REGISTER YOUR QUARTET WITH LABBS

Although you are too late to be able to compete this year, you can still register!

• Quartet Registration Form

COACHING

As the Coaching Co-ordinator for LABBS, Sam would be very happy to put you in touch with a coach near you to help you. Again, please just ask. Whatever your query, she will endeavour to help and advise. This is her job.

QUARTETTING IN LABBS

There are currently around 57 registered quartets in LABBS! (including active gold medal quartets). The LABBS Quartet Registrar and coaching co-ordinator is Sam Roberts who reports to the Education and Judging Committee and you may contact her by e-mail at Samsingslead@blueyonder.co.uk. She is always willing to help and advise.

Are you in a quartet? Have you registered? Are you thinking of starting a new quartet to sing either just for fun, or even maybe to compete? Are you worried about where to start, or just need guidance about what is involved? If so, please read on.

Firstly, once you have your four people you need to decide on a name for your quartet. This is where you need to contact the Quartet Registrar who has to check that name against her records. If the name you have chosen has been used before this name cannot now be used again. When contacting her it is always a good idea to have 2 or 3 possibilities to choose from. Once she has cleared the name for use, you will be sent a Registration Form to complete and return together with a cheque to the value of £5 made payable to LABBS MUSIC COMMITTEE. Your quartet will then be registered for that year. You can register at any time.

COMPETING

If your quartet decides to compete you then have to fill in a Contest Entry Form which is sent out towards the end of year at the same time as the Quartet Registration Form is sent to existing registered quartets. This must then be completed and returned by the date stated together with your completed Quartet Registration Form and a cheque made out to LABBS MUSIC COMMITTEE for the appropriate amount. At the present time the contest entry fee is £15. You will then be entered for competition that year.

Every club is issued with a copy of the LABBS Contest and Judging Rules and this should be available for your use, or you can download your own copy or access it online. However, for guidance here is the paragraph on eligibility:

1. Each member shall be a fully paid up member of LABBS. A competing quartet may contain no more than one Club at Large member.
2. The quartet name and names of members of the quartet shall be registered with the LABBS Quartet Registrar, and such registration must include the same personnel that enter the contest.
3. No professional quartet shall be eligible to enter. A quartet shall be considered professional when its members’ principal means of income is from fulfilling quartet engagements. Right of appeal in this matter shall be to the Education and Judging Committee, whose decision shall be final.
4. Previous Gold Medallist quartets or individual members thereof shall be eligible to compete again with the exception of the year after winning a gold medal.
5. No person shall sing in more than one competing quartet in the same contest.
6. A Novice quartet is considered to be one which has never previously competed and shall include no medallists. No novice quartet may include more than two members who have previously competed in a quartet contest.
7. Failure to comply with the above will result in forfeiture by the Chairman of Judges.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SING IN A QUARTET?

If you cannot get all the parts together that you need, Sam Roberts runs a registry of interested ladies - maybe you can find a match and fill the gap! Or if you don't know where to start, submit your details via the form at the top of the page and someone may be contacting you!

Singing in a quartet is the Barbershop equivalent of living on the edge. Here you will discover exactly how four part harmony works, it's like discovering Barbershop all over again. You will develop your own skills and your ability to complement the skills of others. You will experience the sheer delight of singing well, the excitement of competition, the joys of friendship.

Tips to help you on your way:

• Sing with three others you like and are prepared to spend time getting to know.
• If possible, at least one of you should read music or have a good ear for it.
• Be prepared to make effort, take constructive criticism, work hard, and spend time on coaching, choosing costumes and attending Barbershop events.
• Have fun together too! Remember, quartetting does not have to be competition orientated - set your own quartet goals. These goals will change over a period of time and, hopefully, all of you will want the same thing in the end be it aiming for gold, singing out and about or just enjoying singing together.
• Listen to a lot of good barbershop quartet singing.
• Find a 'hero' in your voice part and ponder/study what makes them a great bass/baritone… If you are nervous of performing, pretend to be that 'hero'.
• Make a date for LABBS Convention and check out the special guests.
• Support your chorus and organisation; they will support you in return.
• Always go to Harmony College.
• Keep your eye on the ball: the most exciting and current thinking on the whys and wherefores of the Barbershop style is regularly discussed within the LABBS Judging Programme. Talk to judges; find out what they are trained to do, and why they bother to do it.
• Ask for help: other quartets, your MD, or other experienced barbershoppers will be happy to share their experience with you.
• Renew your passport!

Good luck, and enjoy the quartet experience!