April Barbershopper of the Month - Kurt Hornbacker

“99% percent of success is just showing up.” Well, that saying was clearly evidenced in the New Dimension Chorus’s selection for Barbershopper of the Month for April 2009. Kurt Hornbacker was April’s honoree. Kurt has collected his second BOTM in his two year tenure with the chorus, and was the first to recognize the fame that comes with writing a biography for the New Dimension Notes. He joined New Dimension in August 2007 singing Lead. This past January, Chorus Director Demaster Survine, asked Kurt to sing Baritone, as the chorus was often light on Baritones and heavy on Leads for any given performance.

Kurt willingly took the challenge and has striven to learn the Baritone part for the entire New Dimension performance repertoire. To help himself in this endeavor, he joined with Ed Graf, Bob Horwitz, and Kevin Smith to form SBlendid Tonics in September 2008. They performed at the Chorus Christmas Show in December, and at several Chorus Sing-Outs since. SBlendid Tonics will be performing their first show at the Livermore/Pleasanton Elks Lodge on Tuesday, June 2.

Joining the SBlendid Tonics had helped Kurt in several ways. He got to know three other Chorus members very well. He has learned several techniques from the quartet members that have improved his singing for the chorus. Finally, he has been able to put a more active face on for the performances. Kurt feels that quarteting is one of the most valuable training techniques available to all barbershoppers.

New Dimension’s qualification for District Contest in October has Kurt really jazzed. He has noticed the significant improvement of the chorus over his short two years, especially when Demaster is able to get everyone to keep their “head in the game.” Looking forward to even better scores for the Chorus in Sacramento.