Barbershop choir sets concert, will deliver singing valentines

Standing on risers four deep, the 35-or-so men in attendance eased their way through a flawless rendition of the 1967 Spanky and Our Gang song “Lazy Day” using only their voices instead of guitars, drums and other forms of traditional instrumental accompaniment.

The group’s members, made up of all walks of life — from doctors and lawyers to salesmen and computer programmers — laid out the blueprints for the perfect afternoon off, as they sang together in a baritone, bass, tenor and lead format.

“Blue sky, sunshine / What a day to take a walk in the park,” they serenaded, as the small group of wives who had tagged along with their husbands to the weekly practice smiled and watched in approval.

“Lazy Day” was one of several songs the group rehearsed over the course of three hours.

“These guys sing in the shower, they sing along with the radio and sing when nobody is looking,” said Jim Rapp, president of the Tucson Sunshine Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society. “The thing they have learned with us is that you won’t die if you sing the wrong note. They know that they can sing with others.”

The men of the Barbershop eXperience, the chorus of the Sunshine Chapter, are carrying on a style of music that dates back more than a century.

Barbershop has roots traced by scholars to the mid- to late 1800s.

The Barbershop Harmony Society started in Tulsa, Okla., in 1938 and today boasts more than 25,000 members. The Tucson chapter got its start in 1947.

The Tucson chapter has more than 60 members, many of whom religiously attend the Monday night rehearsals, led by musical director Dayle Ann Cook.

The eXperience is especially busy in February.

On Friday and Saturday, quartets from the group will fan out across the city, delivering musical Valentine’s Day concerts to unsuspecting loved ones.

For $50, the recipient gets two songs, a rose and a personalized letter from their significant other. The vocal Valentine serves as a fundraiser for the nonprofit.

On Feb. 22, the eXperience will hold a concert dubbed “Doo Woppin’ Barbershoppin’,” a tribute to men’s a cappella harmony.

It is one of three concerts the group performs throughout the year. The eXperience also holds a Veterans Day show, featuring a swath of patriotic tunes, and a Christmas show.

Lucas Snyder, 33, has been a member of the Tucson Barbershop eXperience for the last seven years.

Snyder has performed in different choruses since he was a boy, attending elementary school in Indianapolis.

When he isn’t working at the Flandrau Science Center on the University of Arizona campus or at Kitt Peak, putting his degree in physics to good use, he is practicing his singing.

Snyder joined the eXperience at the suggestion of his uncle, who is a member of the Barbershop Harmony Society in Cincinnati.

“I am a lot younger than most of these guys, but there is still this sense of camaraderie,” he said. “We sing together and have great conversations.”

For Rapp, a retired police detective from Milwaukee, the barbershop society has served as both a passion and an escape.

Rapp is a second-generation barbershopper. His dad had his own quartet when Rapp was a young man in western Ohio.

“It was fun to watch,” Rapp said. “The four of them would end up rehearsing in our living room. It was kind of cool.”

Rapp didn’t take up barbershopping until 1992, after becoming a detective. Once he started, he hit it hard.

His pitch pipe became a permanent accessory and he kept it attached to his belt, even during working hours.

“I was investigating crimes against kids, abuse, neglect, assault,” he said. “It was my way of remembering that there was something else in life other than the bad things that I saw during my day.”

He continues to carry a pitch pipe in his retirement, but for a different reason.

“You never know when you are going to run into three more guys willing to spontaneously burst into song.”