Madrigals students participate in barbershop quartet

As many Madrigals performance, choir concerts and musicals have shown, the halls of De Soto High School are filled with many talented singers.

Juniors Emma Bascom, Paden Bedford, Simon Couch and sophomore Kennedy Forshey took their singing abilities outside of DHS this holday season.

These four students formed a barbershop quartet and sang holiday music together at a local church.

When the idea for a quartet was presented, it was unknown who would participate, but Bedford had the idea of who he thought should form the group.

“We were asked to do a random quartet. She [Copeland] didnt have any preferences, but I go to the Methodist church, so I had the idea to pick those who were going to do it,” Bedford said.

The group sang songs that they also sung in Madrigals, such as Carol of the Bells, If Christmas Isn’t Love, Here We Come a Caroling and Peace on Earth.

“I really liked singing Carol of the Bells, because it sounds really cool as a group, but it sounds really awesome when you have just four people singing the different parts,” Bascom said. “Everyone in the audience looked really impressed.”

Even with little practice, the group was pleased with their performance.

“It was really fun being able to perform, because we were told by a lot of people that it sounded really good,” Bedford said. “We were really happy because we only practiced once.”

In addition to performing well together, the group also got along well.

“We got along super well. Jack Torline was originally supposed to be in it, but then Simon [Couch] came and took his place three days before and he came in seamlessly,” Bascom said. “Simon added a lot to it.”

So far, the group has only sang at one church, the United Methodist Church, but they have been asked to perform at the De Soto Baptist Church as well.

The group looks forward to performing together again.

“[My favorite part was] the look on everybody’s faces, and they all looked really happy,” Bascom said. “That was just really cool to see.”