With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, it’s a good bet true romantics are on the hunt for that unique and memorable way to say “I love you.”
To be sure, flowers, greeting cards and the like are always sentimental favorites, but for those looking for something different a barbershop quartet from the Bucks County Country Gentlemen could provide an out-of-the-box alternative.
In the larger context, the “Singing Valentines” program is part of a national fundraising effort offered annually by the Nashville-based Barbershop Harmony Society to promote this unique a cappella four-part harmony style of singing and to introduce the art form to those who perhaps have never heard it.
“It’s not only a novel musical gift, but a portion of the proceeds are typically earmarked for funding a wide range of community outreach efforts and society-run harmony education programs for singers of all ages and abilities,” noted Rick Taylor, regional director of Harmony Foundation, which partners with BHS.
Here’s how it works:
Those who are interested can schedule a time and place for a Singing Valentine delivery. Then, BHS choruses from around the Delaware Valley — and elsewhere across the country — dispatch uniformed foursomes from within their respective ensembles to surprise unsuspecting sweethearts with heartwarming love songs at home, work, school, a restaurant and just about anywhere else.
“Once, we were hired to come to a restaurant by the husband of a lovely couple to sing to him and his wife at dinner. It was a great success and the whole dining room was very appreciative,” recalled Hugh Pepper, Bedminster resident and lead singer of Ring The Rafters Quartet.
The Bucks County Country Gentlemen are one of several participating choruses in the Delaware Valley.
“You never know where these serendipitous singing deliveries will take you,” reflects Country Gentlemen chapter president and lifelong Bucks County resident Rob France.
On one occasion, he and his Cross Keys Connection quartet, surprised one unsuspecting soul at a local convenience store.
“We arranged to be on location but spread apart, in different locations in the store. Then, when the intended patron came in, we all convened in flash-mob fashion, and started to sing,” France explained. “The person we sang to was smiling from ear to ear because she knew exactly who among the store clerks had arranged this spectacle.”
For more information or to schedule an in-person serenade for someone this Valentine’s Day, visit www.buckscountybarbershop.com, email bccgevents@gmail.com or call 1-267-454-2241. Prices start at $50.
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