Masters of Harmony - 2008 International Barbershop Chorus Champions

[thack89]

I WOULD GIVE MY LEFT ARM TO SING IN THAT GROUP!

[HeathbarVU92]

so good. :) My boyfriend is in masters of harmony and they are going to do so well at internationals! I go to their rehearsals all the time. all of them are so fun to be around :) soooooo GREAT

[signmypoodle]

the beginning to Yona is exactly like the beginning of the ol' mississippi song in 2005!

[cullenbelle]

love how theres like a 12 year old next to a 70 year old 0:52 :P LOVE this!!!

[thecartmans]

everyone really feels the music the make.

just beautiful.

[greenguy444]

WOW ! Absolute perfection. Impecable timing. Allowing the singers to act out their own feeling for the music with abandon, excellent. And great choreograpy for such a large group. Amazing control by the conductor. I said 'WOW' outloud. Thanks for all the hard practice. You are the champions!

[rockerdeej]

i saw a lot of jizz faces O.o

[JRCOLBERT67]

Being from a vocal background my whole life I know what kind of dedication it takes to do something like this, This was an absolutely great vocal performance, anyone that says otherwise just doesn't appreciate it or just plainly isn't into this type of thing.

[horipai]

singing is beautiful but they look like idiots!!

[imasinger58]

@horipai Go back to watching your television would ya? Moron........

[LilKroog]

Never knew the current Westminster director was in this...

[supersingerevan]

@LilKroog Yeah, there's a very strong connection between the Masters and Westminster, many members of Westminster sing and compete in both groups.

[02Jonah]

Just fabulous xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[musicluver1409]

Holy crap! AMAZING!

[LilKroog]

6:58 = OC Times, minus their bass...right?

[apr28]

Count the future members of Westminster Chorus! I see at least 5.

[johnblack03]

What's with the funny faces? They look constipated !

[mpampakos]

****watch this stoned and without sound for a different experience***

[Agrumin]

that's one lucky girl...

[tmac3323]

lol, standing ovation when the song was only halfway over =P that's pretty epic right there xD

[guibox3]

Very pretty. Some of the guys like the one at 0:54 are overdoing the expressions something fierce. Dr. Greg Lyne on his instructional video on a better sounding chorus warned against that over emphasis. There is a difference between emoting and looking like you're constipated.

Masters of Harmony is a top notch chorus no doubt!

[PopperNazi]

@guibox3 As a chorus and quartet contestant I've heard several judges agree with what you say and some who think the complete opposite. That goes for any doctors as well. They were the champions that year for a reason and I would imagine that personal facial expressions like the one at 0:54 were a huge reason why the presentation judges love this chorus as well as any other large chorus and scored them high for it. So obviously I'm all for it! :) And yes these guys are top notch!

[jmiller823]

@Theman112222 So why comment at all?

[The6double]

@Theman112222 Honestly, and I'll remind you, I'm just being honest, this was a terrible comment to put down. if you have any knowledge of music at all, you would know that it is very difficult to achieve a perfect balance in an all men's chorus.

[Theman112222]

@The6double Hey i was just being honest.. Oh and to how hard it is... so??? it's not easy to do music period so.... that's besides the point.

[Theman112222]

@The6double and i can understand why it would be difficult with a bunch of terrible amateur singers. ---- JUST BEING HONEST!

[georgemop]

@Theman112222 Now Theman I gotta ask... Are you mentally retarded? Just being honest!!! anyone in their right mind (unless they are retarded), whether they enjoy this kind of music or not (unless you're retarded), would be impressed with this talent and showmanship. So my deduction is that you are indeed retarded. Congratulations! JUST BEING HONEST!!!

[soundcheck4]

Masters... Every one of them ! Great Job.

[longlivetheloud2]

man, that baffles the mind.

[thelonearranger1]

I think the progression from the F major chord to the A dominant seventh at 7:46 is awesome, and the wave created by the hands further accentuates the effect of the change of harmony and slide from one inversion to another. There are not many amateur groups that can do what these choruses do. It is amazing how they sing with musicality and good intonation while they are doing all that crazy choreography, and, by the way, THAT WAS VERY COOL when they hoisted the guy up!

[MrPete81]

@thelonearranger1 every time I hear that it gives me goosebumps all over!

awesome stuffs! :D

[BeuligXanderSatanPoo]

What's with the timecode in the background of the audio?

Oh yeah, this rocked, regardless of the timecode.

[slimphotog]

Expression is all good, but the guy at :52 looks like he's trying to pass a stone.

[PianoFatso]

I thought the tuning issue was just one Baritone going slightly sharp. I still think these guys are superb. It must be a huge amount of work to get so many voices to the required standard. They entertain with performance as well as singing.

[AntiPrep789]

I was blown away at the passion, how amazing that sounded!

[sesamestreet1980]

on the first line, there is the conductor of westminster chorus :):)

[alitlestar1]

@sesamestreet1980 there are 4 or 5 wc members in the front row.

[Antilles1974]

Bit of tuning problems in the tenors on the final Chord of Wonderful One.

[Antilles1974]

Scratch that, problem is with the leads (?) I don't know, the last chord is all off.

[matrix86]

It's in the leads. The problem is that it sounds like they're pushing it a little too hard and it's causing the pitch to be slightly off. To me, the main problem I heard was between the Leads and the Baritones.

[phen0men0n]

I think it sounds pretty good, almost overtone good, but I'm an instrumentalist.. could be some nuance things I miss when I listen to vocals vs. horns.

[sgtsonny]

Four things I absolutely loved about this performance:

1. The way they all nod their heads at the end of a song as a sign of gratefulness :)

2. The crescendos... how cool were those?

3. The choreo

4. The choreo.. again!

[METALHAMMER911]

any reason why they all move their heads and hands alot ??

[matrix86]

Because that's barbershop. Watch any quartet and any barbershop chorus and you'll see what i'm talking about. Barbershop is all about showing the emotion of a song through both your voice and your motions. I'm working on a quartet right now with members who have only sang in regular choirs, and the hard part is getting them to realize that in barbershop, it's ok to move around, lol.

[holnrew]

But they look silly

[Pianoczareye]

Extraordinarily beautiful and sensitive performance of "Wonderful One" and great arrangement! This is one I'll keep coming back to! Thank you so much for this gorgeous offering!  Absolutely great!

[phantomj05]

They are very good. DVM is still better though. :)

[voice3tausend]

astonishingly different choir! They really feel it in their souls... that's truly worth all the expression :D

[BlueDahila85]

I'm still searching the words... :)

[firsttenor76]

Absolutely beautiful, gave me chills!

[naorsilva]

Hoe many voices we have here??

[FineyLeee]

This is indeed a world-class performance. But it still looks pretty pale compared to AoH's performance the year after. I guess that's why they differ more than 2 percent...

[niremetal]

Apples and oranges. The MoH choreography/presentation is crisper and they produce a fuller sound, though AoH has a flashier performance that also is impressive just because of the size of the chorus. Which I prefer depends on my mood.

[Silory12]

Really really trasspasing my feelings, i really love it!

[luvingChen]

unbelievable

[TromboneMachine]

God.

[COMALiteJ]

Who else had this run through their heads while watching this?

"Ah, it is Yona you seek."

[MobileMsSeana]

Me, me! :)

[fabsterg]

i think its funny how everyone leans in to the coordinater

[markovichf]

Think of it more as leaning towards the audience through the director.

[Solstaro]

Great stuff

[atawhisper]

have watched several of their videos...they are amazing...

[meatloversunite]

7:58

[baddiss74]

That whole slide into it is SIIIIIIIIICK!!!!!!

[meatloversunite]

Not only the slide but the multiple chord changes leading up to it.

[topshelfbari15]

wow that is one big chorus

[dancourse]

omg

[Guthrief87]

Too right!

[ChildMine]

Wow. The sound is amazing, and the choreography of the second song is...amazing!!

[N365PA]

Wonderful work, awesome video!

[signmypoodle]

barbershop dominant seventh....plus 100+ guys.....plus....fortissimo...­WHOA

[SAMIX777]

wonderfull!!!!!!!

[DanishCartoonist]

That bit from 7:39-8:00 is spine-tingling to anyone who loves those barbershop chords!!

[baddiss74]

I completely completely agree!!!! How the hell do these people come up with these amazing arrangements?!!! Hats off to Aaron Dale!!!

[signmypoodle]

flat basses at end of "wonderful one"?

[bobchuseby]

Pretty cool. The MOH sure has a lot of potential. Thanks for posting.

[throwerfan22]

this was AMAZING!!! but 7:30 to 8:00 was my favorite part! :]

[aap1992]

yes indeed! it's wonderful!

[CorneelHolland]

Geweldige voorstelling!!

[signmypoodle]

is the overtone a fifth?

[PsychosisGnome]

The one at the very end? Yes, I believe so. Very specifically, I think it was around a D7. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

[signmypoodle]

actually, i think it is D5.....a minor third above the highest note sung. "sol" of the key...

[Bighead6365]

This is very true. I've sang on the international stage 3 times so far, and each time it just amazes me how deep everything looks. It is a very long way to the audience.

[JessCat606]

extra room for runnin' around? :)

[DLF1651]

I can identify with "feeling" the song, Step. You're right that we can't be maniquens on stage. And I appreciate the intracacies and synchonicity of the choreography. But I see the faces of some of these guys and think, if that's the face they'd be making when actually singing to a woman, that lady would be walking away! :) Likewise as everyone is doing their own thing, I find it distracting from the performance. Last time I saw someone being hoisted up on four people's hands were cheerleaders

[BarbershopHarmony38]

At the same time, the woman you'd be talking to in real life wouldn't be as far away as the audience is from the MOH here.

You have to keep in mind, on stage your movements and facial expressions must be exaggerated so the audience can see them.

[DLF1651]

Years ago I sang barbershop and REALLY enjoyed it.. then someone decided just the quality of voices were no longer enough...the fake enthusiasm and contorted facial expressions have demoralized me. I'll often just listen to postings..but no longer watch. Maybe someday, a chorus will emphasize their singing talent and not worry about trying to replicate child beauty pagents. Phenominal singing talent MOH...no one can take that away from you !

[TLSOK]

That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Barbershop is about ENTERTAINING rather than JUST superior singing. That's what sets it apart from other styles of choral music. You're complaining about the very thing we strive to do.

[DLF1651]

You are entitled to your opinion. As a former member of the Dapper Dan's of Harmony ('70 chorus champions) our focus was on balance/blend, arrangements, harmonies and crispness. We let our voices do "the talking". I still do appreciate the singing quality of the quartets and choruses..not taking that away at all..just no longer care for all the swaying and swooning and over the top "smiles". Keep America Singing !

[JJayHawk9]

It's better they have over-the-top smiles than dead faces. Dead faces=dead sound. Believe me, they wouldn't sing as well without the stage presence which is not the same as choreography. I would much rather listen to singing from live active singers than from dead-panned dummies singing notes and words. You can choose to just listen to it, but when you are listening realize how it would not sound good without the live faces and energy they produce.

-JJ

[Cobyonekanoby]

I totally agree with you on that but i also think that the preformance's are a lot more exciting but because of the youth in harmony act we need exciting preformace in order for kids to be intrested and also if you look at westminster they still have a clean sent while they sing. if they have good motions but no good sining then thats a problem so its just a way to present you self.

[backpocketfoundation]

OH MY GOD the overtone on the last chord was more noticable than any I've ever heard. :O

[RyanFlynn91]

It's clear that Sean Devine does anything in his power to make his vowels sound perfect... But his faces get goofy :-P.

[northwestvocalpoject]

I totally agree :P

[vanish129]

My favorite "RHYTHMS" were in 8:22-8:27 and in 8:32-8:37

[anakinfan12002]

Awesome. amazing job guys.

[vanceperry]

Amazing! Love it! And in HD!

[PockASqueeno]

This HD is taking forever to load...I'm going to keep this open and watch it tomorrow.

[stringX90]

Dang. I can't wait for Anaheim!!

[BarbershopHarmony38]

I checked, it's in the same format as the Ringmasters one I put up, so it should be HD.

I also want to apologize for having to take Ringmasters down. I assumed that Yes Sir, That's My Baby was PD, and it was not. So I had to take it down.

Thanks for understanding,

Jesse

[bordonthestreet]

Ahh, the HD option has magically appeared! (Maybe it takes some extra time to format to HD or something).

It's a shame that it wasn't PD. Jesse, I wonder if I wanted to record a PD song in the multitrack video method, would it be within legal limits to post that full song here on youtube? For instance, if I recorded this song, could I post it on youtube without worrying about having it removed?

[COMALiteJ]

Jesse, have you or the Society movers-and-shakers considered using YouTube's Revenue Sharing feature?

This would cause a targeted ad to appear to the right of the video, and (starting recently) as a user-dismissable overlay at the bottom as well.

The channel owner (you) gets a cut of the advertising revenue! You could then distribute that to the copyright holders (with their advance permission, of course, but getting royalties for the performances should help sweeten the deal, as it were).

[bordonthestreet]

Good thinking, Coma. Though it's a fat chance it would generate enough profit to "sweeten the deal", just yet

[COMALiteJ]

I don't think that profit is the main concern, though certainly an important one.

The main concern is maintaining ownership, and that means charging a fee. Even if the fee is a token one, the fact that money changes hands is enough to maintain clarity of legal ownership.

Remember years ago, when there was a big brouhaha over Disney suing a children's hospital for having an unlicensed mural of Disney characters? A lot of people hated Disney for that, without knowing the whole story.

[COMALiteJ]

While there are valid reasons to be down on Disney, this bit with the children's hospital isn't one of them.

Disney didn't actually sue the hospital. They sent a letter demanding royalties for the use of their trademarks.

The amount of royalty? $1 per annum. One dollar per year.

Disney isn't exactly getting rich off of that, but the important thing is that it maintains their trademarks. Trademarks HAVE to be enforced, or lost (like formica, formerly Formica®).

[tsaeshyan]

So much facial expression on everyone's face. This is a good way for the choral performance.. much more lively and attractive.

[bordonthestreet]

Any chance this bad-boy could go up in HD?