Wichita Northwest High’s barbershop quartet off to international competition

When Michael Mays began as vocal music instructor at Wichita Northwest High School four years ago, he wanted to introduce his students to one of his passions — barbershop singing.

“I started bringing kids in and just singing a capella a little bit,” Mays recalled. “We just started getting it together. And then I was like, ‘what if we sang songs? What if we put this on the concert?’ And it sort of evolved into what if we had not only one group, but let’s have multiple groups.”

Mays didn’t call it “barbershop,” instead using the term “tags.”

Interest grew, and a few years ago a student brought in a video from a contest for the Barbershop Harmony Society.

“We kind of looked at each other and we were like, ‘we could do it and we could be the champions of that,’ ” Mays said. “And then 2024, we were.”

Indeed, a quartet from Northwest called Highkey! won the junior (18 and younger) barbershop champions at the 2024 international competition in New York.

This year’s entry, Zenith, will compete in San Antonio this weekend.

“Our name Zenith kind of originates from a space term,” said Len Shank, one of the singers, “. . . the highest point in the sky for a star is the zenith.”

The quartet also includes Henry Millar, Isabel Santiago-Morrison and the lone holdover from last year’s group, lead singer Cam Roberts.

Each quartet performs one song. For Zenith, it’s “Cut, Print … Moving On,” from the 2012 TV series “Smash,” scheduled to become a Broadway stage show this spring.

“These songs have to be performed at such a level that they understand what the song is about and can accurately portray the emotion and the message of the song,” Mays said. “So we really thought for the vocalists that we have, a ballad maybe wouldn’t be our best choice because we feel like the energy of the quartet is very up.”

Once the song was selected, an arranger was commissioned to produce backing tracks, and Zenith began months of rehearsal not long after the school year began.

“I actually love the song a lot. So, I haven’t gotten sick of it. It’s a little bit tiring to sing,” Roberts said. “It’s a crazy range I have to belt really high and then like kind of stretch really low But physically, maybe, but I really like the song, so I haven’t gotten like exhausted of it.”

“We’ll be tired after the contest,” Mays said. “This sort of work that they have to do is different than the type of work they do during a typical choir. I’m really trying to have them live the song. We are doing a lot of work today about performing and emoting what’s going on in the story.

“I feel like we’re discovering new things about the song, which makes it feel fresh and makes it feel like they own it a little bit more,” he added.

The stereotypes of barbershop singing, including straw hats and handlebar moustaches, is something the international society is trying to get away from, Mays said.

For one thing, Zeinth is co-ed.

“Around 2020, the Barbershop Harmony Society came out with an Everyone in Harmony initiative, which slowly became more open to LGBTQ, but also with the intent of having women as competitors eventually,” Mays said. “And I think it was 2022 that women were officially allowed to start competing and we started getting really good female voices on the contest stage.

“It’s still a pretty male-dominated sport for the Barbershop Harmony Society, but there’s actually a couple of other female organizations,” he added. “Barbershop Harmony Society is actually the only fully integrated society right now.”

All but Millar are seniors, and are planning to continue singing beyond high school.

“I’m actually going to Butler Community College on a vocal scholarship,” Santiago-Morrison said. “It’s paying for tuition and books and it’s a great thing that has been cultivated over the four years here that I’ve had with the training of Mr. Mays and any coaches we’ve had come in.”

Zenith rehearses for about a dozen hours a week, even over school breaks.

Movies like “Pitch Perfect” and the success of the a capella group Pentatonix have made that style of singing more acceptable to Gen Z.

Group members said vocal musicians get respect at their school.

“I would say we’re honestly at Northwest, you’re in such a bubble here,” Santiago-Morrison said. “I think there’s so many people that just appreciate what the choir does here at Northwest. We’re in just such a positive environment for barbershop that there’s about 30 kids in any given setting that know who we are and know what we’re doing, but it’s a big group effort to make it such an inviting environment.”

Zenith won’t have a public performance until the spring vocal concert March 14, although Mays and the quartet are lobbying to become a part of the Wichita Jazz Festival in April.

Although the van ride to San Antonio this year is less expensive than the flight to New York last year, the group still has about $5,000 in expenses for the trip. Contributions can be made at https://www.onthestage.tickets/north-west-high-school-drama/campaigns/send-zenith-to-internationals-4438

Mays, a longtime barbershop performer in quartets and the Wichita-based Smorgaschorus, enjoyed bringing that style of performing to Northwest.

“It’s a part of who I am,” he said. “For me, I think it’s thrilling to sing in a capella and just all four voices. And when I can create that for students, they get sort of bit by the barbershop bug.”