Quartet sets romantic tone for Valentine's Day
ASBURY PARK, N.J. — The tone of a pitch pipe calls them to attention each time they begin, providing foundation for their first chord. They stack their voices up, one after the other, building their four-part a capella harmony.
"Ooo."
"Ooooooo."
"Ooooooooooo."
"Ooooooooooooooo."
By day they're civilians, by night they're precise songbirds, and next month they'll be gifts to dozens of Valentines. From Feb. 11 to 14, for $60, quartets of men from the Chorus of the Atlantic will serenade a sweetheart with two ballads, deliver a rose and snap a photo.
Tenor Terry Schmalzried is a networking contractor with AT&T. Lead Kirk Thomson is director of operations for a direct marketing database company. Bass Allan Dean publishes the Atlantic Highlands Herald. Baritone Bruce Hanson is retired, he plays golf in the summer and spends time maintaining his old house.
They wear white shirts, red ties, navy jackets with gold trim and an anchor embroidered on the breast pocket, a reference to the chorus' nautical name.
Dean recalled going to a nursing home to sing for a member of their chapter. They arrived to find their friend among patients doing physical therapy, and they performed for the whole assembly. They did several old songs, like "Wild Irish Rose" and "Sentimental Journey." The room lit up.
Another time they surprised a mechanic at a garage in Red Bank. The office manager brought the man out, covered in grease and embarrassed. He lightened up by the second tune — the quartet went easy, skipped the love songs and gave him guy songs like "Coney Island Baby."
The oddest outing might have been for a veterinarian. Her husband ordered her a singing Valentine, and a quartet was dispatched. They delivered sweet nothings in a surgery setting, just before she neutered a dog. The dog was right there, though anesthetized and unable to enjoy it.