Matt Dwyer I m not normal; in fact some may consider me insane, but that is okay I get by. The name is Matt Dwyer. I am preparing to teach middle school math, with a possible certification in vocal music as well. I have played soccer my entire life, and as high school was drawing to a close, I was enthusiastic about playing in college; then one day I met music. More specifically, I was introduced to Barbershop Harmony and thus I fell into a downward spiral of obsession with the making of great music. I sing in a chorus from St. Charles, Missouri, called the Ambassadors of Harmony. AOH comprises of roughly 160 men, amateurs, who were professional enough to win the 2004 and 2009 International Barbershop Chorus Competitions. I was fortunate enough to compete in 2009. Winning Gold wasn t too bad for my first competition. For some, music is a hobby, for other s (including me); it is a way of life. It is much more than collecting stamps: music changes lives. I am all about changing lives. That is why I believe I have a calling from the Lord to teach. He has big plans for me, and with His help, I intend to change the lives of young students for the better. The pictures above are of my beautiful girlfriend, Alyssa, and I, and AOH competing at the 2009 International Barbershop Convention in Anaheim, California. The picture to the left is of Conan O Brian and me at the contest in 2009. Alyssa and I have been together for over 2 years now and she keeps me in check. Apparently I m doing something right because she hasn t left me yet. Lastly, I leave you with this: To accept the idea that someone from a specific race, demographic, ethnic background, or any other distinguishing factor is in some way unable to provide for one s self in such a manner that the government must pay for their food, shelter, and all other necessities of life is essentially saying that they are somehow subhuman and useless but for the helping hand of the government. True freedom lies in the hands of he who works hard for the very little he may be stuck with. Every man dies, but not every man truly lives. William Wallace, Braveheart
Careers in Math 8 th Grade Math Matt Dwyer Fall/ 2011 The Overview 1. The Rationale: This lesson will allow the students to explore careers in math. Apart from the math teacher, or the builder, students will discover what other occupations require an in depth knowledge of mathematics. 2. The Summary: The students will create a pamphlet attempting to sell the specific career they research to the other students. 3. Objectives: The students will develop an understanding of the amount of careers that require math, as well as the level of math required to perform such jobs. 4. Length of curriculum. The students will have five 50-minute class periods spread out over a period of 5 weeks, with students using time on their own to engage in interviews or visit places of business where their specific careers may take place. 5. Materials and Resources: The school will need to provide a computer lab for research. The teacher will need to provide a list of professionals to interview or bring in to class. The students will provide professionals to interview if they have someone they want to interview. 6. Means of Assessment: Summative Assessment: The students will receive 20 points for completing their pamphlet, 50 points measuring the amount information presented and 10 points for spelling and grammar.
Formative Assessment: 2 points for each day of participation totaling 10 points. Interview: 10 points.
Creating Interview Questions 8 th Grade Math Matt Dwyer Spring/ 2011 Objective: The students will develop questions in order to obtain information about their careers they are researching. Introduction: Talk about interviewing and the purpose. Explain how yes and no questions often offer less information than open ended questions. For example: Did you feel sad when your dog died? offers less information than, How did you feel when your dog died? The second option offers the person being interviewed a chance to form their own thoughts and ideas about how they felt, not simply put a yes or no down as an answer. Activity: Think, Pair Share After discussing types of questions and what questions you want to ask, have the students form their own questions. Give the students time to come up 5 to 10 questions they feel are really good. Then they will turn to a neighbor, pair up, and share their ideas. They may want to steal some questions from their neighbor, modify their own based on feedback, or simply drop some questions they felt didn t turn out the way they planned. They will do this a few times until there list has grown from 10 to 20. Conclusion: When TPS Activity is finished, the students will continue to form more questions. With any other available time, they will begin putting information on their pamphlet. Homework: The students will need to have their interview accomplished by next week if they are doing one outside of school.
Heading Class 8 TH Grade Math Your Name Matt Dwyer Objective Instructional Framework Lesson Plan Format Name of Lesson: Careers in Math Day 4 The students will use the RAFT strategy to prepare the information for their pamphlet. Initiating Constructing Utilizing Student Centered Teacher Centered: Direct Instruction providing information and building skills Presentation demonstrating, lecturing Concept introducing a new theory, symbol, idea Student Centered: Discussion Cooperative Learning Problem Solving Grouping Whole Class Pairs Individuals Materials & Resources Strategies School - Teacher Student Writing tools, Research Materials 1. RAFT New Material Introduce RAFT strategy. Share a few examples and ask the students to name each of the 4 aspects from the examples. Guided Practice Closure to Lesson Assignment Students in pairs take turns coming up with fun ideas of using RAFT in their writing and writing form. Ask students to consider the RAFT strategy when planning their writing. Have them discuss with their partner Have the students continue writing their information for their brochure. Have the students finish all writing for their Brochure.
Careers in Math 8 th Grade Math Matt Dwyer Spring/ 2011 Day 1 (Monday week 1): Introduce the project. Go over expectations. Show an example. Have the students brainstorm about careers that they think use math and to what extent they may use it. Ask the students to think and decide on a career to research for next week. Day 2 (Monday week 2): Career Choice DUE. The students will begin researching their careers. Most of class time will be spent in the computer lab/library researching their careers. Ask the students to think about someone they may be interested in interviewing for their pamphlet and contact that person if they can. Day 3 (Monday week 3): Interview choices DUE. The students will spend this class period designing interview questions for the professional they wish to interview. If they are unable to interview someone, they will think of questions to ask the career counselor when he/she is in class next week. The rest of the class period will be spent putting information they have acquired into their pamphlet. Day 4 (Monday week 4): Interview s DUE. They students who did not interview a professional will spend this class period talking to a career counselor. The rest of the class period will be spent adding information to the pamphlet. The class will explore the RAFT strategy. Day 5 (Monday week 5): All writing for Brochure DUE. The students will finalize their pamphlet. They will include any information that they received in their interview that they felt was important. The students will also print out a copy of their pamphlet to be put on display. Those who do not finish may take the project home and finish it for tomorrow.
WHAT????? What we are going to be doing in the next month or so is exploring careers in math. One of the most important decisions you will make in your life, is what career path to choose. Math isn t always about sitting down and doing problems. In life the problems are real and the solutions can be the difference between a job, and the unemployment line. Each one of you will pick a career from the list I have provided, or get one approved by me that you feel is math related. You will spend a few weeks researching the career, interviewing a professional, and creating a pamphlet to try to sell this occupation to your fellow students. The guidelines: Pamphlet /20 Points Information /50 Points Spelling/Grammar /10 Points Interview /10 Points Participation 2 Points per Day / 10 Points
Not Just Collecting Stamps: An I-search on Barber Shop Harmony Matthew S. Dwyer Final Draft March 23 rd, 2011 Gents, you have one chance; ONE CHANCE on that stage to be perfect. You CANNOT practice until you can do it right, but rather you must practice until you can NO LONGER do it wrong. That is what being great is all about, uttered Dr. Jim Henry. We only ask for perfection. Hobbies come in many forms; building airplane models, bowling, collecting coins, but none more euphoric than that of singing barbershop harmony. Bowling can make for a wonderful Thursday night, airplane models can get really good at collecting dust, coins can increase in value over time, but no price can be put on the experience one can have making beautiful music. For me, barbershop is much more than a hobby; it is a way of life. These next short words put into perspective the role it plays in the lives of many: Really, have you ever tried to fathom how great your impact is? I m not talking to the Barbershop Harmony Society, or your chorus, or
your quartet; I m talking to you your impact. I m sorry; this isn t just a hobby. We re not collecting stamps here. We are creating art in an age when art is being systematically shoved out of every school in the country. And we are making a positive difference, one life at a time, to a world that is in desperate need of it. Music does that If at the end of this song a husband takes his wife by the hand, then we've won. We have won. We have accomplished what it is we were supposed to do. (Henry, James) Music has always played its role in my life. As a child, I took piano lessons for five years, though, I didn t take it as serious as most. In seventh grade I began dabbling in rap and hip hop beats using computer software and my handy dandy keyboard. That culminated in me recording some rap songs for a demo cd in the eighth grade; my family still won t let me live that down, having to endure my songs at every family gathering. High school brought an end to my rap career and with that came new opportunities. My sophomore year I picked up a guitar and that is essentially where it all began. I started spending every waking moment in my basement plucking on that old Epiphone;
its bright tone very different from most guitars. Those hours I spent in my basement laid a foundation for a life changing experience. That life changing experience happened during my junior year of high school. Fate played its role when I enrolled in guitar class as well as newspaper class. It was in the latter, that I became further acquainted with a fellow student by the name of Aaron Flora. We were allowed to leave class everyday in order to sell ads for the paper. In actuality, we simply wanted to grab some breakfast with an occasional ad sale made to please the teacher. As we would hang out, we began talking about things we did. One day, at the mention of Mrs. Stegeman, the guitar teacher, Aaron told me how she taught choir as well and that they were going on a field trip in a week; he invited me along. At first, I was hesitant, but at the promise of a day off of school and a free lunch, I agreed. Where did they go? This field trip, exclusively for the men of choir, was to the University of Missouri- St. Louis, for an event called Accapellooza; a barber shop harmony day-long clinic led by Dr. Jim Henry. Somewhere between the learning of two songs and the amazing
concert put on by The Ambassadors of Harmony and Vocal Spectrum a quartet comprised of members from the chorus, I became hooked on the barber shop sound. The events that followed were no less important than the experience itself. I joined the barber shop chorus at my school and auditioned for every choir heading into my senior; I made them all. As a senior, music became my obsession. After receiving many awards and having the pleasure of assisting women s choir for an entire semester, I decided to pursue music as a profession. Once again fate played its part, and I ended up back at UMSL this time studying under Dr. Henry in pursuit of my degree. It was at the urging of Dr. Henry, that I was persuaded to audition for the very chorus that got me singing, The Ambassadors of Harmony. I had the pleasure of competing and winning the Barbershop Harmony Society s International Chorus Competition in the summer of 2009. While studying the classical techniques of singing, I began to notice that many professionals in the field of music, whether it be the classical, operatic, or even popular styles, look at barber shop as a back woods, maybe even hill-billy style of music and don t take it
seriously. In fact, I had a voice teacher tell me I couldn t learn anything from the barber shop style and that it would slow my progress I was making in my lessons. I found this odd but never pursued it further. That brings me to my question, or questions rather. My main question I intend to answer, is, For what reason or reasons do many classically trained musicians look down on this form of singing to the point of discrediting it? Furthermore, I wish to explore the special nature of barber shop; the sound, the history, even the progression of barber shop harmony into what it has become today. As a member of the Ambassadors of Harmony, I find it disheartening that some would scoff at or disregard the importance barber shop harmony can play in the development of a musician. Luckily, some of the best and brightest in terms of barber shop reside right here in St. Louis. Dr. Jim Henry, Director of Choral Studies here at UMSL and Dr. David Wright, Associate Professor of Mathematics for Washington University- St. Louis, both named to the Barber Shop Harmony Society s Hall of Fame, will be excellent resources for information. Dr. Henry will be particularly important for
my main question because as a music professional, he can bring a firsthand account to the feelings of those in the music world. Furthermore, his doctoral dissertation dealt primarily with barber shop harmony. As a two-time International Quartet Champion, and two-time International Chorus Champion, his credentials are incredible. Furthermore, to gather information from multiple sources, I will interview those who view barber shop harmony in an unfavorable manor. As I began my search, I was overwhelmed by the resources at my fingertips; I was, however, naïve in thinking they were easily accessible. Dr. David Wright: busy; Dr. Jim Henry: in Spain with his quartet; Brandon Guyton: also in Spain. My options were dwindling and so was the time before the first deadline. I decided, at last, to turn to my second-most trusted source behind Jim; his dissertation, The origins of barbershop harmony: A study of barbershop's musical link to other African American musics as evidenced through recordings and arrangements of early black and white quartets. This seemed like an excellent source of information about the rich history behind what has
now become an international affair. Sadly, the full text file was not available on the Proquest database, and I would have to go to Washington University in order to obtain a copy; more time I did not have. In the mean time I began to research the Barbershop Harmony Society, or as it was first called, the Society for The Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America (SPEBSQSA). The title, quite humorous in its length, was drafted by two men by the names of Rupert Hall and Owen C. Cash. (Kerr) It poked fun at the alphabet soup of New Deal programs. (accapellafoundation.org) In fact, in the letter inviting the small group of gentlemen to join them at what would turn out to be a monumental gathering, you can hear the distain Cash and Hall had for the current government. Here is his letter: Gentlemen In this age of Dictators and Government control of everything, about the only privilege guaranteed by the Bill of Rights not in
some way supervised and directed, is the art of Barber Shop Quartet singing. Without doubt we still have the right of "peaceable assembly" which I am advised by competent legal authority includes quartet singing. The writers of this letter have for a long time thought that something should be done to encourage the enjoyment of this last remaining vestige of human liberty. Therefore, we have decided to hold a songfest on the Roof Garden of the Tulsa Club on Monday, April 11, at six-thirty p.m. A Dutch lunch will be served. After several months of research, and investigation, we are convinced that your record warrants our tendering you the honor of joining this group. We sincerely trust you will not fail us. As evidence of the work that your Committee has done in this connection, we inclose a compilation of most of the good old fashioned Barber Shop Quartet songs which we trust you will look over and familiarize yourself with. Bring this list with you. It is our
purpose to start right in at the first, sing every song, in numerical order, plow right down the middle, and let the chips fall where they will. What could be sweeter than ten or twelve perfectly synchronized male voices singing "Dear Old Girl!" Just thinking about it brought back to your Committee fond memories of a moonlight night, a hay ride and the soft young blonde summer visitor from Kansas City we dated on that occasion years ago. Do not forget the date, and make every effort to be present, telephone us if convenient. We will have a private room and so will not be embarrassed by the curiosity of the vulgar public. You may bring a fellow singer if you desire. (Cash, Hall) This meeting was such a success, that they agreed to meet on a weekly basis. However, apparently some Tulsa club members on the floors below complained of the noise so the next week, April 18, they met at the Hotel Tulsa (3rd and Cincinnati). (Kerr) Their numbers grew, and at the third meeting, roughly 150 men attended. (accapellafoundation.org) This would later become what is now known
as the Tulsa #1 chapter (Kerr). O.C. Cash, being the master that he was with the media, is thought to have stirred other chapters into forming by publicly naming people who were involved in the movement. Though many of his alleged participants simply enjoyed singing, their public exposure compelled them to go along with Cash s claims. With the help of the Associated Press, Cash influenced exponential growth to the tune of eight chapters, Kansas City and St. Louis being two of them by the end of 1938. (Kerr) With a need for more publicity, Cash saw fit to hold a quartet singing contest, an event to crown the World s Best Quartet. June 2 and 3 were the dates and by the first day, 150 delegates and over 50 quartets had shown up. The Bartlesville Barflies won the contest and Rupert Hall was elected first president of SPEBSQSA. This made 1939 a year to remember. (Kerr) At this point, I think it is essential to re-evaluate my question and what it is I intend to research. As mentioned before, I have found that many of my professors are a bit snobbish when it comes to their views of Barbershop singing. My initial quest was to find out why this is the
case. As you can see, the founding of the society was not from some wealthy classical singer, but from a group a men who simply loved rich harmony. I still have so much research to do, a dissertation to read, and two Barbershop Harmony Society Hall of Fame members interviews to enjoy if I have the time. I feel that I have only scratched the surface in terms of this unique style of music s roots, but what about before the society? That is what Jim s dissertation uncovers. It seems fitting that my new question would be, What are the roots of barbershop music? I want to continue to explore the history of how the society continued developing, and especially what history led to the creation of The Society and Barber shop music itself. The true roots of barber shop, the exact thing that brought about its existence, is unknown. There were, however, trends that are believed to have led to the traditional barbershop sound we now recognize. Val Hicks, distinguished barbershopper, lists in his book, Heritage of Harmony, four categories of musical trends that influence the rise of this wonderful art. Those included the minstrel show, black singers, the sol-to-sol song, and early recording quartets. (Henry, James)
The most prevalent still shown in modern barbershop music is that of the sol-to-sol song. A song of this nature is one where the melody line generally lies from the low 5 of the scale to the 5 an octave up. (Henry, James) In Lehman s terms, it is a melody with the same range as Amazing Grace. The A in amazing is the low 5 of the scale and as you sing through the song it climaxes at wretch like me! ; me being the 5 an octave up. This makes for an easy arrangement in what we call close harmony The tenor is right above the lead and the bass lies below, while the baritone is harmonizing below and above depending on where the lead is in the melody line. As mentioned above, blacks played their part in the influence of barbershop music. Because of the melody lying in the second tenor, a true first tenor will almost always overpower and outshine the melody, making it very difficult to hear. What has become standard practice in barbershop is the use of falsetto in the first tenor. Falsetto is a light somewhat girly voice than men are capable of using. It is not produced in the same way as full voice singing and thus can be present in a quartet without drowning out the lead voice. The use of falsetto singing was
popularized by early African American vocal music. Early black-close harmony recordings, in fact, featured a tenor who would sing in his falsetto. Another prominent characteristic of early African American music is the use of portamento; otherwise known as sliding from one note to another. Both of these were prominent in the recreational close harmony singers both black and white, early black quartet recordings as well as white (though not nearly as used by whites), and in the growing popularity of the American blackface minstrel shows in the 1800s. Both swipes and falsetto singing are still hallmarks of the barbershop sound. (Henry, James) As a music-major, I grew less and less interested in the study of classical music, and that was a deciding factor in pursuing another subject of study. I don t feel any connection to its style. Barbershop, for me, was an instant hook, and I believe it was because it is a style unique to our country and our culture. As I found out, barbershop has a rich and wonderful history. Though it did have its dark times, (not allowing blacks into the Society not out of racism but out of maintaining peace)
the Society has helped preserve a wonderful art that might have been lost in this growing world of digital music and auto-tuning. The thing about barbershop that most impresses me, is that in order to participate one need no musical knowledge, no ability to play an instrument, no formal training. All you need is a voice and two ears; or one if you are unfortunate. In fact, many of the men in Ambassadors of Harmony cannot read music. Many in the chorus rely on the learning tracks made by Tim Waurick, one of the members in Ambassadors. He makes his living producing learning tracks for many choruses and quartets in the entire society. The fact that many in an International Champion chorus are unable to read music may sound pretty amazing, but simply put: that is barbershop. It is more about listening to the others around you and tuning to them, than it is about the singing that is coming out of your mouth. The human voice is a magical instrument; combining wind and strings, no other instrument is quite like it. Its ability to swipe and tune on the spot is rivalled only by a few instruments.
My experiences tell me that no other combination of instruments can bring tears to eyes of thousands our stir the soul in such a way as the voice. A combination of voices can do that. After changing my search topic to the historical roots of barber shop, I found many answers to my question, but I feel there are still many more. That is so typical of barbershop. Once you find that ringing chord, you begin your quest for another one. The ring never changes, yet it brings more joy time after time and is an endless addiction. Simply put, my search will never end.
Works Cited Cash, Owen C., and Rupert Hall. "Original Invitation 1938." Letter to Many Recipients. MS. Tulsa, Oklahoma. Henry, James Earl. "The Origins of Barbershop Harmony: A Study of Barbershop's Musical Link to Other African American Musics as Evidenced through Recordings and Arrangements of Early Black and White Quartets." Diss. Washington University, 2000. Print. "History of Barbershop." A Cappella Foundation. Web. 23 Mar. 2011. <http://www.acappellafoundation.org/essay/bbshistory.html>. Kerr, Grady. "1938 Was a Very Good Year." Barbershop Harmony Society. Web. 23 Mar. 2011. <http://barbershop.org/1938-was-avery-good-year.html>. Kerr, Grady. "72 Years Ago, It All Started with 26 Men on a Roof." Web. 23 Mar. 2011. <http://barbershop.org/history/how-it-allbegan/26-men-on-a-roof.html>.