Becoming A Member of the Singing Men of Note

When you join us for your first chapter meeting we will check with you to see if you might be interested in joining our barbershop chorus - no obligation.  If you show an interest we will attempt to determine what part you might sing (Tenor, Lead, Baritone or Bass) and we will appoint one of our member volunteers to be a chorus buddy.  We will also provide you with a "guest book" of music which will need to be returned at the end of each evening.   Your chorus buddy will be available to assist you with any questions you have about membership and will also help you learn the music.

At each rehearsal you will have the opportunity to explore various aspects of our chorus and meet the officers and members of our chorus.  We will want to explore your interest in our mission of preserving and encouraging the barbershop harmony style and you will be able to get a feeling for our chorus culture.  During this time we will answer many questions including those on financial and attendance matters as well as what is expected of our members.

We do have an audition process which is only to determine if you have the ability to sing.  You do not have to perform like an opera singer during the audition process.  We check to see if you can sing a note blown on a pitch pipe.  Then we ask you to sing a song, like Happy Birthday, and stay on pitch.  We also see if you can sing a scale (Do - Re - Me - Fa - So - La - Te - Do).  Other questions may be asked during this process to determine your depth of musical knowledge but we are mainly concerned with the fact that you can sing and hear the music.  As part of the audition process we also determine what your singing range might be (lowest and highest sung notes).  This will assure us that we have placed you into the right section of the chorus.  This turns out to be an easy and painless process and assures you that the person that you sing next to can also sing and hear the music.

The music team will report to our secretary your ability to sing with the chapter and the secretary will have you fill out the necessary forms for membership.  He will also go over the membership dues process.  When the paperwork is completed, your membership application will be presented to the chapter's Board of Directors who then must vote to accept you as a member (can't remember when someone who got this far was ever rejected!).  After the board has approved your membership, the secretary will forward the paperwork to our international office who will issue your membership certificate and membership card.  Congratulations - your a member of our chapter.

The next step in the membership process is to meet with our uniform chairperson who will get measurements for the various parts of our performance wardrobe.  This usually consists of a polo shirt, trousers, and a blazer.  Other parts of the uniform can generally be found in your street clothes.  Our uniform chairman will let you know what these are.  The chorus will pay much of the cost of your initial uniform and the uniform chairman will let you know what balance you might owe.  The uniform pieces should arrive in a matter of a few weeks.

The process of learning the music the chorus sings falls basically on your shoulders.  The chorus will provide you with all of the written music that the chorus is currently performing.  It will also provide you learning tapes or CDs which you can play an learn.  If you find yourself stuck on a piece of music, your Section Leader as well as many of the members in your voice part will be glad to help you learn the rough stuff.  It is up to your Section Leader to determine when you have sufficient knowledge of the music to enable you to sing with the chorus.  He may ask you to perform in a quartet to determine if you are ready, or he may know just from standing near you as you practice with the section.  Don't assume that when a performance is announced you can take the stage.  Check with your section leader for a determination of when you may be ready to sing at a performance.  And just because you are not performance ready doesn't mean that you are any less valuable to our chapter - 'cause you aren't, and you won't be treated that way.

As you can guess, our choruses placement in the district, as well as our ability to perform at optimum levels are very important in our production of musicality as well as our ability to attract new members.  The chapter's music committee may set guidelines beyond those for the performing chorus when the chapter is going to sing at a contest. All members will be expected to meet the requirements of the committee.  There will be adequate assistance for all members who wish to work to meet the requirements.  

Quartets are usually formed by one chorus member asking another chorus member if he wants to be in a quartet.  We do have a quartet activities chairperson who may attempt, from time to time, to form quartets.  But don't wait for that to happen.  When you have the experience, just step up to another chapter member and invite that person to sing with you in a quartet.  Don't get discouraged if you don't get a yes right away.  Keep trying.  There is no better way to learn our music and there is no more rewarding activity than to sing before an audience in a quartet.