OutBAC 2025 Singer Information

For non-weekly attendance in the run-up to a contest
Weekend coaching sessions
£6.00 monthly fee (scheduled to rise to £10 in January 2025)
£10.00 for each coaching day

Sometimes people who'd like to be in a competing chorus can't commit to weekly rehearsals, but could do more concentrated sessions at weekends and then take part in contests and the same songs in concerts. Bristol A Cappella has a category of membership for singers who find themselves in this situation so they're not excluded from the experience of being part of the chorus. This might, for example, help those who already have another weekly choir or activity so they don’t have to choose between that and competing in a mixed barbershop chorus.

Each year we select a contest repertoire that's rehearsed by all singers, weekly and OutBAC. OutBAC members have access to all our songs, and you could also learn songs that will be in our next show and perform those with us, but the weekend sessions focus on the contest songs. You'll be given access to sheet music and audio tracks to help you learn once you register and sign our copyright agreement. Weekly members have an initial song chosen for them to learn before joining, but OutBAC members are checked on the contest songs during Saturday sessions.

After registering, singers will be invited to the weekend coaching sessions and rehearsals for the contest season. These are each six hours long (with breaks) and happen in our usual venue with specialist coaches from outside the chorus; this year, all weekend sessions are on Saturdays.

(If you're available on a particular Tuesday, we're happy to see you at our regular rehearsal as well, but the repertoire there is much wider, and if you're coming to lots of these, a weekly membership might be more appropriate, as our weekly members should still be attending the weekend sessions.)

OutBAC singers should learn the music before the second session so they can be working on the same skills as the weekly singers. Choreographed moves might be added or changed in the weekly rehearsals, and weekend singers should learn these outside the sessions as well to make sure they’ll be practised enough by the time of a contest.

We ask that singers joining OutBAC display the following qualities:

• range is suitable and secure
• sing musically, with good vocal technique
• memorise two songs perfectly
• sing independently while matching with other parts
• embody the song’s story through visual performance

Once you've registered below, you can come to the learning day on the first weekend rehearsal where we'll do some initial voice checks¹⁾. We check memorisation, independence, and performance in the latter half of the season by having section leaders listen to a singer while they are singing with the chorus, by doing rolling quartets on the contest songs, where only one person from each part is singing for a few bars before the next takes over, and observing the chorus performance in rehearsals. Each singer intending to sing in contest should be signed off by the music team two months before the performance date.

To be invited to this kind of membership, singers must:

• live in or near²⁾ Bristol, or have an existing connection³⁾ with the chorus - check with the Musical Director if unsure.
• sing with a high standard of vocal skills (assessed at certification)
• attend at least half of the weekend coaching sessions for the contest season⁴⁾

There’s a monthly membership fee (currently £6.00 per month) for OutBAC singers, as many expenses are still the same as for our weekly singers (music licences, administration, etc.), and a fee of £10.00 for each weekend day⁵⁾, as these sessions are our most expensive to run, with coaching and venue costs.

For this year's session, we'll be travelling to contests in both Bournemouth and Helsingborg, Sweden, to represent the UK at international contest. That means the costs of transport and accommodation will be higher than usual, possibly around £800 for Sweden, and £3-400 for Bournemouth. To try to bring this down, we'll be fundraising as a chorus, and funds raised after paying for coaching and targeted support will be split equally between all OutBAC and weekly members. If you feel you can afford the trips without this help, you could also decline your share or take a smaller percentage, to increase the amount available to those who need the funds more. We'll also be operating an instalment plan, so you can pay £100 per month into our savings account to save for the trips.

In addition to water in rehearsals and a copy of the music (you can print the PDF from our web site or use a tablet in rehearsals, as long as you can mark changes on it), you will need to provide some parts of the stage costume; this is still being finalised and more information will be given after joining.

• BABS 2024
• BABS 2023
• BABS 2019