All together now

By Jason simcoe

Published: July 12, 2008

If you’re one of those guys who loves to belt out a song when no one is looking, Ivan Halfond wants to hear from you.

Halfond, the president of the newly formed Culpeper Barbershop Harmony Chorus is working to recruit new members here in Culpeper. And you don’t have to be an accomplished singer, he said. In fact, barbershop chorus singers often come from unlikely places.

“The kind of thing we put out to people is that if you sing in the shower, if you sing along with your car radio, you’re kind of what we’re looking for,” Halfond said by phone this week.

The group, which will meet at Eastern View High School beginning in August, will focus on four-part a cappella music.

Halfond got his own start in the singing style a little more than a decade ago. A blurb in a newspaper caught his eye, but he kept dragging his feet.

Finally, one day, his wife set things in motion, arranging for him to attend a barbershop chorus meeting. Halfond was hooked.

“I was really impressed with the music and how much fun it was,” Halfond said. “That’s the main thing that draws people and keeps them coming back.”

Now Halfond is working to organize a local chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society, a nationwide group. Culpeper is the perfect location, he said.

“It’s a community that has a lot of respect for history and tradition,” Halfond said. “It has a lot of respect for the arts.”

The local group will work under the direction of John Knueven, who has served as an assistant director of the Fairfax Jubil-Aires.

Once the group is established in Culpeper, Halfond hopes to develop an annual show for members to perform.

He’s also hoping to organize a Singing Valentines program, a sort of singing telegram activity where quartets would make themselves available to serenade local residents at the request of a loved one.

For now, Halfond is working to get the word out. Part of the barbershop appeal, he said, is that it’s open to anybody and everybody. You don’t need previous formal training.

“We have members in their teens, and one of the choruses I sing with right now has an active member who is 94,” Halfond said. “He has a voice you would kill for.

“Meetings are open to anyone who wants to come – men, women, husbands, wives, children. Come down to the meeting and kind of try us out.”

That’s what Halfond did 12 years ago and he’s never looked back.

Jason Simcoe can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 166 or

Interested?
Who: Culpeper Barbershop Harmony Chorus
When: Meetings will begin in August at Eastern View High School, Wednesday evenings, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
More info: Contact Ivan Halfond at 703-851-6333 or by e-mail at . You can also check out the group’s Web site, harmonize.com/culpeper.