There's just something so happy, fun and uplifting about listening to people sing in harmony together, especially acappella voices. It's just its own kind of high.
Steven Wolf is excited about acappella singing, too. He officially became the musical director of the Valley Shore Chorus of the Sweet Adelines in May 2011, and one of his first goals was to find new people to join the group.
Wolf, 28, who lives in Hebron and grew up in Boxborough, MA, has been singing “barber shop” for seven years. He sang collegiate acappella while a student at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music. He loved it so much he started a men’s acappella group called Hawkapella.
“The 'barber shop' singing community is facing a lack of awareness in the general public about what we do. We are not a group of barbers. It is really an acappella group providing opportunities for people who love to sing including competitions, networking and performance opportunities,” said Wolf.
“The whole popularity of 'Glee,' 'Sing Off,' and 'The Voice' has helped the singing community gain ground. There’s definitely been a shift in American culture toward an interest in singing groups and this will help the Valley Shore Chorus.”
Wolf explained acappella means to sing with no instruments, just pure voice. He added that modern acappella groups now often sing all the parts of a song including the instruments such as bass and guitar.
I asked him how to spell “acappella”, being used to seeing the word spelled with the “a” separated.
“Our group spells acappella as one word in sort of an Americanized version. It is originally derived from Latin where the 'a' is connected but many follow the Italian tradition where the “a” is not connected."
The Sweet Adelines keep the "a" connected, with two "p's."
The Valley Shore Chorus is currently focusing on studio recordings “just for the fun of it” and learning new music for the Region 1 Competition of the Sweet Adelines International, comprising New England and a bit beyond, scheduled for May, 2012.
The group just completed production on the song "Haven't Met You Yet." It can be viewed on YouTube here.
The Valley Shore Chorus currently has 25 members with a goal to add 10 more singers within the next year.
“There are a lot of singers around the Greater Middletown region who I think would really enjoy doing what we do, but they just haven't met us yet!" Wolf said.
“We practice once a week on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. at St. Paul’s Parish Hall at 47 Oak Street in Middletown behind High Street — use the rear entrance.”
