Conewango Clippers listening for voices
“We are from Warren, Pennsylvania, where the Allegheny flows.”
“Relax now and listen while we sing your blues away.”
For 71 years, the Conewango Clippers have survived and thrived on their love of singing.
Over the years, their unaccompanied — a cappella — four-part harmonies have toured the county and the country.
In the 1950s, there were fifty or more men in the chorus.
Quartets that were named national champions performed in many of the Clippers’ annual Nights of Harmony from the 1940s though the 1990s. In 1957, the Clippers went to Los Angeles to perform at the National Competition. In 1953, they performed at Disneyland. A Clipper, Plummer Collins, was the president of the international Barbershop Harmony Society in 1976.
“About 20 years ago, there were probably 30 to 35 members,” Gary Wallin said.
But, the numbers have declined and the group is more surviving than thriving now.
The current group of 10 or so active members still does an average of two or three sing-outs (any public performances) per month.
“We believe that we are a community asset,” Wallin said.
“We’ve done everything from weddings to funerals,” Bob Holt said.
They perform at parties, special occasions, and annual events.
“We also sing at some of the nursing homes,” John Shaughnesy said.
The group performs Christmas carols and has an annual Valentine’s Day event.
The Singing Valentines are the group’s biggest fund-raiser. Many sing-outs are unpaid.
“We’ll do any time we’re asked as long as we can find enough guys,” Wallin said. “We hate to turn them down.”
But, without at least one guy in all four parts of the harmony — bass, baritone, lead, and tenor — the Clippers simply can’t do their job.
An infusion of members would help.
“We are eager for new members,” Shaughnesy said.
“We’d like to get some more members in to make it easier to have more sing-outs,” Holt said.
There are no hard and fast requirements for membership.
“If you can sing, even if you can’t read music, we can teach you,” Shaughnesy said.
“We’ll work with anybody,” Holt said. “There’s no pressure. All they need is a love of singing.”
Prospective members need not worry about what part they sing. The group is in need of all parts.
“We’ll let them come in and see where they fit,” Holt said. “We’d probably bring you in as a lead unless you are naturally a bass.”
The lead follows the melody and is the most familiar part.
As baritone Tom Jones pointed out, the baritone part “is the hardest and sounds the best.”
Confidence and singing ability grow with time and experience, Shaughnesy said.
And, over time, the members of the group have developed relationships. “Jim Eldridge said, ‘These guys will get to be your best friends,'” Wallin said. “He was right.”
“The camaraderie keeps us going,” Holt said.
The youngest Clipper is Kevin Babcock. He has been with the group for about 10 years, but wasn’t even able to drive himself to his first practice.
“I had never heard of barbershop before,” Babcock said. “A lot of the younger generation just doesn’t know. It’s never introduced. It just is.”
He was in the madrigal group in high school. When he heard about the Clippers, he went to the annual show. “I liked what I heard,” he said. “I showed up at the practice the following Monday.”
The other members have similar stories.
“My mother was an entertainer,” Jones said. “Music has always been in my house.”
“I think there’s a little bit of entertainer in all of us,” Holt said.
Doug Angove is a bass. “For my ears, I enjoy the harmony,” he said. “Let me have three other people so I can hear all the parts.”
Shaughnesy was invited into a barbershop quartet in college. “I fell in love with it,” he said.
Historically, the Clippers were part of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America — SPEBSQSA. “It was originated in 1938,” Shaughnesy said. “It’s conceivable that this could be among the earliest chapters” still running.
The umbrella group has since officially changed its name to Barbershop Harmony Society.
The Clippers meet at 7 p.m. Mondays at Grace United Methodist Church in Warren. Anyone looking for more information may call 779-1807.