News Reporter
Being old-fashioned sometimes has its benefits, among which can be a quality of undeniable charm. Tone It Down, an a cappella group formed at CMU last May, has this in spades.
“When I used to think of barbershop, I would think of those guys from the 1920s with their striped shirts and top hats and canes,” founder Jordan Christie said.
Christie, 23, was first introduced to barbershop in his senior year of high school in Las Vegas when he joined a barbershop quartet with classmate (and CMU alum) Kyle Cooper.
“So when I got here, I kind of communicated with him and started asking guys around if they wanted to start a group, so these guys were pretty enthusiastic about it,” Christie said.
Answering the call were fellow music students Hans Snell, 19, Daniel Kell, 22, and Kyle Thompson, 22, who, like Christie in high school, was fresh to the a cappella style.
“I didn’t really get into barbershop until I met these guys. I’ve always tried to keep an open mind and say yes to every opportunity that has come my way,” Thompson said.
Barbershop music is a form of a cappella reminiscent of an old jazz sound, whereas plain a cappella is more influenced by modern pop music, according to Christie. While Tone It Down focuses more on singing and lyrics, they also imitate the sound instruments, such as the “bum-bum” of the bass and the more delicate, higher notes of horns.
Tone It Down is a true partnership in that each singer contributes his own integral part to any given song.
“I’m what you listen to, I’m the melody, I’m the words, the line that everyone goes away whistling,” Kell, who sings lead, said.
Christie provides the bass while Snell sings tenor, which he describes as the “high, sparkly stuff at the top.” Additionally, Thompson, the group’s baritone, describes his part as “the glue that holds the chorus together.”
The group’s name derives from a happy accident that occurred the middle of rehearsal. Wondering what they could call themselves, Thompson, reacting to the excitement, said, ”Hey guys, tone it down!”
“We were like, ‘No way, there it is,’” Snell said.
Tone It Down performed most recently at the President’s Dinner for the Alumni Association on Oct. 24. Tone It Down’s Facebook page can be found at www.facebook.com/toneitdownanotch.
amaech@mavs.coloradomesa.edu
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