Holiday in four-part harmony
They made a teacher at Lewis and Clark High School blush bright red.
They hid inside another man’s office, and sprang out in song when he opened the door.
“We even made a whole room full of ladies cry,” said Meisha Hemenway, 16, the lead of Just 4 Now, an all-girl barbershop quartet from Central Valley High School.
The foursome – consisting of Hemenway, 16, and Kali Clark, Anna Daines and Alex Mackey, all 15 – had all kinds of people across Spokane gushing as they belted out “Mr. Sandman” and “I Love You Truly” in perfect harmony for Valentine’s Day.
To raise money for quartet competitions, the girls charged $25 for a serenade, and a single red rose.
“That was so wonderful,” said Heather Crabb, the receptionist at Central Valley Pet Vet on Sullivan Road, after the quartet’s last performance of the day.
Veterinarian Keith Clark hired the group to sing to his office staff. It helps that he’s also the father of Kali Clark.
“It’s been so much fun,” Daines said. “We’ve been all over the place.”
The quartet is a recent addition to the high school.
The girls, all sophomore members of the CV choir, thought it would be fun to try a different style of singing.
“Our teacher is real into barbershop music, he plays it all the time,” Daines said.
They started singing together a few months back, and something clicked.
“We’re probably going to be together for the rest of high school,” Clark said.
They hope to put the money they raised Monday toward travel and registration costs associated with competing.
The group plans to travel to South Carolina next year for the Rising Star Quartet Contest, a feature of the three-day International Education Symposium produced by Sweet Adelines International, a vocal music education organization.
The group specializes in helping young women quartets.
“Barbershop music probably isn’t the most popular genre of music, but it’s probably the most fun,” Clark said. “You see a lot of old men, or retired women. But not young women.
“But I’m really starting to like it. It’s addicting.”