As the owner of Brentwood Childcare in Riverside, Janet Muller has spent the past 16 years appreciating the many ways children express unconditional love.

“Like their smiling faces coming to give you spaghetti hugs on your white pants,” she said.  “There’s something like that every day that makes it worthwhile.”

When not tending to children, Muller can frequently be found on stage singing barbershop harmony with Surprise Package, a quartet that recently took top honors at a talent showcase in Birmingham.  

After attending a Pell City Rotary Club meeting, she took a few minutes Tuesday to talk about the quartet, barbershop singing, and why she considers the musical style to be an underappreciated art form.

Surprise Package:  The group is comprised of Muller, Judy Freeman, Shelby; Pam Cottingham, Centerville; and Beth Bucchholz, Trussville.  It is a member of Sweet Adeline International, an organization of women’s harmony groups.  Besides concerts, the quartet also offers singing Valentine and Christmas cards.

About the holiday offerings:  “They are so much fun.  The reaction is priceless from the person receiving he card.  We’ve delivered them to everyone from teachers to mechanics getting up from under a car at the service center.  It’s an emotional experience for them because it contains a sentimental song from their loved one, and we’re trying our best to sing without getting emotional with them.”

When and where does the quartet perform?:  “Any time anybody will hear us.  We usually perform once a month, at least every two months.  We sing at conferences and business meetings, we’ve sang for the Rotary Club here, and we visit retirement and nursing homes.”

Crowd pleasers:  “Older audiences really like the ‘40s music.  They relate to those songs.  ‘Undecided.’  ‘Mood Indigo.’  ‘Stars Fell on Alabama.’  ‘Sentimental Journey.’ We like to get the audience interacting with us, so we always bring one man up to the front with us with while we sing ‘Don’t Know Why I Love You, But I Do.’  And he’s always totally embarrassed.”

A particularly enjoyable number:  “Ain’t She Sweet,” a Tin Pan Alley classic from the late 1920s.  The quartet sings it through straight, and then the members begin exchanging places with one another while singing the lyrics backwards.  “It takes the audience a second, and then the light bulb turns on.  I love to watch the looks on their faces when they realize what we’re doing.”

The quartet’s recent award-winning performance:  Surprise Package was one of 19 contestants in a benefit show for the Changed Lives Christian Center hosted last month by the Stardome in Birmingham.  The other contestants included vocal groups, pianists, gospel groups, comedians, swing dancers, and belly dancers.  “We were excited that barbershop harmony ended up winning the contest.”  

The most challenging part of performing:  “Trying to make a connection with the audience so that they feel what you’re trying to get across and enjoy it as much as you do.  And remembering the words.”

Is the style particularly difficult?:  “Barbershop singing is a capella, so there are no instruments.  We make our own harmony, but if you can do harmony at all, you can do it.  Plus, you don’t have to drag a piano around.”

About barbershop singing:  “It’s an American art from that isn’t given enough credit in the U.S.  I’m not sure why.  I guess people think of it as something corny and old-fashioned, something that started way back then.  What most people don’t realize is that it’s been updated to pick up newer trends with songs and music today’s audiences can relate to.”

Keeping it alive:  “Young Women in Harmony is one organization that’s trying to get girls involved at the high school level, and there are some for college students too.  Their purpose is to keep barbershop harmony alive.  Not that it’s dying out, but it just isn’t emphasized like other styles.”

Do audiences like barbershop harmony more than they expect to?  “If you like music, you’ll click to it.  It will stick with you, and you’ll have to get more of it.”