BRUNSWICK

For Chris Ferguson, director of the all-women Royal River Chorus, barbershop is a family affair: Laura Abraham, the choreographer of the group as well as one of the tenors, is her daughter, and Lily Sands, her granddaughter, is also in the chorus.

“It just kind of made sense, seeing them do it my whole life,” Lily shrugged, smiling.

In the Nor’easters Barbershop Chorus, there are family ties, too. Kathy Robitaille directs the chorus, which includes her husband Ray, one of the basses.

But however you got into barbershop — whether you were pulled in by a parent or sibling, or you were looking for an activity to do in a new town — they’ll make you feel like family anyway.

“For most guys it’s, they like to sing, but really it’s the camaraderie,” Kathy Robitaille said about why the guys in the Nor’easters love barbershop. “That’s what brings them back.”

“People come for the singing, but they stay for the friendships that they build,” Abraham agreed. “It’s very rewarding.”

The passion and friendship are obvious, meeting with them or watching them perform. While there are variations in groups’ styles, compositions and competitiveness, this is something they share.

The Nor’easters and Royal River — the two choruses performing at a fundraiser for Unitarian Universalist Church of Brunswick on Saturday — are simply two local parts of a huge barbershop network, extending across countries and continents, and always striving to expand even further. An international community T his is something unique about barbershop: Every barbershop chorus is a chapter of an international organization. The traditionally male organization, Barbershop Harmony Society, has more than 20,000 members worldwide. The first female organization, Sweet Adelines International, has slightly more, at 22,000. A second female organization called Harmony Inc. split off from Sweet Adelines in 1959, and currently has around 2,000 members.

The Nor’easters chorus was chartered with the Barbershop Harmony Society in 1966; Royal River with Sweet Adelines in 1985.

Choruses within each organization, registered as non-profits, sing the same distinct style of music, a four-part a cappella harmony, and even have a common songbook that allows them to sing with nearly any chorus in the world. Groups may attend local, regional, national and international competitions and conferences in order to meet other members and learn from one another.

The Nor’easters choose not to compete, but Royal River attends at least one competition every year — and they show up in style.

At the regional competition this year, they placed third in the division of mid-sized choruses and fourth overall. They’ve gone to the Sweet Adeline International competition three times. They’re theatrical and flashy and impressive, wearing sequins that sparkle in the stage lights as they dance and sing. The Nor’easters’ Ray Robitaille even compared them to the singing Rockettes.

“People couldn’t believe how much sound we were creating for the size of our chorus,” said Ferguson, “but we work very heavily on our vocal skills.”

She has served as the chorus’s director for a total of 16 years, but has been a Sweet Adeline in various choruses for 43 years.

“Our main focus is taking what you have, your vocal gift, and expanding it to be 100 percent of who you are and what you can be,” said Ferguson.

Putting on a performance

The Nor’easters may not compete, but they love to entertain, albeit in slightly less glamorous venues.

Along with concerts on stages and in churches, they’ve performed in construction sites, schools, offices and even a mechanic’s garage, delivering singing valentines. They also visit rehab facilities or hospitals, places where they know their singing can brighten even the darkest of circumstances.

Once, they visited a member of the chorus who had been hospitalized.

“We didn’t stop at the desk and ask permission,” said tenor Charlie Kettell. “We just went in to sing, and after about 10 minutes some nurse showed up, and we thought she was going to throw us out. She said, ‘No, would you go sing to the lady down the hall?’”

“The things you can do with music,” mused another tenor Al Sargent. “It’s hard to explain, but once you’ve experienced it you don’t want to give it up.”

Royal River has also performed in a variety of venues, from retirement homes to Portland Sea Dogs’ games. No matter where they are, Ferguson said, “We’re trying very hard to make sure that our music touches everybody and that people come away feeling that we touched their hearts.”

“I always tell the girls, somebody out there needs to hear this today,” she added.

At the concert on Saturday, both the Nor’easters and Royal River will perform a varied repertoire, with some songs departing from the traditional conception of barbershop. It’s one of their attempts to modernize the style and make It accessible to more people.

“What we’re really trying to do is shed that image that we’re a bunch of old guys with striped suits and straw hats,” said Sargent. “It’s gone far beyond that now.”

Expansion efforts

For the Nor’easters, attracting younger singers is the challenge, since many young men leave for college and then become too busy. They, along with the broader international organization, still try to encourage young people to join barbershop by sponsoring kids and paying for them to go to camp or barbershop competitions.

The music is the place to start, Sargent said.

“The idea is to try to make the sound that we create be relevant to younger audiences,” he said, “because our existence is dependent on nurturing that interest right from the get-go.”

There have been pushes for greater inclusivity on the national and international levels, too.

On Tuesday, the Barbershop Harmony Society announced that it will allow women to become full members of the international organization. There have also been ongoing efforts to change the primarily white image of barbershop, especially in light of the fact that the style and arrangement of music had its origins in traditionally black barbershops in the 1930s.

Ferguson acknowledges that Royal River, made up of nearly all white women, must take steps toward inclusivity.

“If you look at our card and you’re a woman of color, it doesn’t look like there’s a space for you on our risers, but there so is,” she said. “But a picture is worth a thousand words and we’re not going to get anywhere if we look like an all-white-women organization.”

“We’re wanting to change the image of barbershop,” added Abraham. “We’re a learning organization and we’re always learning new things. Learning how to grow as an organization, and learning how to be better singers, better humans.”

And they, along with the members of the Nor’easters, are doing it in the best way they know how: Singing about it, loud and proud, conveying their love and passion for barbershop and hoping someone will want to join, too.

IF YOU GO:

WHAT: UUCB Concerts for a Cause: Barbershop Bash

WHERE: Unitarian Universalist Church of Brunswick, 1 Middle St., Brunswick

WHEN: June 23, 7:30 p.m.

HOW MUCH: $15 in advance, $18 at the door, $8 for students and children

INFO: uubrunswick.org/concerts-for-acause/, (207) 729-8515