The Harmony Singers of Pittsburgh are not a “stand up and sing” choir, says music director Cynthia Pratt. The group distinguishes itself by adding dance and tap numbers, props, comedy, and costumes — currently, the standard is black palazzo pants and a sparkly black top.
“We’re sort of like a show choir,” Pratt tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “I'm always emphasizing showbiz entertainment … It’s facial expressions, [movement]. And we try to do fun, light music.”
Pratt, a trained vocal performer, has been directing the Harmony Singers for 21 seasons. The all-volunteer choral group is currently celebrating its 57th year, and it largely remains undeterred from its original mission — to provide family entertainment through song and dance.
Thirty-seven members ranging from their 40s to 80s meet at least once a week to rehearse, and Pratt explains that the group tends to inspire loyalty, with many singers who have participated for more than a decade. Over the years, their ranks have included teachers, engineers, bankers, nurses, and bus drivers, and Pratt says this still holds true today.
“It’s a big mixture of people from all walks of life, all kinds of musical talent,” she says.
In her view, the key to the Harmony Singers’ longevity is simple: “Everybody likes it. They enjoy it. [It’s fun, so] they’re loyal.” The camaraderie even inspired a newer member, alto Carol Kinzer (the group has four Carols), to reach out to CP and share that 15 members will perform at New York City’s Carnegie Hall over Memorial Day Weekend. (Though Pratt points out it’s the choir’s fourth time performing there, she understands the excitement, as the group will join 250 singers from across the country to premiere a new work by composer Heather Sorenson.)
In Pittsburgh, the Harmony Singers put on an annual holiday show in December and a spring revue in April, their biggest production. Throughout the season, they also take on smaller gigs at senior facilities or banquets, and usually, Pratt says, “people are pretty entertained.”
“Because a lot of them don't like to go to concerts where it's boring and [performers] just stand there and sing and it's not a melody that your ear can catch onto,” she asserts.
The theme for this year’s spring show is “The Music of Life,” meant to showcase the group’s feeling that “as long as I have music, I have joy in my heart.”
At the center of the show’s poster is a cardiogram showing a heartbeat with music notes superimposed over it — Pratt’s idea — “so it’s like a heartbeat. Music is the heartbeat of our life.”
“The Music of Life” includes two performances on Sat., April 20 and Sun., April 21 at the Bethel Park Community Center.
The group gathers to rehearse in a chilly hall at the nearly 200-year-old Brightwood Christian Church in Bethel Park. Because they’re still in the process of memorizing numbers for the show, the choir sits with their songbooks spread across their laps, still wearing winter parkas and wrapped in Steelers fleece blankets to keep warm.
Pratt tells CP that every choir has difficulty recruiting male singers, so to cover those voice parts, four “lady tenors,” including self-described “clown and ham” Gloria Maclean, and Bill Roden, a baritone, sit at the center of the group.
“We’re sort of like a show choir,” Pratt tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “I'm always emphasizing showbiz entertainment … It’s facial expressions, [movement]. And we try to do fun, light music.”
Pratt, a trained vocal performer, has been directing the Harmony Singers for 21 seasons. The all-volunteer choral group is currently celebrating its 57th year, and it largely remains undeterred from its original mission — to provide family entertainment through song and dance.
Thirty-seven members ranging from their 40s to 80s meet at least once a week to rehearse, and Pratt explains that the group tends to inspire loyalty, with many singers who have participated for more than a decade. Over the years, their ranks have included teachers, engineers, bankers, nurses, and bus drivers, and Pratt says this still holds true today.
“It’s a big mixture of people from all walks of life, all kinds of musical talent,” she says.
In her view, the key to the Harmony Singers’ longevity is simple: “Everybody likes it. They enjoy it. [It’s fun, so] they’re loyal.” The camaraderie even inspired a newer member, alto Carol Kinzer (the group has four Carols), to reach out to CP and share that 15 members will perform at New York City’s Carnegie Hall over Memorial Day Weekend. (Though Pratt points out it’s the choir’s fourth time performing there, she understands the excitement, as the group will join 250 singers from across the country to premiere a new work by composer Heather Sorenson.)
In Pittsburgh, the Harmony Singers put on an annual holiday show in December and a spring revue in April, their biggest production. Throughout the season, they also take on smaller gigs at senior facilities or banquets, and usually, Pratt says, “people are pretty entertained.”
“Because a lot of them don't like to go to concerts where it's boring and [performers] just stand there and sing and it's not a melody that your ear can catch onto,” she asserts.
The theme for this year’s spring show is “The Music of Life,” meant to showcase the group’s feeling that “as long as I have music, I have joy in my heart.”
At the center of the show’s poster is a cardiogram showing a heartbeat with music notes superimposed over it — Pratt’s idea — “so it’s like a heartbeat. Music is the heartbeat of our life.”
“The Music of Life” includes two performances on Sat., April 20 and Sun., April 21 at the Bethel Park Community Center.
The group gathers to rehearse in a chilly hall at the nearly 200-year-old Brightwood Christian Church in Bethel Park. Because they’re still in the process of memorizing numbers for the show, the choir sits with their songbooks spread across their laps, still wearing winter parkas and wrapped in Steelers fleece blankets to keep warm.
Pratt tells CP that every choir has difficulty recruiting male singers, so to cover those voice parts, four “lady tenors,” including self-described “clown and ham” Gloria Maclean, and Bill Roden, a baritone, sit at the center of the group.
“This is where they put the troublemakers, right in the middle so she can see us,” Roden says.
The group warms up with scales, then sings the opener, Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”
Pratt says this year’s revue is intended to capture “different moments in our life [that] were in song,” so it has grand numbers like this, or like Etta James’ “At Last,” which could be sung “at a wedding.” Still, she tries to bring the energy up.
“You can’t be in love with a frown!” she directs the group.
The choir does come into its own with livelier numbers, and “Steppin' Out with My Baby” (originally written by Irving Berlin, appropriately enough, for the 1948 musical film Easter Parade) includes tap dancing. In a Bob Fosse-esque turn, the “tappers” enter in gold top hats, twirling batons.
Pratt — who's performed with the Pittsburgh Opera Chorus since 1980 and sang with Pittsburgh’s Mendelssohn Choir for 36 years — says a core part of her role with the Harmony Singers is “adapting things so that [they’re] successful and they feel good about themselves.” At any age, you can’t discount the “stage experience,” she says, and there will always be natural stars who “want to have their day in the spotlight.”
Midway through rehearsal, “Friend Like Me,” performed by Robin Williams for Disney’s Aladdin, poses particular challenges with its witty lyrics and harmonies. The group gets hung up on the “no-no”s in the song, leading to some delightful direction. As a layperson, I appreciate how much of the performance is elocution, as Pratt directs the singers.
“You've got to have attitude before the no’s! Punch ‘em!”
“Guys, your no-nos, you’re putting too much diphthong in it for my taste.”
“Besides doing the wrong vowel, somebody had the wrong pitch on the no-nos.”
“And that was a no-no!” a singer jokingly shoots back at Pratt.
At the break, Roden and Maclean speculate about what the phrase “big nabob” from the lyrics means (it’s Pratt, they joke).
But Pratt’s assertion is right: multiple singers attest they’ve stayed in the group simply because it’s fun and an outlet.
Rachel Leigh, 30, is the youngest member and an outlier. She joined the Harmony Singers earlier this year after finding them through a Google search.
"It's just so fun and positive and encouraging," she tells CP, noting that, as the youngest, she's often volunteered for the dance numbers. "It's a good time and people love what we're doing ... And I think [that positivity] translates when we perform ... I think it really translates onstage."
Eileen Jacobs has been with the Harmony Singers since 1983.
“It’s something that whatever you do during the day goes away,” Jacobs tells CP. “You can concentrate, just have fun here at this. I'm not a solo singer by any means, but I really like being part of a group. That's where I take my joy.”
