ASHLAND — When the Singing Kernels took the stage Saturday for their annual Christmas show, they sang selections from “The Music Man,” the musical perhaps most closely associated with the barbershop harmonies that are their forte.
The program choice may also have been appropriate for director Carl Taylor, who is stepping down after 15 years at the helm, since many of the Kernels would point to Taylor as a standard-bearer for barbershop music in the Tri-State.
“He’s a great musician,” said John Barker, who sang a solo with the Kernels Saturday and has sung with Taylor off and on for years. And a discerning director too, Barker observed. “He knows when you go flat and if you’re too sharp.”
Taylor, 64, has been with the Kernels since the quartet he sang with in 1989 organized a chapter of a national barbershop singing association. Their organizational meeting drew 16 singers and within the first few years the chapter had grown to more than 40 members.
Taylor has been director for all but the first two years.
“I’ve had a wonderful time. These guys are the best around. But I had the sense that it was time for someone else to take on the role,” he said.
Barbershop singing, usually associated with quartets of men clad in straw hats, sleeve garters and other early 20th century garb, is an American style of singing — a capella with four parts, tenor, lead, baritone and bass.
The melody is carried mostly by the lead, which is the part Taylor sings.
“But the fun and beauty of it comes from creating harmony with four voices,” Taylor said.
When the voices come together just so, they mesh and create overtones; Taylor refers to it as ringing chords. “We live to ring chords,” he said.
Taylor has directed several area high school bands, including Boyd County, Raceland and Rock Hill. He currently teaches music at Boyd County High School.
He plans to remain active in the chapter by singing, arranging music and writing for some of the shows.
The new director will be Paul Hesson of Chesapeake. Taylor believes Hesson will bring a new perspective to the group, perhaps in a different musical direction.
MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or at (606) 326-2652.
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