Music In Our Schools

     YOUTH IN HARMONY

 “Music education stimulates, challenges, and enriches our young people in their formative, school years; its value lasts a lifetime”.  Tammy Baldwin

DID YOU KNOW:  Barbershop Harmony & Jazz are the only American-born musical genres?  All other music genres have roots outside of America.         

Our chorus & quartets support music in our tri-county schools, offering an assistance plan to music educators in area high schools, grades 9-12.  Working with each educator, we provide a syllabus of music craft from which to choose the perfect lesson plan to fit individual time frames.  The music educator is always in control of the length & content of our in-school musical “field trip”.  The teacher & students receive a portfolio hi-lighting visual & vocal elements of performance, a brief history of the roots of barbershop, several easy 4-part harmony “Tags”, and links to our chapter, district, and international barbershop websites. 

WHAT IS A “TAG”: the final ending phrase or phrases of a song, sung in 4-part harmony style. 

            Our teaching quartet teaches & sings tags with the students, inviting students to step into the quartet to sing their part along with the quartet.  We also invite 4 students to perform the tag as their own quartet stressing interpretation, dynamic (volume) level change, vowel matching for a tighter blend & chord “ring”, among other vocal techniques.

The following schools over the last several years have experienced the barbershop harmony style of music in one way or another:  Beacon, Cornwall, Ellenville, Highland, Hyde Park (Roosevelt), Kingston, Marlboro, Middletown, Monroe-Woodbury, New Paltz, Suffern, Valley Central and Washingtonville.

                                                   Scholarships

            Robert Chieffo Music Scholarship:  Awarded to one or two high school students to attend our Northeastern District’s annual Harmony Explosion Camp at Worcester State University in Worcester, MA.  This 3-day camp offers vocal music clinic work, learning 3-4 songs, working with barbershop quartets, & ending with an evening performance for parents, family & area residents.

Betty Foster Bahret Music Scholarship:  Awarded annually to a graduating senior at Spackenkill High School, having shown a concentrated interest and involvement in music throughout their high school years, including interest and participation in music in the community.

For more information about Music In Our Schools, contact:
Bill Standish at YouthCoordinator@newyorkerschorus.org