Barbershop Chorus Gives New Option for Valentine’s Day Gift
If you don’t know what to get that special someone for Valentine’s Day, the Westchester Chordsmen have an idea for you.
Quartets from the barbershop chorus will make the rounds to homes, offices, hospitals and businesses throughout Westchester and Putnam counties on Thursday, Feb. 13 and Friday, Feb. 14 to surprise recipients with singing valentines.
For a price starting at $60, a spouse or significant other can be serenaded with two love songs, a rose and a valentine’s card that can be redeemed for two tickets to the Westchester Chordsmen’s May concert in White Plains. Reservations can be made by phone or online but must be completed before this Sunday, Feb. 9.
Howard Sponseller, who has been a member of the Chordsmen and has been part of the singing valentines for more than a decade, said the satisfaction of seeing someone completely surprised or overcome with emotion has been a fun and rewarding part of the annual tradition. And those who will receive the singing valentines are truly surprised, especially when the singers show up in tuxedos. The recipients are not given a clue beforehand, Sponseller said.
“It’s incredible to watch the expression on people’s faces when we sing to them,” he said.
The Westchester Chordsmen, which formed in 1953, has been offering singing valentines for more than 20 years. For this year, about a dozen quartets have formed from the membership of the roughly 60-member chorus.
Those making the reservations can choose from several standard love songs, including “Let Me Call You Sweetheart,” Love Me Tender” and “I Don’t Mind Being Alone (When I’m Alone With You).”
Reservations for the $60 basic package is for one of three four-hour windows on either day, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., 1 to 5 p.m. or 5 to 9 p.m. The two $90 packages include one rose but arrival within a one-hour window or a dozen roses within a four-hour timeframe. For $120, sweethearts can get the dozen roses and the guaranteed one-hour window. All options include the concert, which is scheduled for Saturday, May 17.
“We’ll go wherever romance abounds,” Sponseller said.
In his years participating in the singing valentines, Sponseller said the most unusual venue he’s gone to was an auto repair shop. Another time, his group had consecutive reservations at a nursing home when a husband and wife called to have the quartet sing to the other–and neither one knew what their spouse had planned.
Sponseller said they have kept the song options pretty basic since the chorus regularly practices a handful of standards. That way, in case one member of a quartet is unavailable a substitute member can be seamlessly included.
For reservations or more information, call 914-713-4311 or visit www.chordsmen.org/singing-valentines.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
