Show quartet 1 singers sought by army too many tenors found not enough baritones FORT FOHT DIX N J the trouble with the army la Is it has too many tenors and not enough baritones or basses this disparity at first glance seems hardly worth noticing however it t Is s a source of grave concern to a number ot of high ranking officers for this reason it may upset the ardys current plan as outlined in a defense department part ment pamphlet of organizing at least one barbershop quartet in every service club and tactical unit in the country the snafu came to light when the ardys office of special services started a 60 day course here in the techniques of soldier show entertainment tain ment the idea is to teach a small group of soldiers about 50 in this case to teach other soldiers to entertain themselves where the tenor heavy army ran into trouble with the heart of the music phase listed as barbershop quartet singing the army neglected to stockpile enough baritones and basses A bar berhow quartets table of organization as the army puts it calls for one tenor one lead usually a tenor one baritone and one bass we just dont seem to have enough baritones or basses complained capt H H copeland chief of the special service music section we have plenty of tenors though he added copeland attributed the overabundance of high voiced soldiers to the youthfulness of army the average age of our soldiers is less than 19 he said he explained that most young men have tenor voices acquiring a deeper pitch as they grow older unfortunately he pointed out many young soldiers also acquire army discharges as they grow older despite the drawbacks however copeland said this type of singing was best tor for the ardys purposes |