Chapter One: The Making of a Bass

An addiction? Yes. A blessing? Most certainly. A driving, utterly passionate force in my life? You betcha! I am a proud Barbershop-er.

I wasn't born into it (though I do have many fabulous friends that are "barbershop brats" as they say.) And I haven't been doing it that long (started up in October 2006 or so.) But it has quickly become as much a part of my life as my family, friends, and all other performance/theatrical endeavours.

I started singing harmony in high school when my friend Sarah started singing in my ear saying "Hey, see if you can pick this cool part up." Our little group of friends was so dedicated to singing that after a year of giving up lunches & study halls to practice in an adviser's office and performing at random school events, they got us a proper choir teacher and class. When I went to college I became a member of the women's a Capella group and other small vocal ensembles as well as a very active participant in the performing arts at large. In May 2006 I graduated from Manhattanville College with my BA in Dance & Theatre and moved back home to Saratoga Springs, NY. One day my Mom said to me "Hey, there's a women's singing group meeting at the library on Monday nights. They call themselves Sweet Adelines." I asked her "Whats that?" She said, "I don't know, why don't you go and find out."

I went to the library that first night and there were maybe 6-9 of us. Two ladies, Jenn & Nancy were in charge. They asked about what kind of singing experience did we all have, and how familiar with singing/holding harmony parts we were, whether we sang high or low - all that jazz. They told us that they sang barbershop, ya know like the guys in the striped jackets, but in women's keys. [Now, being from Saratoga I was actually pretty familiar with barbershop because of the Racing City Chorus, which growing up I went to see and one of my girlfriend's fathers sang lead with them. ("Lead? Whats that? That's not a real part.")] They told us a little bit about this organization called Sweet Adelines International, about how we sang in Region 16, and that this was the beginning of a prospective chorus. That first night we learned the Mickey Mouse March Tag, Christmas Chopstix, and the opening to Overture! and I was HOOKED.

From that point on we started to grow, bringing in more women by word of mouth or who, like my mother, had seen the ad. We came up with a name, the Saratoga Soundtrack Chorus; a clever play on both musical terms and the local historical/entertainment pull of the racetrack. We applied to the region to officially become a prospective chorus and have a regional representative come to meet with us to get us to the next step. We looked for, and found, a permanent rehearsal home. Then we went through and had official voice placements. Our director, Nancy, wanted to make sure that we were all singing in the part that we were truly best suited to and make sure that the chorus had the right balance to maintain the all important barbershop cone. When it was my turn she called me into the back room and had me sing through some scales and through parts of the songs we were working on. She told me that vocally I could sing bass, baritone, or lead. I told her that while the baritone part is very pretty (and very necessary) I couldn't always hear it and didn't know if I could hold that part. She said that I could be strong lead, but also a good bass; so since I took to harmony parts and they were in need of good basses, a bass I became. Officially.