At Carolina Style Chorus, we always love having visitors drop by!
Welcome!
Whether you have years of experience singing in Sweet Adelines, choruses, or church choirs, or whether you just love to sing in the shower or with the radio in your car, we encourage you to visit a Carolina Style rehearsal!
Singing in a chorus is such a wonderful way to forget our troubles, and it has been scientifically proven to have health benefits. Our rehearsals are both educational and fun. Many members have never had a voice lesson and don’t read music. On the flip side, we have singers with degrees in music, who sight-read with ease. Whatever your experience level, we would love for you to come find out more about our chorus. It is our passion for singing and love for one another that keep us united and always working together to make great harmony.
We improve and strengthen our vocal skills each week by practicing proper vocal production during rehearsal. Our repertoire is diverse, including gospel medleys, show music, jazz numbers, patriotic music, and a variety of radio classics.
Singing Style and Voice Parts
Our membership is open to women of all ages, races and creeds. Carolina Style performs a cappella music, singing in the 4-part barbershop style. The four parts are lead, tenor, baritone and bass:
- LEAD carries the melody;
- TENOR usually sings harmony above the lead, and is the highest pitched of the 4 parts;
- BARITONE often times fills in the all-important missing note in a chord; Bari’s weave notes both above and below the lead;
- BASS is the lowest of the 4 parts, suppling the harmonic foundation of the chord.
It might take several rehearsals before you decide which part suits your voice. That’s perfectly normal, especially if you’ve never sung this type of music before, and we can help you if you are unsure. Unlike some choral music, minimal vibrato is used in barbershop singing, because wide and obvious vibratos tend to hamper the “lock and ring” that we look for in our chords.
What to Expect at a Rehearsal
Please contact our Membership Coordinator to let her know you are thinking about visiting. She would love to greet you when you arrive, show you around, and help you feel welcome! She would also like to find out more about you, give you a music notebook with some of our songs, and show you where to go and what to expect during your visit.
Depending on your level of comfort, you can feel free to join the chorus in warm-ups or not. After warming up, the chorus will likely perform a song or two for you, so that you can experience some of the joy that we share while singing and performing.
Our Membership Coordinator will also introduce you to the group as a whole and allow us to give you a warm Carolina Style welcome! During the remainder of the rehearsal, you are welcome to observe or, if we are not in the final stages of competition preparation, you are welcome to sing along.
After the rehearsal, feel free to chat with our any of our singers! Trust us, we couldn’t be more excited that you are there, and we would delight in telling you more about our chorus.
Please consider joining us for fun, friendship and harmony!
