Chorus Celebrates on a High Note

Each Wednesday night, when they step through the doorway into the parish hall at St. Marks Episcopal Church, 35 men leave behind their other lives.

No longer are they lawyers, barbers, computer specialists or cops.

For a few precious hours, 35 golden voices commingle into a mellifluous river, rushing through and around listeners with richness and emotion.

Call it therapy for the soul and ears, or just good old-fashioned entertainment. When the Valleyaires croon a tune, it becomes clear why the unique American musical form of the barbershop chorus is so cherished.

When their four-part melodies sweeten the air, even the biggest grump cannot help but break into a smile.

“We don’t talk about work or home,” said Jim Summers, 71, of Chatsworth, who has been with the group since it formed in 1959 and is currently the longest active charter member. “We just come down here to sing.”

At their 40th anniversary celebration Wednesday night, oldtimers in their 60s and 70s and just a couple of younger members who are 30- and 40-somethings, performed favorites, including “Coney Island Baby” and “When It’s Night Time in Dixie Land.”

When the Valleyaires first formed, the San Fernando Valley was still a hodgepodge of chicken farms, orange groves and the first rumblings of the postwar housing boom, Summers recalled.

This was pre-freeway Valley, when Sherman Way and Ventura and Reseda boulevards were some of the few main drags used to get around.

The Valleyaires meant the world to the late Rang Hansen, who was a charter member, said his grandson Tom Hansen, also a Valleyaire.

On Wednesday night, Hansen announced a gift of $15,000 to assist the all-volunteer chorus with efforts to honor the elder Hansen’s legacy.

“Pop . . . I’m doing my best to keep America singing,” he told the crowd of cheering former and current members.

In a nod to L.A. style that is a tad more au courant than the traditional seersucker suit, bow tie and straw boater associated with most barbershoppers, the Valleyaires wore matching shirts in a muted aqua, azure, yellow and navy geometric print and off-white slacks. Stylish, but definitely not loud.

The melodies, however, are traditional compared to today’s crank-em-out pop standards. Classic barbershop chorus tunes date back to the ‘80s--the 1880s. Those origins can be traced to the post-Civil War era, when black men fused spirituals and gospel, said Valleyaire member Bill Cohen.

Those early quartets discovered the magical essence of barbershop chorus music known as “the expanded sound” or “the seventh ringing chord,” he said. It’s the perfect moment when two notes meld together and form other overtones and undertones, a sort of musical chemical reaction that infuses the music with a rich resonance, Cohen said.

While barbershop quartets may seem embarrassingly unhip to teens and college crowds, the roots of the barbershop musical style branch off to popular ‘90s vocal groups such as Boyz 2 Men and the Backstreet Boys, several Valleyaires said.

If the Valleyaires are to survive another 40 years, recruitment of new voices is crucial, Cohen said. The chorus actively seeks new members and conducts outreach efforts at local high schools.

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As one of the Valleyaires’ handful of under-age-50 members, Jeffrey Bunch, 43, said, it can be tough coaxing talented younger singers to join, because so much of the chorus’ repertoire is devoted to the early 20th century.

“People are more into pop,” Bunch lamented. “But you won’t hear a purer form of harmony.”