A cut above: Harmony Hawks celebrating 60 years of barbershop sounds

By Diana Nollen

CEDAR RAPIDS - When boy bands slick back their hair and sing a cappella harmonies, girls scream, swoon and fill concert arenas.

Their grown-up counterparts will be filling Theatre Cedar Rapids with sound this weekend, as the Harmony Hawks celebrate 60 years of barbershop blends.

“It's a uniquely American art form - those tight, close harmonies with male voices,” says John Hayden, 40, of Blairstown, who has been directing the group for 20 years. “It's a sound that just can't be replicated anywhere else. There are no instruments to back you up. It requires a high level of musicianship.

“In our society, barbershop music has gotten kind of a bum rap,” he says. “It's one of those things that stands in the way for people in their 20s and 30s from checking it out. When they do, they discover amazing four-part harmony. When pop groups do it, they shoot to the top of the charts, like 'N Sync, Boyz II Men and Backstreet Boys.”

What sets barbershop poles apart is the use of the seventh chord as the predominant chord, says Hayden, who also is the vocal music director at Benton Community High School in Van Horne.

“People can identify almost instantly that's a barbershop sound,” he says.

Another hallmark is having the tenors sing harmony instead of melody, which is carried by the slightly lower leads, he says.

“Bass singers provide all the harmonic foundations for the chords. Baritone is strictly a harmony part, filling in the missing notes to make chords, sometimes above the melody, sometimes below the melody. It's probably the hardest part to sing,” he explains. 

“Tenors (are) the harmony that provides the icing on the cake, to take it from three-part to that magical four-part harmony sound.”

It's a sound that Bob Nance and Dean Kruse have embraced since the earliest days of the Cedar Rapids-based group, organized on April 22, 1949, and chartered a year later.

“It was love at first sight,” Nance, 82, says in his resonate bass voice. Now a retired farm broadcaster living in rural Toddville, he moved to the Cedar Rapids area in 1952, with a little barbershop experience under his belt and a lifetime of music in his family.

“My mother said, ‘You've been given a talent. If you don't use it, you might lose it,'” Nance says. “It's more than just a hobby for me - it's a way of life.”

For 47 years, he was part of the chapter's celebrated quartet, The Vigortones, inducted into the Hall of Fame for the barbershop society's Central States District in 1996. Aside from all the accolades and contest wins, Nance is most proud of the quartet's USO tour near the end of the Vietnam War.

“We were gone three weeks and sang in dozens of venues - hospitals, burn wards, ships and hospital subs - and visited seven islands,” Nance says. “It was a humbling experience.”

Their good works continued when they returned, calling and visiting the wounded soldiers' families, to let them know they were OK.

Kruse, 83, of Cedar Rapids, also sang with The Vigortones for about 15 years, stepping in when the previous tenor retired. The group disbanded four years ago, but Kruse keeps going with another chapter quartet, Profound Sound.

He joined the Harmony Hawks in 1951 and has seen rehearsals grow more organized over the years. 

“We used to get together and sing one song after another,” he says, then “go out afterward and sing for another hour or so when we were drinking beer,” in a tradition known as the “afterglow.”

The youngest member won't be drinking anything stronger than pop for quite a while. Cameron Jones, 14, of Cedar Rapids, joined the Harmony Hawks at the ripe old age of 10.

“I wasn't into singing until Uncle Larry (Aspleaf) brought me for guest night,” Jones says. Now he “likes everything about it” and says his friends who are in show choir “think it's cool” that he's in the group. He's a freshman at Washington High School and while he's not involved in music there now, he may branch out next year.

Regardless, he wants to keep singing barbershop as long as he can.

That's music to the ears of Ryan Schlader, 39, of Cedar Rapids, who sings bass and handles the group's public relations.

“We're starting to change with the times,” he says. “Gone are the days of men dressed up in the funny-looking hats and red stripes. Now, most of the groups are a lot trendier.”

“... Our emphasis it to grow our membership for the next generation,” he says. “We want those 20-, 30-, 40-somethings. We're hoping to really target them to come sing with us.”

 FAST TAKEWhere: Theatre Cedar Rapids, 102 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids

What: “It's a Brand New Day,” concert celebrating 60 years of the Harmony Hawks barbershop chorus

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 23, 2010, and 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 24, 2010

Where: Theatre Cedar Rapids, 102 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids

Tickets: $17 adults, $5 ages 18 and under at the Theatre Cedar Rapids Box Office, (319) 366-8591 or www.harmonyhawks.org

 HIGHLIGHTS

History notes

• Organized: April 22, 1949
• Chartered: April 1950; first director: Roland Moehlmann; first president: Cliff Jordan
• First Parade of Quartets: fall 1950
• First competitions: Won Central State District contest 1957, placed sixth in Internationals
• Won Central States District eight times to qualify for International contest; last International appearance in 1968
• Won two district contests in same year: May and October 1958
• Officially named Harmony Hawks in 1958
• Highest placement in Internationals: third in 1959 in Chicago
• Nine directors over the years: longest: Len Bjella, 27 years; current: John Hayden, 1991-95 and 1999 to present; Hayden was the youngest barbershop society director in the nation at age 20
• District quartet champions: Vigortones in 1961 and Sound Legacy in 1992
• Senior district quartet champions: Vigortones, 1997 to 2000

Current statistics

• Rehearsals: 7 to 9:30 p.m. Thursdays at First Christian Church, 840 Third Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids.
• Members: about 50
• Performances: Singing Valentines, fall charity benefit gospel concert, spring concert, district competitions, performances at area events
• Information: www.harmonyhawks.org or e-mail harmonyhawks@harmonyhawks.org