For the second week of the Spring Sing program, the chorus was joined by the current class of 26 Spring Singers making for about 70 men on the risers. After warmups for the combined chorus, the Spring Singers departed for their group instruction with Seattle Seachordsmen director Ted Chamberlain. An hour later they rejoined the chorus for joint work with Kenny on No More Sorrow, Bye-Bye Blues, and Lost in the Stars as we prepare them for the upcoming Spring Shows on June 10th. The show will feature the Spring Singers as well as guest quartets Wink, Ripchord and 4.0 in a new program we call Music First!
Another former Sing, Sing, Singer is Matt Astle, who participated in the program in the fall of 2011, having heard of the program through a Facebook posting. Matt says, “What I loved immediately was how people treated me. That first night I came home and my wife asked me how it went.
As part of the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS), Northwest Sound participates in the society’s regular rhythm of competitions. The annual cycle of three levels of competition covers about 15 months, so the cycles overlap. In the spring choruses take part in the local or Division competitions.
Begun in 2010, sing! Sing! SING!(SSS) is Northwest Sound’s program of providing free a capella singing training for men of the community. Participants are given free group music lessons, sheet music and training media, participation in chorus rehearsals, and an opportunity to perform with the chorus in one of its annual shows. In the program, participants learn a variety of singing techniques including basics of supportive breathing, word pronunciation, vocal production, ear training, voice-matching, and finding the message in a song, skills that are developed continually by all chorus members as they progress.
VANCOUVER, Wash. – The Northwest Sound men’s chorus three-peated as Evergreen District Chorus Champions on Saturday October 15th with a score of 1490 (82.8 average). Highlighting the performance were Music and Singing category scores averaging 85 for our ballad Tomorrow is Promised to No One. Northwest Sound will represent the Bellevue chapter and Evergreen District next summer in Las Vegas, NV at the 2017 Barbershop Harmony Society International Convention.
Northwest Sound was also well-represented in the quartet finals at the contest with 4 of the 8 finalists featuring members from the chorus. Our top quartets were Momma’s Boys who placed second and On the Rocks who placed fourth.
Northwest Sound is thrilled to have represented the Evergreen District of the Barbershop Harmony Society at this year's 2016 International competition. We sang a set with Strange Sight from the 2014 movie Tinkerbell and the Legend of the Neverbeast arranged by our very own Director Kenny Potter, and the beautiful ballad Tomorrow Is Promised To No One, arranged by Robert Rund. NWS jumped from 21st place at the 2015 Internationals to 13th place with a score of 83.5, adding 2.5 points to our previous score, and the highest score ever for the chapter.
The society has done us the great favor of publishing all of the 2016 contest videos on YouTube, and you can watch our winning numbers below.
SPOKANE, Wash. – The Northwest Sound men’s chorus repeated as Evergreen District Chorus Champions on Saturday with a score of 1490 (82.8 average). Coming in a close second was the SenateAires out of Salem Ore. who scored 1482 (82.3 average). Northwest Sound will represent the Bellevue chapter and Evergreen District next summer in Nashville, Tenn. at the 2016 Barbershop Harmony Society International Convention.
Led by new director, Ken Potter, Northwest Sound put an impressive 72-singers on stage for their competition set – the largest Evergreen District chorus since 2000. The expanded number of singers was thanks in large part to the addition of a new young adult’s chorus to the Bellevue chapter called “Emerald City Sound” (ECS).
Northwest Sound sang in the International Barbershop competition in Pittsburgh on July 3rd and placed 21st with a score of 81! We worked very hard with our new director Kenny Potter to prepare for the event, and are happy with the score, but even more the experience was once in a lifetime. For many, this was a first time at International, and it was like going to Barbershop Disneyland. The level of expertise in singing exhibited by the contestants raised our perspective of what is possible, and set new standards for excellence in a cappella singing.
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Submitted by Chris Powell on 
