- Get yourself elected as the chapter Youth In Harmony Vice President. This makes you a board member with a vote. It also makes you responsible for a budget and you want one.
- Get in front of your chapter and tell them that you can’t possibly meet with every music educator in your area. Besides, they are so busy it’s hard to find a time in their schedule. Tell your members that you need them to be spies for the chapter. Ask every one to call the high school nearest their home to determine when the next school concert will be with their choir(s) performing. Find out how you can attend. The chapter will pay if tickets are required. Then take your wife out for the evening and go to the concert. Ask them to come back with two opinions on how good the choir is, how many singers are in the choir, and how many male singers.
- Collect the information and choose a choir with lots of students and at least (hopefully) 10 young men. Call the Music Educator and tell him/her that you want to hire the choir to be on your next chapter show. Say how much you will pay (e.g. $250) for 10-12 minutes of music. Explain that they can sing their normal repertoire, but that you’d like them to learn one barbershop song called Keep The Whole World Singing so that they can join all rest of the singers on the show for a mass choir number at the end. You will provide the music and a director to teach them.
- Don’t be surprised if the students account for a significant increase in show ticket sales to their families and friends.
- Plan your show such that the students perform early in the show and then must sit through the rest of the performance so that they can join the mass choir. This will force them to hear your headliners for your best barbershop sound.
- When the students join in the mass choir, they will be immersed in the barbershop sound.
- Before the show, ask your headliners to look for student singers after the show and to engage them in singing tags.
- Be sure to invite the students to your afterglow.
- Within a week or two you will likely get a telephone call from the Music Educator wanting help for the students in his/her program that want to start a quartet. Be prepared to offer free music, learning tapes/CD’s and coaching.
- Be prepared for the men that visited a school concert to be excited about this and want to help.
Now you have a YIH program. Start planning for a different school choir to be on your next show.Don’t be surprised when Music Educators start calling to ask to be on a show again.
Far Western District