song like ”Here Comes The Showboat” has 15 different starting places bouncing around in five different keys. During rehearsal Mark Hale will want to start at some point in a song and will just give a key word, and I have to figure out where it is and then blow the correct pitch.

MV: How do you make your cheat sheets?
HB: When we first get a new song I go through the chart and mark all the pitches on the score. I get help from Doug Maddox as to what actual key to blow at different points in the song. It may be the minor of the key or an entirely different note because it is easier to find the starting point from that pitch. From this information I make my cheat sheet. It consists of the starting point words throughout the song along with the proper pitch for each word. Some songs have the same starting words at more than one place in the song. Then I have to figure out where we are in the song and blow the correct note.

MV: Do you rely entirely on the cheat sheets?
HB: With our repertoire there are well over 100 starting points. When Mark points to me and wants the pitch, I don’t have time to fumble around for my notes. I’ve memorized many of the pitches. Fortunately for me, Mark knows the music so well that he has the pitches in his head. If I should blow the wrong note he will say, “Is that A Flat?” I’ll say “oops” and blow the correct note.

MV: How are pitch duties handled for performances?
HB: Usually there are three people blowing pitches during shows, Bill Boeck, Tim Truesdell and me. Mark Hale and I talk prior to a show to iron out the details. Many times Mark will cue the pitch and we just wait for his signal. Sometimes he is facing the audience and we cue off him as he silently mouths the song’s introduction. Other times there is no space between songs and we have to blow the pitch as soon as the applause dies down. Prior to a performance, Bill Boeck, as he has done for years, tunes all three pipes so they blow exactly the same pitch. Bill prepares a small sticker that affixes to the back of each pitch pipe listing the songs in order of performance and the starting notes. We listen and coordinate the so that ONE pitch reaches the entire chorus simultaneously.

Hugh Brown takes his pitch-blowing tasks seriously and is truly an asset to the Masters of Harmony. The following words from Mark Hale emphasize his value to the chorus.

“Hugh performs his role as primary pitchman for the Masters of Harmony at the highest level in the Barbershop Harmony Society. A good pitchman is much like a good piano accompanist in that he must anticipate where I want to start and know exactly what’s going on in the music (in this case, what key it’s in—not an easy task, especially given David Wright’s proclivity toward key changes). Plus he does all of this seamlessly causing no distraction. The level at which Hugh performs his role weekly should serve to inspire us all to attain the same level with respect to our own chorus responsibilities. I know he inspires me.”

By working long and hard, Pitch Pipe Master Hugh Brown makes it look easy. The result is another indispensable element of a champion chorus.