Gentlemen of Harmony were ‘keeping the love light glowing’ on Valentine’s Day in the Simcoe and Tillsonburg areas.
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The local men’s chorus provided singing Valentines on Feb. 14 as a fundraiser for the group.
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“We have one quartet that’s out doing 17 live singing Valentine’s today,” said Terry Pond, president of the Gentlemen of Harmony. “We have two staple songs we use – Let Me Call You Sweetheart and Heart of My Heart – and we have an introductory couple of lines.
“This group of (nine), we’re going around to retirement homes in Simcoe, Tillsonburg, Jarvis, Port Dover, Townsend… Our first outing was at 10 am this morning and we’ll be done around 4 this afternoon,” said Pond. “It doesn’t take long – this group will add in another song or two from our chorus repertoire that we use.”
A lot of the music is recognized at retirement homes, he said.
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“They’re tapping, they’re smiling, they’re singing along. It happens a lot and I guess that’s one of the things I enjoy most about The Gentlemen of Harmony, that we perform.”
“I enjoyed it,” said Jane Hawkins, 100, at Harvest Crossing in Tillsonburg, who recognized all of the songs. “They were our vintage songs. I can’t remember the names, but I recognized them.”
“They knew who their audience was going to be,” smiled Mary Lou Sergeant, 85, also at Harvest Crossing. “They harmonize well. I’m a choral singer in a church choir, so I know a good blend when I hear it. We’ve both heard quartets before and they were very good, they knew what they were doing.”
Walter Glynn at Harvest Crossing, who will be 88 in March, remembers watching the Gentlemen of Harmony years ago, but with different singers. A recently retired fiddle player, he also recognized the Valentines songs.
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“It just makes our day,” said Glynn. “Karen (Rohrer) and Chloe (Williams) keep us entertained – there’s actually four coming in to play and sing for us this week.”
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The Simcoe-based Gentlemen of Harmony has about 40 active members.
“As our chorus director likes to say, we’re a chorus of 100 but we have room for another 50,” Pond laughed. “We come from all walks of life. There’s four or five guys from Tillsonburg, there’s some from Cayuga, Simcoe, Brantford, right down to the lake, Port Ryerse, Port Dover, Port Rowan. Some from Welland and St. Catharines. Our director comes in to Simcoe every week from St. Catharines and our assistant director’s from London.”
More singing gentlemen are always welcome, he said, with or without music experience. Voice parts include bass, baritone, tenor and lead.
“If you just like to sing, you don’t need to have any experience. We provide learning tracks. We always say, ‘Come out, join us for a couple nights, see what we’re all about…’”
Gentlemen of Harmony will be performing at the Norfolk Musical Arts Festival (Feb. 27), followed by a convention in Belleville in March.
“We are the current Ontario District Chorus champions, so we’ll be singing back our trophy,” said Pond.
A Gentlemen of Harmony dinner show is planned at Capitol 33 in Delhi on April 27.
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