American Harmony: The Documentary

American Harmony is a documentary film that takes an in-depth look at the world of competitive barbershop singing.  In this issue of Inkless Magazine we will be talking to Aengus James,   Director/Producer of this heartfelt comedy that is sure to put the spring back into the step of barbershop quartets.

(I.M.)  Aengus, as a Director/Producer what lead you and your team at This Is Just a Test Productions to pick up the idea of documenting barbershop quartets?

(A.J.)  I was actually shooting another documentary about this small town Liberal, Kansas when I met a local barbershop chapter.  (I had never even heard of barbershop “chapters” and I was intrigued.  Among them were four guys who every Saturday night for years would dress up as farmers (three were actually professional farmers in real life and one worked for the gas company so I guess, technically, only one of them was dressed up) but they would sing the same exact songs each weekend for mostly elderly Canadians who were taking a “Great Plains Tour” and one night they’d stopped in this small Motel outside of Liberal.  After a few weeks of casually following this quartet the initial flattery, I think, wore off and in retrospect I think they were a little freaked out by me.  So, after rehearsal one night they explained to me that they were, well, just an average group of barbershoppers and that if I wanted to see really good performances then I should go to the International Championships of Barbershop Singing.  Again, not really knowing what barbershop was, I remember I kept thinking they were sending me to a hair-cutting championship.   That year the Championships was in Salt Lake City.  Not knowing what to expect, I went just to check it out and filmed what ultimately ended up being the opening of the American Harmony Documentary.

After I came back home.  I worked with my first editor to cut a trailer of what we shot.  One of the first people I showed it to was my friend Colin King Miller.  I asked him if he’d produce it with me and fortunately he said yes.   This is just a Test productions was sort of a tongue and cheek reference to our ability to make a film.

(I.M.)  Your documentary takes on the theme of American Idol, but with a comedic twist.  Did you envision this from the start, or did the film assume this direction throughout production?

(A.J.)  On that first trip one of the questions I asked several of the singers was if they thought of themselves as potential contestants on American Idol.  Almost all of the responses were variations of what Roger Payne from the quartet Reveille told me, “Harmony is a rich concept and it’s not just a musical concept for us.”  That line stuck with me throughout.

Barbershop, is an art-form that, stresses perfect unison with four people to create chords that when sung correctly can actually produce additional notes that are not being sung.  Four voices can actually produce 5, 6, or 7 notes.  In barbershop singing, the whole is truly greater than the sum of it’s parts.  And that whole exists because of four men working together to achieve one common goal.  This ultimately became the central theme of the film, perhaps most explored with Max Q who really struggles with non-musical harmony because of their egos and their status as idols in barbershop.  The question becomes, can these highly individualized singers win the gold medal of barbershop?  I think the answer to that question is in what Roger had told me about harmony.

This certainly relates to American Idol and perhaps American culture, but really these guys are so much cooler than American Idol because, although they want to win as badly, and they take singing just as seriously, they don’t take themselves as seriously (and if they do, the daily pursuit of harmony re-calibrates that thinking).  Plus, there is no money in barbershop, so you know it’s a pure representation of their true self.

(I.M.)  What is the origin of barbershop quartet singing?

(A.J.) When I was making the film I had one person ask me why I was making a documentary on the movie Barbershop (with Ice Cube)?   I know for sure that barbershop music did not originate in that film.  There are some known and some unknown things about where barbershop came from.  Its’ uniquely American, a melting pot of a whole bunch of cultures, German, English, but mostly African, and a style born out of 18^th century American society.  Many of the hallmarks of the style can be traced to Africa and subsequently to black neighborhoods in America.  From what I understand, it basically was born out of a handful of guys standing around on a street corner and trying to recreate the popular music of the day.

Whites were intrigued by it and brought their own cultural influences to it.  A cappella harmony was also popular in Germany and England where many immigrants had come from.  Barbershops were a popular gathering place in some European countries and that continued in America, so some people say that the name came from men hanging around in a barbershop and just singing.  But really, I think it’s fair to say that it’s just like America, a melting pot of many cultures and influences.

(I.M.)  Your documentary focuses on some of the biggest names from that particular genre of music.  How did you come to work with such acts as Max Q, Reveille, OC Times, and Vocal Spectrum?

(A.J.)  Since I obviously didn’t know who was going to win the Championships that year, and I wanted to make sure that we didn’t miss out on being able to feature the winning quartet in the film, we covered approximately 15 different quartets in depth.  We had a good idea of who the top 10 or so quartets were and then we picked a few more quartets that had interesting and unique backgrounds that we thought would make for interesting story lines.  We then spent a lot of time with each quartet at the competitions and at home, and it wasn’t until we were done filming and began the editing process that we “found” the quartets and the storylines that we wanted to showcase.  Truth be told, we had enough footage to make 5 or 6 different versions of the film, but luckily we were able to work with some fantastic editors, including Kate Amend (who has edited two Oscar-winning documentaries), and they helped us weed through the footage to find the best material.

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