12 May 2023, Issue 1159
Singing out for singers! “It’s like a drug and it’s so good for your health.” That’s how one member of a Tauranga barbershop singing group describes the talent. “With barbershop you get a chord with four parts, four notes and when you get them right you get what they call an overtone and the chords ring – you can
hear it ringing and it goes right through you.” Despite the wondrous feeling, Tauranga’s men’s and women’s barbershop singing groups are only just surviving. The men’s group, ‘Harmony-a-plenty’ used to have 20 members – now they’re down to six. Pictured is four of
them – Ralph Morse, Frank King, Grant Dengate and David Walpole. And so David and his wife Erica, from the women’s group, are making an appeal for new members – male and female. Read more about their story on page 7. Photo: John Borren.