First Night for Volume 2 of the League

Introduction
A very good night for the first evening for quartering. At least I never know how the evening is going to go. A little warmup and then down to business with group sing on "Sentimental Journey".  We then brought up the first quartet and started by listening to their harmonies. As with all quartets that come up, we make suggestions on how to improve, what ideas that you can bring to the song that would drive the song in a certain direction, how to support each line from a vocal point-of-view, try and demonstrate vocal placement (really is the shape of the vocal instrument) and allow the participants to listen to the other parts so that there is a lot to enhance.

Participants
One of the amazing thing about the participants is the quality of their voices. There is real potential to make a number of really good quartets, if quartering is their goal, or at least sing better within the chorus. You become an amazing chorus member. The person who comes out needs to realize that singing with other people, you need to present your vocals so that you can harmonize.
Many of the participants want to be in a quartet and may even have found three other guys to sing with. The league will definitely improve their singing quality with each other.

Listening
This is the most important starting point. Knowing your note becomes easy if you can hear the other singers and be able to match. For the lead, you provide a sound that the others match to and listen to what sound is produced and adjust your vocals accordingly. A cappella is not tuned to the piano which is a tempered tuning meaning that the piano play in any key. If the singer sang the same pitch as the piano, only the tonic and fifth notes would match while leaving the 3rd and 7th sounding off.

Adding the element of Competition
As a quarterer, eventually you may want to compete and that provides an incentive to learn your craft to the best of your ability. This also allows for those not ready to compete to sing beside people and learn from them. The goal is the same, to become a better singer. I have found that high quality competitors genuinely want all singers around them to get better. Capich.

All for now.

New Installation of League of Extraordinary Quarteters

Introduction to the League of Extraordinary Quarteters
The barbershop chorus and quartet sound is a very rich sound that give people and the singers a lot of joy. I have been blessed with singing with September Sound for a number of years and also traveled to Marlborough Mass for the past four years to focus on quartet singing. As quartet singers will attest, the process of learning a song together is very uplifting.

Why the League

The league of extraordinary quarteters is my attempt to engage great singers from our chorus and possibly others to get together and learn to sing and perform four part harmony with a number of people in a quartet structure, but not a fixed quartet. The years going down to Mass., I found that the knowing the song bring the process of learning to be very enriching.

Hosting the LeagueThe idea is to meet one to two a month to go over the song or songs to get singing with the other parts. Then break out into quartets and work the song maybe with a fifth ear to give helpful feedback. What makes this process work best is that each person know their part. Then the fun part begins to sing in close harmony. 

During the month, any singer can host a run-through at their home and invite voice parts to sing. You just provide the space and the water for hydration, the singers will provide the sound.

The Music

The five songs are:

Volume 2 Number 1