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Essentials in
Quartet Singing
Live A Little:Sing In A Quartet!
Many men, if not most, join the Society with the idea that they would enjoy singing in a quartet. What is your chapter doing to provide its members with quartet experiences?
Updated: 1/23/2002 10:29:00 AM
Live A Little: Sing In A Quartet!
There are dozens of ways to easily and enjoyably integrate quartet singing into weekly chapter meetings. With these ideas in mind, try planning your chapter meetings and performances so that quartetting is encouraged and promoted, rather than just allowed to happen (or not, as the case may be). Quartet activities will not detract from the chorus, but will complement it.
Give the members of your chapter the chance to find out how much fun it can be to sing in a quartet. Provide each member with opportunities to enjoy being part of a small ensemble and to carry his own part in a quartet that sings the songs he loves to sing!
Activities at chapter meetings
- Have a quartet teach a tag of the month. Select or organize a different quartet each month to learn and teach a new tag to the chorus.
- Use quartets to teach new music. Give the music to the assigned quartet several weeks in advance. Have the quartet meet with the musical director to discuss a basic interpretation of the song.
- Provide quartet coaching. Time is always short for members who want to be in a quartet and also be a part of chapter activities. Why not provide coaching for your chapter quartets at least once a month? Set aside time during your chapter meeting for in-house coaches to work with chapter quartets.
- Invite a guest quartet to entertain. Invite a quartet from a neighboring chapter to entertain. Try this every couple of months. It will be fun for your chapter and will encourage those guest quartets.
- Have quartets introduce new Society arrangements. Twice a year our Society publishes new top-notch arrangements of great songs. Join the Music Premiere program, and get the music and the tape recording of the songs by top Society quartets. Try assigning a different foursome each month to learn and perform one of the new songs for the chapter.
- Encourage quartet woodshedding. Encourage quartet woodshedding by closing a meeting early once per quarter.
- Sing with the champs. It's always fun to sing with three other guys who are really good at it. If you have a divisional or district quartet champion or finalist, plan a program where a novice Barbershopper can perform with three champs. He and your chapter will enjoy it!
- Have a quartet teach the art of woodshedding. Woodshedding is fun, but many are intimidated by a fear of not being able to do it. Try a program presented by a chapter quartet to help break down barriers.
- Use the octet concept for those who need it. Many newer, untrained members will be reluctant to participate in a quartet activity because of a lack of confidence. Help them by using octets in place of quartets in some chapter activities listed here.
- Have novice and senior quartet competitions. Have an annual competition at a chapter meeting or picnic with prizes for the winners. Publicize the contest well in advance (at least two months) and use the winners on future performances.
- Recognize competing quartets. Quartets compete on many different levels: novice, senior, division, district, and international. Recognize them by asking them to perform for the chorus, acknowledging their efforts on shows and performances, subsidizing them at contest, and publishing articles and photos in chapter and district publications.
- Have a quartet promotion night. A quartet promotion night could be an icebreaker for those who are interested in quartetting but are too shy or unsure of themselves to pursue it. Invite men from other local chapters to attend. Get quartet men to talk about how to organize, rehearse, and find three other guys interested in the same things. Bring in an outside guest quartet.
- Try a tag quartet activity. Have a quartet start singing a Barberpole Cat or chorus repertoire song. Then others "tag" and replace the singers at random. A variation is to have the four singers pick their own replacements, which may help get more guys involved.
- Form quartets to sing repertoire songs. Each week draw four names (one per section) and select one chorus song for the quartet to perform the following week. The quartet gets one week to get ready.
Try these quartet activities outside your chapter meetings.
- Singing Valentines. If you haven't promoted Singing Valentines in your chapter, you're missing the boat! Chapters around the country use the singing Valentine program to raise money and promote quartetting. Use as many quartets as you can. If you are short on tenors, ask a few high leads to learn the tenor part. Learn "Let Me Call You Sweetheart," "Heart of My Heart (The Story Of The Rose)" or "I Love You Truly" and get out and promote barbershopping and quartetting while earning money at the same time. A Singing Valentines Manual is available for purchase from the Society.
- Use quartets on performances. Utilize quartets whenever the chorus performs, and don't restrict their use to solo quartet spots. Have a quartet or octet sing an intro, verse, refrain or bridge of a song or two. It adds variety to a show and helps Barbershoppers enjoy quartetting.
- Organize and promote a high school quartet competition. Cultivate your local high school music teacher's interest and cooperation. Obtain some appropriate Society-published arrangements, offer coaching, and bring all competitors to a chapter meeting to perform. Then have all the quartets perform in a program for Youth Outreach at their school.
- Coordinate chapter quartets to perform at senior centers. Coordinate the performances of chapter quartets at senior centers in your area. Have quartets report their experiences in the chapter bulletin.
Special thanks to the Association of International Champions, and the Formation and Development of Quartets Committee, for the creation of this material.
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