Seniors Singing in Harmony with Valen-grams

February equates with cupid flying around our world and gives the shortest month of the year the honorary vibration of The Love Month. We look for ways to celebrate and honor our loved ones.

We’re fortunate to have The Coastal Blend Quartet in town to achieve that task. Delighting our sweethearts with some popular 50’s tunes or classic “Doo Wops” in the form of a singing telegram is available year-round, but Valentine’s Day is near and dear to our hearts. Valen-gram’s are the personal singing telegrams that keep Cupid in flight.

Nancie Barker, who demonstrates and instructs blacksmithing at Wilder Ranch, is a baritone in the quartet and coordinates their busy schedule. Contact her she will guide you in choosing the location for singing telegrams or Valen-grams. She’ll help you with a location choice as well as selecting the songs from their list of harmonious melodies. A fun twist is to select an outdoor spot that is sentimental—often more comfortable for more introverted friends. Restaurants, bowling alleys and even roller rinks embrace this kind of personal entertainment for more outgoing sweetie.

Coastal Blend’s quartet features two women and two men who have been singing together for several years. Ranging in age from 58 to 73, and members of The Gold Standard Chorus, a nationwide organization that provides membership to women under the umbrella of The Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS), a national and international men’s singing society, a “male voices only” organization. Women only barbershop singing organizations include Sweet Adeline’s International and Harmony Inc. The closest is over the hill.

Women joining men in Barbershop Quartets didn’t happen until about 1984. Sweet Adeline’s members attended the Barbershop conventions sometimes performing and benefiting from the workshops and presentations. That’s how Kim Orloff long time singer, and active member of The Gold Standard Chorus met her late husband. They decided to sing together with another guy and gal and the results were good for the ear! They called themselves “Mixed Metaphor” and their popularity led to traveling and teaching around the globe. Currently there’s a whole chapter of Barbershop Quartets that feature men and women harmonizing together.

As noted on their website “ The Santa Cruz area of California has long been known for doing things a bit differently…so it is only to be expected that we would find this rather unusual way to maintain our barbershop harmony. But it is certainly working, and we are definitely having fun, brining lots of barbershop harmony to our schools and community, and still ringing those barbershop chords!”

The community benefits in numerous ways by having an active chapter. For more than a decade the senior members of The Gold Standard Chorus has sponsored the festival Sing For Your Life to showcase local area high school and college choirs, to raise money that goes directly to each participating school’s vocal music program. This popular event encourages the youth in those choirs and our audience members to “Sing For Your Life.” Jeannie Taylor, of Live Oak Chiropractic, sings Lead and is the chair of this event and loves to hear her phone ring when singers who would like to become active with their group.

The Gold Standard Chorus welcomes visitors. Come to listen, come to sing, or come to join the chorus. Every Wednesday from 7:00 – 9:39 PM Santa Cruz High School, 415 Walnut Avenue, Santa Cruz CA website www.scbarbershop.org

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For more information or booking a Valengram contact Nancie Barker 408 921 8855 nanciebar@msn.com Information about “Sing For Your Life” contact Jeannie Taylor 831 462 2712