Community Corner
Barbershop Quartets Provide Sweet Valentine's Harmony
Members of the Heart of Maryland Chorus are traveling across Baltimore, Howard and other counties this week to sing tunes for that special someone.
As the director of the Catonsville-based Heart of Maryland Chorus, it should come as no surprise that Glenn Phillips takes tremendous pleasure in singing a great tune.
For Valentine’s Day, that joy is kicked up another notch.
That’s when Phillips and the group’s 45 other members offer up their talents as a fleet of barbershop quartets, trekking central Maryland from Westminster to Wheaton and everywhere in between to deliver a unique and heartfelt surprise to loved ones.
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Dressed in tuxedos, the groups perform two soothing, a capella songs and present the lucky recipient with a personalized card and either chocolates or flowers.
The total package costs $50.
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“This is one of the pinnacle days that we get to go out and bring joy to the community,” said Phillips after his quartet performed for a family in Pikesville Sunday evening.
“It’s a unique experience. Often times you can go to a concert and you can go to a show, even if it’s a barbershop organization—you can go and see that. But, it’s another thing to have four guys come up in tuxedos and present chocolates or a rose and a special card and sing a love song to the special someone in your life. It’s something you don’t see every day.”
The group, itself, which is the performing chorus of the Patapsco Valley Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society, boasts members mainly from Catonsville, Ellicott City, Columbia and Reisterstown, but also features individuals from Carroll, Anne Arundel, Hartford and Montgomery counties.
Their Valentine’s Day routines aren't limited to one are of Maryland and they aren't targeted just for residences. The quartets perform in office buildings, hospitals and any other venue where the opportunity to make someone's day presents itself.
“It not only provokes a very personal, very delicate touch for the individual being approached and sung to,” Phillips said, “but also the audience—everybody that’s in that restaurant or in that house or in that medical building, wherever it is—everyone gets a special sense of satisfaction and joy from seeing something like this.”