Raised in barbershop music, teen directs

HINGHAM -- If you attend the annual Christmas show put on by the South Shore Men of Harmony on Dec. 3, you might notice that it's one group where seniority doesn't count.

That's because the group is directed by its youngest member, Pembroke's Dan Costello, 19. Costello, who joined the group when he was only 10, was elected director by the group's board last May.

The South Shore Men of Harmony is a 32-member barbershop chorus, chartered in 1951 as the Scituate chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society. The other men of harmony are more, ahem, mature than Costello, who grew up singing alongside his grandfather, John Brennan of Pembroke's Bryantville section, who has been a member of the group for 30 years.

A woman at one of the group's performances asked Costello which of the men was his grandfather.

``I told her, `They're all my grandfathers,' " Costello said recently, laughing at his own quip.

One of those ``grandfathers" is Bill Fitzgerald of Weymouth, 74, a barbershopper for 32 years, who handles publicity for the group.

``He's very even-tempered, but he seems to be able to get his point across."

Fitzgerald said Costello goes out of his way to attend competitions and shows that will help him become a better director.

``When I was young, I went to the barbershop shows and helped out behind the stage," said Costello.

``I started learning the songs by listening to my grandfather do his homework. The only problem was I was learning all the bass parts."

Finally, after repeated requests to attend a rehearsal, his grandfather relented. Costello joined the group as a tenor at age 10 before his voice eventually settled to its natural baritone.

Costello trained this summer at Harmony University in St. Joseph, Mo. Run by the Barbershop Harmony Society, it offers courses for new directors such as Costello, individual singers looking to improve their skills, and quartets.

He's hoping to transfer that training by working with members one-on-one from time to time or working with an entire voice section.

The graduate of Silver Lake High now attends Massasoit Community College, where he's majoring in criminal justice. He thought about going into music education but decided he liked it better as a hobby.

``I didn't want to make it a job. I wanted it to be something I could go to, to get away from a job," he said.

Costello has many music credentials.

He played the oboe and performed in a production of the musical ``Les Miserables" at Silver Lake. He sang with the Massachusetts All-State Chorus twice at Symphony Hall, and in 2005 was the first person in the history of Silver Lake to be picked for the All-Eastern Chorus, selected from 13 states. He was one of only six picked from Massachusetts that year.

The way barbershop singers have been portrayed on TV or movies in the past can best be summed up by the scenes of the quartet singing ``Lida Rose" to Robert Preston's Harold Hill in the movie version of ``The Music Man."

That piece has little resemblance to today's repertoire, which for Costello's group includes arrangements of the Beatles' hit ``Yesterday" or The Drifters' ``Under the Boardwalk."

If the chorus members are looking for an arrangement of a particular song or hears something they like done by another chorus, they can go online to a barbershop music library and buy the music and so-called learning CDs.

``Most of the members of the chorus don't read music," Costello said. ``They learn by ear."

The group rehearses Tuesday nights at the Hingham Community Center and makes appearances all over the South Shore and Cape Cod during the year.

This year's annual show is Dec. 3 at 2 p.m. at Chapman Middle School in East Weymouth.

``The time of year gives us a chance to do both our regular repertoire and Christmas music," said Costello.

Barbershop groups stress the fellowship involved in getting together with other like-minded men.

There are 30,000 members in more than 820 chapters of the Barbershop Harmony Society in the United States and Canada, the world's largest all-male singing society.

Approximately 2,000 quartets are registered with the Barbershop Harmony Society headquarters; an estimated 1,000 more quartets are active but not officially registered.

``We have fun doing what we do," Costello said.

``In the end, we're all just men who like to sing."

For more information on the South Shore Men of Harmony, go to southshoremenofharmony.org or call Bill Fitzgerald at 781-337-SING (7464).

Rich Fahey can be reached at richwrong@comcast.net.