Posted on October 16, 2012
“Work those muscles,” Ron Knickerbocker commanded to a group of singers gathered before him at a recent rehearsal at a church in Langhorne.
“You want a sound with character and body. Put energy into the sound.”
As coach of the BucksMont Squires of Song, he used his own voice to demonstrate the sound and tone he was looking for. He was rewarded by the singers responding in kind.
“When they know the notes and music, they sing pretty decently,” he later said.
Using human voices as their musical instruments in four-part a cappella harmony, the men of BucksMont sing from the depths of their souls in the way Knickerbocker teaches them.
He should know. Knickerbocker coached a quartet that won “Best in the World” at the International competition in Kansas City in 1974. His accomplishment has enabled him to travel as far as Germany to teach barbershop singing, he said.
A resident of Downingtown and an International Quartet Champion on the barbershop harmony circuit, he’s taken an active role in coaching the BucksMont Squires of Song. The ensemble has about 20 active members ranging in ages from 18 to 95.
The BucksMont Squires of Song make up the Abington-Levittown chapter of the national Barbershop Harmony Society founded in 1938 in Tulsa, Okla.
More than 800 chapters exist across North America and Canada with more than 30,000 members and affiliates in 10 foreign countries, according to the Barbershop Harmony website. The society is the largest fraternal organization in the world focusing on a cappella music.
Tom Hankin, BucksMont assistant director, has been a part of the chorus for eight years. He joined after looking for a place to sing and being referred to the group by his family doctor, who was a member of the chapter.
“Barbershop chorus generally sings tin pan ‘20s and ‘30s songs and pop songs from the ‘50s and ‘60s,” said Hankin, who lives in Bristol Township. “That is the classic barbershop fare. Show tunes are a staple of singing.”
Rick Edelman, of Oakford in Lower Southampton, got his most recent start five years ago after singing in a woman’s ear all night at a Knights of Columbus dance for Parents Without Partners. It turned out she was friends with members of the Levittown barbershop chapter and introduced Edelman to them.
To read more go to : http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/courier_times_news/heavy-hitter-working-with-bucksmont-squires-of-song/article_d5990374-e0d2-53fe-b0ac-cb0007ef24ef.html
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