The STORY behind the phenomenon!
Appearing as SOHO Chordmasters, their first public performance was in competition in March at the 2008 'Harrogate Music Festival' (Choral section) winning first prize against some incredibly gifted choirs.
Continuing as simply, 'Chordmasters', the A Cappella group performed various shows in aid of charity, one of which was in front of Sir Jimmy Saville OBE, as well as in a subsequent concert at Leeds Town Hall for 'The Lord Mayor of Leeds'.
Proving their competition prowess was no fluke, the group retained their trophy winning status at the 2009 Harrogate Music Festival… two in a row!!
So how do they do it?
All the singers have a background in Barbershop Harmony singing and are members of BABS 'The British Association of Barbershop Singing'.
We are also affiliated to a new UK organisation called 'Sing A Cappella!'
Two of our members, Tim Braham and Vaughan Dooley have won top BABS honours as National Quartet Gold medal winners and there is quite a diverse membership, taking in all ages (range 18 to 72!) as well as from 'all walks of life'!
Within the Chordmaster membership, there are no less than 3 GPs, a professional radio spokesperson, a Camelot employee, a company director, a student dentist, a financial advisor…to name but a few of the day time occupations!
One of the lead singers, Andy Salter, who runs his own company by day, is also the chorus director for 'Spirit of Harmony' and he describes his Chordmaster time as being his "sanctuary".
One of the basses, Dave Whittle has a background in singer/songwriter/guitarist territory, with a history of reaching the final of 2 National Pop Songwriting competitions and also winning the inaugural BABS Barbershop Songwriting Competition in Llandudno in May of this year (2009).
Dave has recorded and released 2 CD albums of some of his pop songs, 'Bending The Rules' (1998) and 'Penguins in the Desert' (2005).
Within Chordmasters there are two Top 10 National Award winning Quartets, Qube , who reached the final 6 this year (again!)
The other quartet is called Quadrahedron and they not only placed 9th in the UK but actually also won the 'Most Improved Quartet' trophy this year! The combination octet of these 2 quartets sang Dave's song to win the songwriting competiton in May, calling themselves 'Qubrahedron' for the one off event!
The group aims to sing challenging material yet also entertain at the same time and indeed won the Harrogate Music Festival Competition this year singing an 8-part a cappella version of 'Scarborough Fair' (thank you to Dr Stan Engebretson for the arrangement).
Future plans include visiting the villages around York to showcase A Cappella and Barbershop singing, with the hope of recruiting people who love to sing, to the Mother Chorus 'Spirit of Harmony'.
The chorus rehearses between 7.30pm -10pm every Thursday evening in The Riley Smith Hall, in the centre of Tadcaster, ending up in Tadcaster Social Club (ahem…just over the road) for some sandwiches and laryngeal lubrication plus of course, some further but rather more informal, singing!
The chorus, who are the current BABS National Bronze Medal Winners, are particularly looking out for new bass recruits this term - so if there are any REAL men out there, please do get in touch!!!