Whether your love for singing came from performing in high school musicals or simply singing in the shower, the Gainesville Harmony Show Chorus is inviting you to sing for them this summer. The chorus annually hosts free singing lessons on Thursday evenings throughout the summer as a way to recruit new members.

The four-part harmony a capella group, which performs songs from all eras of music, is a division of the worldwide Sweet Adelines International.

“We’re going to start a new program where we perform once a month at a nursing home,” says the GHSC co-director Diane Sherley. “But, we perform almost anywhere people want us to perform.” The group recently performed at the Santa Fe Community College Spring Arts Festival in downtown Gainesville. The group also participates in judged competitions.

The organization meets every Thursday evening 6:45 p.m.-8:45 p.m. at the Covenant Church on NW 16th Ave.
During typical Thursday rehearsals, the group does physical exercises, breath management exercises and voice warm ups. Then, the group splits into the four voice sections to practice. At the end of the rehearsal, the four parts come together to practice as a whole chorus.

“This is like the break in the week,” says team leader Kitty Lehtola. “It’s for the enjoyment of music. We work at it. We practice at home and we have some choreography that goes along with the songs.”

Sherley is a charter member of the organization, which has been around since 1974.

“We’re a great support system for women,” says Sherley.

“It’s a fantastic bunch of women,” says member Hilda Brown. “The only organized singing I had done was in a chorus in high school. But, my dad loved barbershop and I was around it all the time.”

In order to perform in concerts, members of the group have to audition. “We have a quality control system,” says Sherley. “In order to perform, you have to sing the song with correct chords, correct notes and correct breaths. You can have one error.”

Group member Joan Gowan joined after her teenage daughter was a member of the group. “It’s hard work,” she says. “It keeps your brain going. I?don’t read music. But, we just learn by going over and over again. Standards are very high.”

In order to recruit new members, the group hosts free singing lessons each summer. “We teach (participants) the parts of barbershop and how to sing correctly,” says Sherley. “The basics are all the same as any singing, in terms of how you stand and how you breathe. We teach how to breathe fast and how to sneak a quick breath. We make it as easy for them as we can.”

Throughout the summer, participating “students” will learn two songs and will participate in a performance for family and friends at the end of the summer program.

At the end of the lessons program, anybody who participated is welcome to continue with the group.

GHSC member Carolyn Hanson had taken the free singing lessons from the group one summer.

“It was a few years ago,” says Hanson. “It was a commitment and I was doing other things. But, I came back to the singing lessons again and decided to make the commitment.” She says she’s happy she decided to join. “It’s a very warm group,” she explains.

The GHSC will begin offering its free voice lessons on Thursday, June 12.

For more information about the group or the voice lessons, call Sharleen Simpson at (352)371-1013 or (352)258-2773. You also can visit the group’s website at www.gainesvillechorus.com, where you can sample some of their sounds and learn how to book them for a performance.