vocal harmony

WHEN the Jerusalem Post interviewed me in May 2001 in relation to the opening of the Mount Carmel Terraces in Haifa, Israel, one of the questions was what I savored most about growing up Catholic.

“Liturgical chant,” I replied. Raised in a devout Catholic family in the early 1970s, I bathed in the rich but fading glow of church polyphony, just before the ethereal pipe organs and full choirs fell to the folksy guitars and congregational singers of Vatican II church music. Those childhood harmonies and tonalities have shaped my ability to sing in vocal harmony. Today, as bass singer in a cappella groups, I am glad to share with audiences and fellow singers the synergetic power of vocal harmony to move hearts and minds—the same power that affected me so many years ago in the neighborhood parish.