Texas Millionaires Chorus
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The Texas Millionaires are a men's a cappella chorus based in Fort Worth, Texas. A member of the Southwestern District of the Barbershop Harmony Society, the Millionaires have been performing throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex for over 50 years. From 1951-1998, they were known as the Cowtown Chorus.
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[edit] Beginnings
In March, 1951, while copy editor of the Fort Worth Press newspaper, Barney Morris, a former member of the Corpus Christi, Texas chapter, ran various articles inviting men to join a new barbershop chapter. This attracted a nucleus of approximately 35 men to form a temporary local chapter which included several service men from Carswell Air Force Base, with previous singing experience from their home town chapters.
Mr. Morris petitioned the society for a temporary charter. It was issued on July 5, 1951. By this time the chorus had 34 men. During this year, meetings were held each Monday evening at the downtown YMCA, radio station KWBU, and at the City Recreation Hall on Vickery Street. The Fort Worth chapter was sponsored by the Dallas 'Big D' chapter. Fort Worth was issued a permanent charter on July 5, 1952 with 48 men on board.
[edit] History
The Fort Worth chapter chartered in 1952, reached the "Century Club" of 100 members in 1959, then peaked out with 104 members in 1960 under the leadership of President Glenn Hutton and Vice President Max Gwathmy.
From 1957 through 1982 the membership fluctuated from 33 to 49 members. From 1982 to the present, membership has been 50-79 men.
After years of hiding in the sidelines of the Southwestern District as a mid B-level chorus, the Cowtown Chorus hired a young director named Phil McShan. Phil had been singing for several years with the International Champion Vocal Majority, and immediately the chorus saw a marked improvement in their performance level. The chorus approved and adopted a new name in 1997, the Texas Millionaires Chorus.
They scored a 66.3% average in 1997, the first contest with McShan directing, moving up to a 75.7% in 1998. The climb continued to a 79.2% in 1999, a 79.8% in 2000, and an 81.8% in 2001. After making quite an impact in their first few contests, the newly renamed Texas Millionaires leveled off for a few years, hovering at 2nd/3rd place in the district, right below the cutoff for a wild card invitation to International.
[edit] Scarecrows
As 2004 rolled around, the Millionaires began to evaluate what it might take for them to break through the wall and score high enough to qualify for International. Eventually, the idea of a theatrical package was agreed upon. The chorus would perform as scarecrows, singing If I Only Had a Brain from The Wizard of Oz, and a parody uptune about blackbirds. choreographer Cindy Hansen, who had done several gold medal winning visual packages in recent years, was drafted to put it together. In October 2004, the Millionaires competed in Richardson, Texas at district, and again placed third, but scored an 82.2% average, by far the best score in the chapter's history. The chorus received a wild card invitation to the Int'l chorus contest in Salt Lake City for July, 2005.
[edit] Salt Lake City
The International Chorus contest in Salt Lake City was to be a new experiment. 12 wild card choruses would travel to the city and compete against ONE ANOTHER on Thursday of the convention week. From those 12, 6 would be selected to compete in the international chorus finals on Saturday. The Texas Millionaires were among the only choruses competing who were on their first trip to International. The tension was high and the expectations were as well.
The announcement on Thursday afternoon that the Millionaires had made the finals was indeed a triumphant moment for the chorus. They were the only "newbie" chorus to make the top 6 wild cards, and went on to compete Saturday and placed 17th. the scarecrow package was very well received in the international community, and the Millionaires had finally put themselves on the map.
[edit] Changes
In May 2005, director McShan announced to the chorus that he would be retiring. The strain of a growing family and his responsibilities in the Vocal Majority quickly became too much to handle. After a short search, assistant director Tom Jackson took the reins as director. Tom is a music educator himself, having earned a Bachelor of Music Education and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Texas Christian University. Tom has also won 4 gold medals singing bass in the Vocal Majority. The chorus competed in Corpus Christi, Texas on October 27, 2006 and rose to second place in the Southwestern District, earning a wild card invitation to the 2007 International convention in Denver, Colorado in July 2007.
