How to Join a Barbershop Quartet

If you enjoying harmonizing and are a professional or an amateur singer, you should consider joining a barbershop quartet. A barbershop quartet is formed by four people singing different parts that harmonize and that are unaccompanied. Here's how you can join a barbershop quartet.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Know how to sing. Even though barbershop singing began for amateurs and continues to be a form of singing for non-professional artists, you need to be able to sing. You must understand the fundamental aspects of singing such as pitch, harmonizing and chords. The four parts sung by a barbershop quartet are the lead, bass, baritone and tenor.

2. Join a quartet that has an opening for the part you can sing or form your own group. Search your local classified ads in the entertainment section for openings, or place your own ad. You can also join Barbershop Organization at their website for updates on barbershop opportunities.

3. Form your own barbershop quartet with three other people who have similar goals and personalities. You spend many hours in rehearsal and you must enjoy each other's company and be committed to the group. You also need to determine what type of quartet you'll be such as comedy, show or competition.

4. Build a list of songs to build a list of songs to match the goals and performance style of your quartet. The purpose of a barbershop quartet is to sing acapella. On average, barbershop quartets have 15 to 20 songs they can perform.

5. Develop additional skills. Your main function when you join a barbershop quartet is singing; however, there are other tasks that must be performed. You can build your resume as a barbershop quartet member by developing additional tasks and responsibilities such as music librarian, contact person, costume director or booking agent.

Tips & Warnings

• The more versatile and skilled you are at singing, the easier it is to join a barbershop quartet.

Resources

• Visit the website for the Barbershop Harmony Society.

[hav2sing]

on 9/25/2009 The first step really is to find a local barbershop organization in your area - they are world wide. The educational opportunities are huge in areas of musicianship, leadership, marketing, etc... [1] find a chorus [2] join the chorus [3] meet people you like (liking and getting along is instrumental in how successful your quartet will be) [4] Start casually singing together. The more you sing, the better you get. There are studies that prove singing is good for your health -- overtones (what barbershoppers are striving to achieve when they sing) are healthy!