After 15 years as director of Harmony on the Rocks, the local chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society, John McDougald is retiring. McDougald and his wife Carol are moving back to the Cleveland area in order to be closer to their family and especially their two great-grandchildren.

“It’s always something I felt [was] going to give me a break from the day’s routine, just looking forward to seeing the folks and hearing some good singing,” McDougald said of his tenure. He has fond memories of being one of the first chapters in the country to have women as members.

The couple anticipates that Harmony on the Rocks’ regular weekly rehearsal on Wednesday, Dec. 6, at 6 p.m. at the Church of the Red Rocks, located at 54 Bowstring Drive, will be McDougald’s final rehearsal.

“Founded in 2001 by current member Don Tautkus, men and women have been harmonizing tunes with dedication, collegiality and a grand good time,” the group’s profile on singers.com states. “Director John McDougald is a master at in expressing their talents for musical reviews and community appearances. His 50 years of directing experience in barbershop music is a genuine gift appreciated by current chorus  members.”

“The amazing thing about John is that he has been able to combine real quality in the music, a lot of discipline in the singing with a real patience and acceptance of the individual singer,” assistant director Kit Hinsley said. “We have people who can’t read music, for example, and it’s OK. He finds ways to get people of different levels to be able to sing together and to enjoy it … It’s that long experience and marvelous patience that’s a hard combination to find.”

“We are blessed with enthusiastic singers. Of course we’re all older,” McDougald said. “[When] directing seniors and singing, you have to recognize there are some limitations in terms of how hard you work and how hard you push people … You have to deal with it in a friendly manner. I’m not a formally-trained musician. I did play the piano as a kid, but I never took one music course in high school or college. But I think I’m sensitive to how hard people are willing to work, so I structure rehearsals to fit that.”

McDougald sang in his first barbershop quartet in 1957 when he was in the choir at Byron Junior High School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and the director wanted to put an all-male quartet together. His love of barbershop continued to grow from there.

“He knows [thousands] of pieces of music all related to barbershop,” singer Nancy Martin said. “He’s a very good director, he’s fun to work with. He just brings a lot of joy into barbershop singing. He’s got an incredible knowledge of barbershop music.”

One of the earliest barbershop songs McDougald remembers being exposed to was “Poor Man Lazarus.” McDougald feels it may have stuck with him because he regards being an active church member as one of the biggest parts of his life, alongside golf and, of course, barbershop.

“I had a quartet I sang with in college,” McDougald said. “After I got married, and we bought our first house in 1968, I went to get my hair cut near where the house was, and it turned out that the barber sang in a barbershop chorus, and I joined that chorus.”

“Over time I have lived outside of Washington, D.C, the Cleveland, Ohio area, the Chicago area and then here in Sedona. I had two working careers, one for 30 years in telecommunications … I had done a lot of accounting and budget work there, so I got a master’s degree from Northern Illinois University. The day I was leaving campus, the head of the business school came into my office and said, ‘John, I just read your resume. Do you want to start teaching here in the fall?’ So I took a teaching position as an instructor at Northern Illinois University in accounting and finance for 10 years. I had about 6,000 students over that period.”

Going from teaching students ledgers to teaching Sedona residents bars was a natural fit for McDougald.

“It’s that openness, patience and always good humor,” Hinsley said. “He tells marvelous stories, by the way, of his many years teaching and singing … he is going to be greatly missed.”

Residents interested in applying for the volunteer director position or in joining the group can contact Hinsley at (928) 203-1156 or (928) 274-8802.