Joining the Narragansett Bay Chorus
The Narragansett Bay Chorus (NBC) belongs to the Providence Chapter of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, or SPEBSQSA, also known as the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS). More specifically, the chapter belongs to the Patriot Division of the Northeastern District of BHS. BHS Chapters are open to anyone: male, female, whomever. NBC, however, is open only to those who identify as male.
The chapter/NBC meets every Thursday from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 15 Bassett Street, North Providence, RI. Although a portion of the meeting is devoted to chapter-related business, most of the meeting is taken up by chorus rehearsal. At your first rehearsal, we will determine if you are best suited to be a tenor, lead, baritone, or bass and will pair you up with a chorus member who sings your part. You will meet our director and assistant directors, as well as the section leader for your part, who will be responsible for helping you integrate into the chorus. We have guestbooks containing “charts” (sheet music) of the songs we will be working on at that rehearsal and you will be invited to join in with us as best you can.
After you have attended three rehearsals you will be eligible to join the chapter. You must be a member of the chapter to perform with NBC, and you may choose to join the chapter anytime between the time you are eligible and when you are accepted as a member of NBC. After you tell us you wish to join the chapter, our Board of Directors must approve the submission of your name for a majority vote of all chapter members present at the next chapter meeting and chorus rehearsal. After you are voted in, we will sign you up with BHS, which will send you a bill for the payment of annual dues, likely to be approximately $240. However, if you also wish to become a member of NBC, you can defer joining the chapter and paying your BHS dues until you are invited to join the chorus.
To become a member of the chorus, you must audition by singing a song or perhaps a portion of a song in a quartet with three members of our Music Team. We are not expecting you to be a polished barbershop singer. (If, however, you already are, you still must complete this process.) Nor do we expect you to sing the song flawlessly. This is a low-pressure exercise, the purpose of which is simply to confirm your readiness to participate in the chorus as a performing member. We want to know whether you have a clear, pleasant voice that can carry a tune, articulate the words, and blend well with other voices. If you have such a voice - and you are both willing to work and eager to learn - you are exactly what we are looking for! As you begin this process, you should know that we very much want you to be successful.
To prepare you for your audition to the chorus, we will give you a chart of a song, along with a “learning track” - a recording of the song in which you can choose to hear your own part predominantly. Your section leader and/or one of our assistant directors will be available to help you get ready. One good way to prepare is to make a voice recording of yourself singing your part and send it to your section leader, who will give you valuable feedback. If you’d like additional assistance in learning your track, ask the Music Team and they can provide you with practice partners, tips - you name it.
There is no deadline for your audition, although we assume you will want to complete the process sooner rather than later so you can begin to participate fully in the life of the chorus. Once you believe you are ready, let your section leader or one of the directors know and we will schedule your audition, which will take place in a private setting at one of our Thursday evening rehearsals. While you are preparing for your audition, we hope you will continue to join us at rehearsal every Thursday.
Following your audition, if the Music Team decides you are ready to sing with us, you will be invited to join the Narragansett Bay Chorus and join us for external performances. Unless you have already joined the Providence Chapter and paid your BHS dues, we will arrange for your membership in the Barbershop Harmony Society as a member of the Providence Chapter, give you the password to the members only section of our website so you can access all of our charts and learning tracks, and arrange for you to order the clothes we wear when we perform. You will become a member of a brotherhood of singers who are also friends and have a great time doing what we do. Welcome aboard!
Learning the Repertoire
As you attend chapter/chorus meetings, you’ll join us in rehearsing our repertoire. This typically encompasses about twelve songs at any given time. That’s a lot of songs! We know it can really be intimidating at first. Don’t worry; you don’t need to learn all of the songs right away. Just focus on one song at a time. If you don’t know which song(s) to focus on first, ask your section leader and they’ll point you in the right direction.
A great person to help you learn your songs is your section leader. It’s his job to know the songs well and to provide guidance and feedback to everyone in the section. A key way we accomplish this is our Readiness Recording Program (see the Readiness Recording Process section for details). Once your section leader signs off on your readiness to perform the song, you can join us on the risers when we perform it outside of rehearsal.
Note: there’s an incredibly helpful blog post that can walk you through the best practices of using learning tracks to master one song at a time. Members of our Chorus swear by these steps, using this ‘recipe’ to consistently memorize a new song every couple of weeks!
Readiness Recording Program
Each chorus member is required to send in a readiness recording for each song he has never sung with NBC before at a performance or competition. The Music Team will let you know when Readiness Recordings are due for any given song. The Music Team keeps track of submitted recordings and performance authorization for each individual and for each song.
Readiness recordings are audio recordings made with a personal device (cell phones tend to be easiest). When you feel that you have a good handle on a song (not necessarily 100% note-for-note, but “performance-ready”), record yourself singing either with the chorus during rehearsal or at home (playing the full mix track out loud on another device). This way, we can hear the rest of the chorus/mix track with your voice predominant. If technology isn’t your strong suit, ask your section leader for assistance and he’ll be happy to help.
Once you’ve made the recording of a song, text or email it to your section leader. He will do his best to review it and give you feedback within one week. If, for some reason, your section leader is unable to review your submission in a timely manner, he will ask another member of the Music Team to do it.
Once you submit your recordings and get songs approved by your section leader, you will be able to sing them with the chorus at performances outside of rehearsal. If you obtain approval to sing some songs but not others, we will ask you to either sing at “volume zero” (silently mouthing the words) or have you step down from the risers for the song in question, depending on the situation. Focus on learning the songs one at a time, ask for whatever help you need, and get approved song-by-song. You’ll be at full performance authorization in no time!
Here are questions people often ask us and answers you may find helpful
Who leads your rehearsals?
Rehearsals are led by Bob O’Connell, who is not only a wonderful director and arranger but also a great and patient teacher of vocal technique and performance. He is aided by his assistant directors, Fred Kingsbury and Will Rogers. Learn more about our Directors.
Our rehearsals are open to the public, and you can show up whenever you want to. If you prefer, you can email us at vpmembership@singnbc.com and tell us you are coming. If you would like to talk to us first, please leave a phone number and we will get back to you promptly.
How do I arrange to attend a Rehearsal?
No. Although some of our members are trained, most of us have no formal training.
Must I have vocal or musical training?
No. Many of our members never sang with a chorus or group before joining NBC.
Must I have experience singing with a chorus or group?
No. Many of our members do not read music.
Must I be able to read music?
No. But if you have read this far, we suspect you already do. You have heard others sing it and think it would be great fun to try it. You are absolutely right! For additional information about Barbershop Harmony click here.
Must I know anything about barbershop singing?
Whether you show up unannounced or have told us you are coming, when you arrive find Bill Nussbaum and say hello. He will introduce you to the chorus, who will welcome you warmly. Bill will give you a notebook with sheet music, including the words to songs we will be singing that evening, some of which will probably be familiar to you. Do your best to sing along when you can. We typically begin with a ten-minute warm up, then we review some of the songs in our repertoire before focusing on new songs we are learning.
What will happen when I arrive at rehearsal?
No. Rehearsal is also an opportunity for members to address each other on matters of interest to the chorus. And it is a social opportunity: ours is a culture of friendship and mutual support that members value as much as the music.
Is a rehearsal devoted entirely to singing?
No. Rehearsals are very important and also great fun. We expect our members to attend whenever they can. But we understand that work and personal commitments sometimes interfere, and people get sick too.
Must members attend every rehearsal?
We currently have 33 performing members. Most of us live within a 20-minute drive of North Providence, but we have had members come from as far away as Cape Cod, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and even upstate New York.
How many members do you have and where are they from?
We have members of all ages. Four of us are under 30. Three of us are over 80.
What are the ages of your members?
We sing a broad range of popular and traditional songs and show tunes, including sad songs, happy songs, funny songs, even gospel tunes. Our 2025 repertoire includes such favorites as Son of the Sea, Happy Together, I Got Rhythm, Over the Rainbow, I’m Feeling’ Fine, Lullabye, Stompin’ at the Savoy, Applause, Old Black Magic, The Greatest Show. We typically end our performances with a stirring rendition of Sweet Caroline, which New England audiences love. We also have a repertoire of Christmas songs, the highlight of which is O Holy Night, for which we are joined by a women’s chorus.
What kind of songs do you sing?
We have appeared all over Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New England. We have sung in Canada, California, and once even in England. This year, we plan shows in Tiverton, Westerly, Providence, Middletown, RI, and Attleboro, MA. But the year's highlight will be our appearance in August at the 350th Celebration for the Town of Little Compton.
Where does the Chorus perform?
Yes, we are a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Many of our performances are fundraisers for other charitable organizations. In fact, we have raised over a half million dollars in recent years. We also sponsor music scholarships at local colleges.
Does the Chorus do charitable work?
Yes. We are known as the Providence Chapter of the Patriot Division of the Northeastern District of the Barbershop Harmony Society of America, which oversees competitions all over the U.S. and Canada before panels of judges who award points based on the quality of singing and performance presentation. The competitions are always friendly and supportive (they are nothing like the movie Pitch Perfect) and enable participants to meet and mingle with singers from other choruses, many of whom will become lifelong friends. Competitions are also a wonderful way to sharpen our focus and gauge our progress as a group. We are always trying to improve.
Is there a competitive element to barbershop singing?
Each member must pay annual dues to the chapter, district, and international organization totaling approximately $20 a month or $240 a year.
What does it cost to be a member of the Narragansett Bay Chorus?
Yes. We typically wear black shirts, black pants, and our snazzy new yellow ties, the total cost of which is under $70. We sometimes wear blue button-down shirts with our logo, which cost $25.
Must I buy a uniform for performance?
Talk to us. Give us a chance to help you make it work.