Clay
The barbershop harmony brouhaha started for me shortly after I was born…in fact, because both of my parents were very involved in singing barbershop (they actually met through barbershop), I’m pretty sure that the first sounds I remember were the machines in the maternity ward beeping a dominant 7th chord (the tenor was flat).
Growing up around folks who were great barbershoppers and even more importantly, great people, was the best kind of brouhaha. That really kicked into full fun fracas mode for me when, at 14 years old, I was finally able to join the chorus my dad directed in Detroit, Michigan. Over the years since then, I’ve sung with a few quartets – with my dad in Atlanta Forum (1987 Dixie District Quartet Champs), FRED (1999 SPEBSQSA International Quartet Champs), A Mighty Wind (earning a few medals along the way), and most recently, Category 4 (7th place international finalists – for 3 years in a row…there should be a consistency award). I’ve also directed the Big Chicken Chorus (described as “poultry in motion” by some – well, just me – on our way to earning 3 medals in international competition), and am currently the director of the award winning Atlanta Vocal Project. I’ve also written over 400 vocal arrangements for many male, female, and mixed ensembles…and some of those have created a whole new style of brouhaha. My amazingly patient wife Becki is also very involved in Sweet Adelines International as a judge, coach, and chorus director – her Song of Atlanta Chorus has ballyhooed their way into finishing as high as 4th in the SAI international competition. My daughter, Melody sings with the 2019 Harmony Incorporated quartet champions, Hot Pursuit…and Melody (who is a middle school choir teacher), causes quite the entertaining kerfuffle with her arranging brouhaha. When my son, Camden, is not too busy earning college degrees, he also enjoys the brouhaha of singing barbershop.
Today, I call Atlanta, Georgia my home, and with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois, my daily brouhaha comes from being a business development manager with a major semiconductor company.
David
I began creating a brouhaha singing solos at age five, and later on joined my first barbershop quartet in high school. As an older whippersnapper, I studied Music Education at Bowling Green State University, earning spots in Men’s Chorus, several Varsity Quartets, Collegiate Chorale, Opera productions, and Summer Musical Theater. Since then, I have found my way creating hubbub as a chorus director, earning multiple international medals after founding The Alliance Chorus, while being awarded two bronze and two silver medals with the acclaimed quartet, Uptown Sound, and a bronze medal with my fellow rascally rouges in The Allies quartet. My most recent foursome was the highly regarded everywhen entertaining quartet, Boardwalk.
As a busy coach, I’ve had the fortune of traveling the world for barbershop and have served on faculty at numerous Harmony College/University events, district educational schools, district youth camps, and many elite quartet Top Gun Schools. I have also served in a hodgepodge of administrative roles including the 2009-2010 President of the Johnny Appleseed District (JAD), member of the Barbershop International Board of Directors in 2013, and coordinator of the JAD Top Gun School for nearly a decennium.
In 2002, I was bestowed the JAD Director of the Year award, Coach of the Year award in 1997 & 2006, certified as a Master Director in 2012, and elected to the JAD Hall of Fame in 2015. None of these were awarded posthumously.
These days, it’s sheer serendipity for me to be back home directing the Singing Buckeyes Chorus, and I look forward to making a ginormous ruckus with my pals in Brouhaha!
I have a lovely woman in my life, Natalie, who is an experienced barbershop director, quartet singer, and coach. We recently skedaddled to the rural part of Central Ohio and have truly embraced the country life. My rugrats, Alexa and Jamison, are barbershop brats and have also earned international chorus medals.
Cybersecurity is my delightful day job at an insurance company where I am definitely on your side.
Kirk
Being the oldest of three kids, my brouhaha started early while trying to be a role model for my siblings. That didn’t work out so well…especially after my performing debut in a talent show when I was 5. My mom dressed my sister and me up as peanuts, and we sang the classic “I’m a peanut”…and we were gonged within 20 seconds of starting. That hullaballoo is still traumatic today. 4th grade brought on the clarinet, middle school brought on the band, and then high school brought on some singing hubbub with a jazz choir and a role as Nicely Nicely in Guys and Dolls. Finally, the real Brouhaha started while I was an undergraduate at the University of Maine, Orono, and was introduced to barbershop singing!
My first competing quartet was The Management, and I sang with them for almost 15 years, winning the Northeastern District (NED) quartet championship in 1994, and competing at the SPEBSQSA International quartet competition in 1996, 1997, and 1998. We were also fueled into a festive frenzy when, in 1995, we were awarded both the NED Barbershopper of the Year and the MENC/SPEBSQSA Excellence Award. Later on, I sang with a few other district quartet champions – club.406 and The Average Joes – and then most recently, I sang with “Category 4” from 2017-2019 – winning the Dixie District in 2017 and finishing in the top 10 in international competition each of those years. After that, Brouhaha seemed to grow from the chaos!
Along the way I managed to aspire to be a DJ with an interest in journalism and broadcasting, then decided music teaching was the life for me and received a Bachelor of Science in Music Education. I’ve taught high school music for most of my career, with a short break from 1998-2002 as a SPEBSQSA music staff specialist in Kenosha, Wisconsin. My lovely wife, Heather, and my 2 post-teenage boys – Conner and Eric – round out my current life of Brouhaha. Taking my Kawasaki Vaquero 1700 for a spin around New Hampshire whenever the weather permits is my respite from the regular ruckus!
Tim
I am the 5th of 7 kids – so the Brouhaha in my life actually started before my life. Me and all of my brothers and sisters LOVED music from as early as we can remember, and my mom even somehow found some spare time to teach voice and piano when I was a kid. Early on, I tried to create some hullaballoo by playing trumpet, trombone, and piano…not all at once (although that might have made a better sound) – and that ended more in cacophony than in good old brouhaha.
Singing has always fueled a fervent fracas for me, so it was especially fortunate when my brother, Allen, first introduced me to barbershop during my college years in Huntsville, Alabama. Allen and I sang together in my first quartet, “B Sharp” (and I like to think we were). After college, I moved to Atlanta, where I’ve lived for almost 30 years, and have sung with several barbershop quartets, including Riptide, who became quartet champions of the SPEBSQSA Dixie District in 1998 (finishing as high as 3rd in international competition and creating quite a hubbub performing all around the world), and more recently Category 4 (finishing 7th at international competition in 2017…and 2018…and 2019…). Along the way, I also sang with the Big Chicken Chorus and am currently the associate director of the award-winning Atlanta Vocal Project.
Since Allen was on a roll with introducing me to barbershop during my college years, he found a way to top that by also introducing me to my wonderful wife, Amy (who is also my second oldest sibling Allen’s wife’s niece…and no, that’s not a funny song lyric, but probably it should be). Amy is currently an IT consultant for a major healthcare consulting firm and has enjoyed singing with the Song of Atlanta Chorus for almost as long as we’ve been married. Just to show that no Brouhaha is too much, Amy and I have triplet boys…who are all in college (Braden, Owen, and Stephen – who also all love barbershop)…and we have a VERY well-protected daughter named Megan (who loves singing barbershop AND creates her own bodacious ballyhoo in musical theater).
Enjoying Brouhaha as I do, I also found my way to a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, to a career as an IT professional, to serving as music minister at Grace Chapel Church in Cumming, Georgia, and to enjoying Disney, college football, and gardening. Also, after growing up in Delaware, attending college in Alabama, enjoying vacations in Florida, and living in metro Atlanta for 30 years, it should be obvious that I’m a Dallas Cowboy fan.