May 2012 Newsletter - North Georgia Barbershop Singers

Turn, Turn, Turn
Submitted by Tom Riggle
R
emember the song by this title The
song was adapted almost entirely
from the Book of Ecclesiastes (3:1) in the
Bible and put to music by Pete Seeger in
1959. The American folk rock band The
Byrds, covered the song and it became a
number 1 hit for them in 1965. Their version
easily holds the record for a number 1 Ecclesiastes h i t
with the oldest lyrics!
The song came to mind recently because it’s central theme is
about time. A time for this, and a time for that, giving several examples:
“A time to rend and a time to sew; a time to keep silence and a
time to speak,” etc. This passage would seem to apply to our chorus
rehearsals in more ways than one – think about it.
Speaking of time (and finally to my point) we have all seen
the fast paced method of our director in managing his allotted time
before us. We all need to stay “in the presents” to keep up with
what is going on. Notice that when it’s his time, he is standing in
front, ready to get on with it. On the other end, when his time is up,
he ends what he is doing – to the minute. Last week he had an
aggressive schedule ending with work on “The Band Played On” but
we didn’t get there because we ran out of time in that segment of
rehearsal. I don’t know how you are doing with that one but I need
all the help I can get. I bet you do too but we didn’t get it. Luke is
certainly trying but we don’t seem to be in the same mind set when
comes to starting on time.
The quartet I am in meets early on rehearsal night to work on
quartet music, as do some others. Last week, we decided that we
must end our quartet work at 6:45 so we can pick up our things and
get into the chorus rehearsal area, standing in front of our assigned
chairs, quiet and ready to sing The Old Songs at 7:00 PM. Our Program
VP will be there and ready to roll so we need to do the same.
The other time we are losing time is after break and not being
back in position at the time requested. Again, I know Luke will
be standing there ready to move on. Invariably, some guys are still
talking or still in the bathroom or both. A 10-minute break is just
enough to go to the restroom, get a drink of water and get back in
position to sing again. There is not enough time to conduct business
or engage in a back and forth (or some times a one way) conversations
and still be on time. I know, I have tried to take care of some
chapter business during breaks and then found that I don’t have time
to take care of my personal needs – and I hate that when it happens.
I enjoy interacting with you all but from 7:00 to 9:30 on Tuesday,
let’s keep it to one sentence each way and save me the pain – or embarrassment!
It’s the respectful thing to do.
Keep the Whole World Singing.
Ring That Seventh
A
Submitted by Jerry Frank
few months ago I shared my
insight as to the presence of
sum and difference frequencies in
barbershop harmony. Together we
explored the A major chord, creating
it from the concept that a chord
of four notes should relate to fixed
differences in order to create the
expanded sound effect. We created
the barbershop variation of the A
Major chord with a fixed difference
of 220 Hertz.
A = 440 Hertz
E = 660 Hertz
A =880 Hertz
C# = 1100 Hertz ( which is the
sum of A plus E )
We found the A Major
chord so let's look at it more
closely. In identifying chords, it is
common to move all the notes into
the same octave. If we drop the C#
we would have:
A = 440 Hertz ( no surprise)
C# = 550 Hertz (the barbershop
note)
E = 660 Hertz.
Note that this progression
shows a difference of 110 Hertz.
The next logical note of the progression
would then be 770 Hertz.
Looking back at our boxes of notes
that are standardized on their center
frequencies, we find that 770
Hz falls nicely into the G box. The
tempered scale of 783.9 Hz for G
would have to be flatted nearly 14
Hz. That may seem to be a lot but
remember that our note boxes are
almost 6% wide so a deviation of
14 Hz being less than 1.8% makes
it fit nicely in our G box. Well
looky here, we just figured out
how to ring an A Major seventh
chord: A, C#, E, G.
This article should give reason
for asking Jerry some questions,
if you do not understand! Lets
expand our knowledge!
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