Create awesome chords!
The Suncoast Statesmen is a barbershop harmony chorus that strives to create the sound of a Very Large Quartet. This means that one part sings the melody, while the other three sing harmony parts. Most of the song, there are four different notes being sung that make up some pretty great chords.
If you have ever sung a harmony part in a chorus or group, we'd love to introduce you to our style of singing. If you enjoy singing melody to songs, and have a higher male voice range, you'd fit right in with our Lead singers. Some male harmony singers, who have developed control over their higher pitched voice (falsetto), can sing Tenor. Tenor is also a suitable harmony part for female voices that would like to sing with us (usually an alto or lower voiced soprano). Some women can also sing Lead (a lower voice range for them).
In Barbershop, that leaves two other harmony singers, the Bass and the Baritone. Most experiences choir singers who have sung Bass find singing Bass in Barbershop a piece of cake. The Bass can learn his harmony part as though learning a melody to a different song, making the notes fit into the bottom of each chord.
Now, how do I describe the Baritone part. A majority of males have a natural "Baritone" range (high notes to low notes). In Barbershop chords, the Baritone part has the least melodious, the most challenging to tune "garbage" notes thrown in above and below the Lead part to flesh out the Barbershop chord being sung for almost every note of every song. A key qualification to sing the Baritone part is to hear in your head the missing note and provide it. It also helps to understand intervals and how to sing them. The same can be said of the other three parts, but is much more demanded of the Baritone.
If you have a "Baritone" range, but think of yourself a more of a melody singer, you may also enjoy singing either Lead or Bass.
If you'd like to see if you can sing Barbershop, please come join us. This Fall season our rehearsals start up on Tuesday, September 10th, 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM and run every Tuesday afternoon through the end of October. Starting in November, we move our rehearsal times to 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM. Our first rehearsals will focus on preparing for some upcoming Christmas Show events in November and December, while sprinkling in a sampling of the songs we'll be preparing for our Spring Showcase on March 30, 2025, 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM at Burnt Store Presbyterian Church Sanctuary.
We started last year with a chance to sing some Christmas Songs for the ladies at Twin Isles Country Club. This year, we are already booked to sing for the National Association of Retired Federal Workers on December 5th and for Sun Harbor on November 13th. Early December is a great time to book us for this kind of event. We will be ready to sing a half hour show to put patrons in the mood for the Christmas Season.
We had a blast last season as the warm-up act for the Burnt Store Presbyterian Concert Series before the Legendary Trio did their thing with songs from the Kingston Trio and other popular groups in the 60's and 70's. Looking forward to seeing what group the church pairs us up to warm up in 2025.
For potential new members, we offer coaching, rehearsals and visual aids for performing songs. The membership found this very helpful for a seasonal organization, such as ours. Our director, Duane Fenn, is offering Voice Lessons to singers who would like to explore singing harmony parts. The first two lessons are free of charge. Please send your request to suncoaststatesmen@gmail.com to coordinate a time.
If you are interested in speaking to our chorus leadership about performances or would like more information about singing with the chorus, please e-mail suncoaststatesmen@gmail.com. We'd be happy to have someone get back to you.
Members and registered guests will receive regular updates about our events and rehearsal schedules. Duane Fenn, our Director, sends our weekly Planning Sheets for the rehearsals and updates he is making with music learning tracks and web updates.
In 2022, the board voted to accept membership requests from women who wish to sing with our four part harmonies, that is, a part suitable for their voice range that is currently sung in the same range as our current chorus members. This year, we have four women members, thus far and we've had other women guests.
Interested in learning more? Please send an e-mail to suncoaststatesmen@gmail.com.
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