Ambassadors of Harmony
What: An all-men's a cappella singing group based in St. Charles.
Information: Observe a practice at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays at Memorial Hall in Blanchette Park or visit online at www.aoh.org.

Harmony is sweet,
discipline is strict

Jim Henry stands among 100 men, each with his legs a shoulder's width apart, at Memorial Hall in St. Charles.

You can hear a pin drop on the polished wood floor of the room at Blanchette Park.

"Not so very long ago, we were third in the world," Henry told his men. But he expects better. "We should never sing as badly as we did in Montreal ever again."

The men make up Ambassadors of Harmony, an all-men's a cappella singing group based in St. Charles. The group finished third at an international competition in Canada this summer, and at a recent Thursday night weekly practice, members cheered one another along as they continued to improve their program.

Henry, the group's director, did his fair share of congratulating, too, but not before he perfected every beat, every vowel, every half step - sometimes spending several minutes on a single syllable.

"Anyone who wants to just sing," Henry told them, "go to the karaoke bar."
He frequently reminded them of what the audience will think, even though their audience at the time is only a dozen or so family members and friends of group members.

During the 15-minute break at the three-hour practice, group members explained that Henry's disciplining tone is all part of the group's seriousness.

"He's the motivator - he's trying to get us all to feel the way he does," said Eeyan Richardson.

Richardson, 18, is a freshman at Lindenwood University. He said the practices "fuel his soul," making his 20-mile drive from Kirkwood each week worth it.

The group is close-knit and its camaraderie could be seen Monday at the funeral of Robert E. Henry Jr. - the group's section director and brother of director Jim Henry. The Ambassadors gathered to perform in his memory.

Jim Henry, 39, a music professor at Lindenwood and member of the Ambassadors since age 11, recruits many of the group's 120 performing members from the college. Other members come from much farther than Kirkwood. Several come from the other side of the Mississippi River, and one travels from Springfield, Ill.

"This is basically three hours of voice lessons every week," said Ken Gerke, 50, of St. Peters.

He joined the group a year ago after someone heard him singing in church and persuaded him to attend a practice. The first night, he said, they had him up in the rafters singing. Now he even has his 10-year-old son, Alec, in the group.

Alec doesn't sing with them - "yet," his father said. For now Alec plays the role of "Joe," a paper boy the group sings about in one of their competitive pieces, "Just a Kid Named Joe." Gerke said the group treats his son like one of the bunch.

"All the guys are so great," Gerke said. "It's like (Alec's) got 120 uncles."

"Or brothers," Alec added, noting that some members are as young as 15. Others are well into their 80s.

The four-part harmony practiced their two competitive pieces - "Just a Kid Named Joe" and barbershop quartet classic "Shine" - for an hour and a half. Members looked intense, some even bugging out their eyes, as they sang and performed, choreography included. They took it slightly easier after the break with numbers such "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da," which they sing during some of their St. Louis-area performances.

Some Ambassadors are so into the group, members said, that they postpone summer vacations with family until after the July competition in Canada. That's why the rafters weren't quite full as the group continues preparations for the district competition in October that qualifies them for another shot at best in the world.

One of two remaining singers from the original group, Bert Volker, 81, of St. Charles, said his group was much smaller, and thus, less powerful, when it began in 1963. But it's come along nicely.

"It's turning out just like we expected it to," Volker said. "It just took so much longer. Right now we're at the height of our competitive excellence."

The director was pretty pleased at the moment, too.

At a break in the practice, Henry said, "It's really going well. Their work ethic is so good."

He said the "biggest chore" is getting them all in sync after a week away from one another. "Once that happens, it's downhill."

Getting to be No. 1 in the world, however, might prove a little more difficult, said the other remaining founding member, Carlton Coen of St. Charles.

The trick is to "just keep working," said Coen, 69. "Vowels, technique, polish that. We just need a lot more discipline."