Men with a desire to sing
About The Tidelanders
Our chorus members have dedicated a lot of time to learning how to sing and perform our repertoire. We perform four-part barbershop harmony (tenor, lead, baritone, and bass). This is not choral music, nor is it karaoke.
About You
We prefer guests and candidates with music or singing experience. However, if you decide that you’re serious about being a Tidelander, that’s great. You’ll need to be willing to make the commitment necessary to improve. There’s also two tryouts. The first is easy. The second is more challenging.
What to Expect
Dr. Ben May, our Music Director, uses the piano to find a guest’s range. Once he understands if your voice fits a specific part, he’ll tell you. If you can potentially sing multiple parts, he may have an idea where you’d be best suited.
Can You Learn How to Sing
Of course! Anyone can learn to sing. It’s a matter of priorities and deciding what’s important to you. Being motivated to learn and having the time to do so is what matters.
Learn to Sing
Provided you’re willing to dedicate the time and effort necessary, being in a chorus like ours is a great way to learn how to sing. Performances drive our singers to learn our repertoire songs well. Repetition is the key – typically we learn the songs well enough to be able to stop and start in different parts of a song.
Beginning Voice Lessons
Voice or singing lessons aren’t required. We do recommend beginning singers with little or no singing experience take voice lessons. We work with several local vocal coaches in the Houston area. They can teach basics like posture, breathing (yes, it’s a thing), etc.
Singing Lessons Online
If in-person physical, in-person lessons won’t work for you, we can help recommend online, remote vocal courses.
Tools to Help You
We provide guest books and access to our musical repertoire via professional learning tracks relevant for each specific part: tenor, lead, baritone, and bass as well as all four parts together. If you simply sing against the learning track for a given song, you can work on refining your ear and with repetition, you’ll be able to develop your “singer’s ear”.
Technique and Music Theory
If you’re new to singing, you can start by reading about the Basics of Music Theory. Experience with instruments may have prepared you with some of the skills singing requires.