Barbershop harmony had its heyday over 100 years ago, but enthusiastic performers keep the tradition thriving in Ohio. Singers from around the state find camaraderie and healthy competition through participation in the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS).
The BHS is the chief governing organization for international competitions and has over 16,000 members all over the world.
A school for competitors
To help groups improve and network with other singers, the society’s Top Gun School gathers the best quartets in the region for a weekend of intense training with coaches who are decorated past champions in barbershop harmony competitions. A January event in Columbus gathered members of the Johnny Appleseed district, which covers all of Ohio as well as parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky.
“The word I like is a co-op-petition, because you are going to compete and earn a score. But very rarely is it really about the score. It's about being and having an opportunity to collaborate together and work together to improve,” said Kevin McClelland, who sings baritone with the Burning River Boys, a Cleveland quartet that has had multiple top 10 finishes in district competitions.
The Burning River Boys are preparing to make a run at the international competition in Denver at the end of June. They attended the training to improve their performance.
“I think sometimes we put barbershop in its own little hole,” McClelland said. “We have to remember this is a visual and performing art. So, how do we convey that to an audience and make it more accessible?”
At the January gathering in Columbus, the Burning River Boys were joined by four other quartets from Ohio that have made names for themselves in recent competitions. Mother’s Favorite, a quartet from Elyria, is the latest district champion and finished 43rd in the world at the 2024 international contest. Trademark, a Cleveland quartet, finished 19th, and The Core, based in Columbus, finished 11th. Meanwhile, the fifth quartet at the conference, Raise the Roof of Cincinnati, is the reigning world champion in the seniors’ category.
At the Top Gun School, these quartets received direct coaching in sessions with past champions.
“If you are able to see your audience, you see the reaction that comes from the audience member and then you react to that. And then it might become a feedback loop where you see someone react, and then it changes how you sing,” said Brian O’Dell, a coach and longtime quartet singer, about the unique power of live harmony.
O’Dell helped one quartet work on their self-confidence performing in a quest to bring out more emotion. When they hit the song just right during the session, O’Dell and some of the singers were brought to tears.
“It's about communication,” O’Dell said. “When they hit some of the things that were, no. 1, different than they've done before ... they did it in a way that it was emotionally moving.”
The heart of it all
At the 2024 international competition held in Cleveland, six Ohio-based quartets finished in the top 60.
“We have a lot of quartets that have come through this school that have gone on to become international champions, international medalists, district champions,” said David Calland, administrator of the Top Gun School. “Ohio is a hotbed. It's been a hotbed for a long time.”
Jon Lang, with Mom’s Favorite out of Elyria, credited former choral director at Bowling Green State University, Richard D. Mathey, who passed away in 2023, with inspiring students to keep the tradition alive.
“A lot of them moved all around Ohio. And a lot of them moved into the Northeast Ohio region, and they loved to spread the joy of barbershop,” Lang said.
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