Senior Spotlight: Mike Baggerly helps keep American barbershop singing alive

Jan. 8—Seneca native Mike Baggerly has been singing almost weekly for most of 55 years, and he said he still loves every minute of it.

Baggerly, a member of the Joplin-based TriStatesmen Barbershop Chorus, graduated from Seneca High School in 1969 and took music courses at what was then Missouri Southern State College, catching the music bug early in his life.

"The harmony is an addiction. I just love it," Baggerly said of his passion for the music style. "I don't know how many quartets I've been in — there's got to be at least two dozen. Some of them were better than others. When I was a kid, me and my two brothers and my dad had a quartet. Dad would teach us some songs, and we'd sing around the house and sing when family and relatives got together."

Music remained a part of his life through his time in the reserves and while he was on active duty in the U.S. Navy, and through a career that took him and his family to Colorado for 25 years.

It continues to carry him in retirement.

"I started out with the Crossroads Chorus in Joplin. I was one of the original charter members. They chartered with them in 1971," Baggerly said. "I also sang in Springfield a little bit, the Springfield Show-Me Statesmen. I got into a quartet over there, and I was singing in Joplin and Springfield at the same time. I also got in a quartet over there called the Pitch Pals, a really good quartet. I think we got fifth or sixth in our district out of 30 quartets."

When he was in the Navy, Baggerly sang in choruses in San Diego, then returned home and continued singing with the Crossroads Chorus.

Baggerly met his wife, Linda, while directing Sweet Adelines, a women's chorus affiliated with his chorus in Joplin.

"When I got back from the Navy, my mother sang in the Sweet Adelines in Joplin and they had lost their director, and they asked me if I would direct them," Baggerly said. "So I directed them for a year, and that's where I met my wife. We've been married since 1976."

He got the chance to start a chorus in Carthage while working as an electronic technician at Schreiber Foods.

"We called it the Carthage Maple Leaf Barbershop Chorus, and we started with eight guys," Baggerly said. "After five years, we had 44 men. We built that chorus up that fast, and we had some really good shows at Memorial Hall. The Joplin board and Carthage board got together and decided, 'Let's just put it all together.' That was in the later part of the 1980s, and that's when the TriStatesmen was born in Joplin at that time. I sang with the TriStatesmen until I moved to Colorado."

Baggerly said he and his wife liked to vacation in the Rocky Mountains, so when a job opportunity opened in the Denver area, he jumped at it. He ended up working at the U.S. Mint.

"While I was out there, I was in a chorus called the Mountaineers, and I was in a chorus called the Mile High Chorus, and I was in another chorus called the Denver Tech Chorus," Baggerly said.

The Denver Mile High Chorus merged with the Denver Tech Chorus to become Sound of the Rockies, "which had 120 guys in it, and I sang with them for a while. We had some really good quartets out there too."

Baggerly said barbershop choruses and quartets become an addiction for people who keep singing.

"That's what's strange about barbershop, when these guys just come and come and come, they're addicted to it," he said. "It's funny and strange at the same time."

Singing in a chorus is easy for anyone who can carry a tune, he said.

"There are some really good barbershop singers in this area," he said. "It takes an ear if you want to do the quartet. If you want to do the chorus, all of this is being taught to you by the director. I know a guy who sings baritone in our chorus; he's tried performing in a quartet, but he's got to have someone to lean on. When he leans on someone, he's a really, really good baritone. It takes an ear. I'm not saying it takes a quality voice, though. If you can sing 'Happy Birthday,' you can join the chorus."

Baggerly said the TriStatesmen Barbershop Chorus is accepting new members. The group meets at 7 p.m. every Tuesday at Forest Park Baptist Church in Joplin.

"We've had guys come in that could mediocre carry a tune, and the next thing we know, they've started a quartet and they don't sound too bad," he said. "We encourage these guys to do that. At our meetings, we break off and sing quartet."

People interested can call 417-680-4882 for more details.