Want to try us out? Join us for a rehearsal, Tuesdays 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM at Hialeah Gardens Senior High School, 11700 Hialeah Gardens Blvd, Hialeah Gardens
We are a chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) and a lodge of the Society for the Preservation and Propagation of Barbershop Quartet Singing in the U.S. (S.P.P.B.S.Q.S.U.S). (Some BHS choruses include both men and women; The Miamians includes only men)
Barbershop music is sung in four voice parts (highest to lowest voice range) – tenor, lead, baritone and bass, Tenors sing the highest pitch notes, leads sing the melody, basses sing the lowest pitch notes, and baritones fill in whatever notes are needed to complete chords
Guests are provided with sheet music for the songs we sing
What to expect at our rehearsals
When you sing, your body is your musical instrument. You can’t sing well if the muscles in your body are tense. So the first thing we do is relax tense muscles in the back, shoulders, tongue and face.
Next, we warm up the vocal chords with some musical exercises
Then, we review some of our repertoire
At 9:00 pm, we have a short business meeting
– We talk about upcoming Miamians activiies
– We recognize guests and sing them a song to welcome them
– We recognize members with BHS anniversaries
– We recognize members with recent or upcoming birthdays, and sing Happy Birthday to them (they get special glasses to wear)
After the business meeting, we learn a new tag, a part of most barbershop songs that comes at the end.
Each voice section learns their part, then we put it all together, often with impromptu octets (with two members each of each voice part)
At the end of the rehearsal, we join in singing “Keep the Whole World Singing”
In between rehearsals, we get homework – songs to learn and practice before next week, and songs in the repertoire that we will go over in future rehearsals
Members have access to sheet music and learning tracks (at least one for each voice part)
