By Azarish Ali
Thought to have originated from American Barbers entertaining their customers during the 1830s, Barbershops are conventionally an all-male or all-female quartet branded by ‘A Capella’ singing with three voices harmonising to the melody of a fourth voice.
The Westlake barbershop quartet “Virtutti”, (Nick Curry, Matthew Bennett, Blake Scanlen and Anthony Ji) has had a long and successful history. This year, yet again, “Virtutti” gained the rank of Auckland Champions in the annual ‘Young Singers In Harmony’ competitions. This is the sixth consecutive year in which they have achieved this grade. In addition to the success of “Virtutti” an additional Westlake Boys quartet named ‘Deez Notes’ competed in the YSIH competition. Due to complications, ‘Deez Notes’ was unable to participate in the Auckland division and were forced to become a ‘Wildcard’ entry in the Hamilton division. They performed to a very high standard and emerged with the highest score in that division.
Both quartets have been selected to compete in the national finals, which is set to be held in Wellington on the 14th of September 2016, and are working diligently to produce their greatest sound in hope to not only represent the school but also create beautiful music.