We practice every Monday night, from 7:15 – 9:45 p.m. at the Trinity Christian School in Forest Hills, PA (an eastern suburb of Pittsburgh).
Every rehearsal, we strive to sing our best, always pushing the envelope of our personal performance. We work hard at improving our sound, and our efforts have shown results. But we try not to crack the whip too much on a weekly basis, singing should be fun as well. After all, if you’re not having fun, why bother doing it?
Vocal Fundamentals
Under the direction of Don Dressler (Musical Director) we work on exercises and warm-up progressions that get us in the habit of breathing properly, and producing rich, warm tones.
Teaching Quartets
When Metro learns a new song, we usually employ a teaching quartet (made up of Metro members) to teach the chorus. Through repetition (and giving each voice part the chance to be dominant over the others), it gets the chorus ‘off the paper’ very quickly, and ready to polish the new song up to Metro performance standards.
Sectional Rehearsals
Periodically, we break into sectional rehearsals. The tenors, leads, baritones and basses can focus on specific passages in our repertoire that need a little extra tweaking. This attention to detail gives each section a better unit sound, and improves the sound of the chorus.
Barbershop Polecat Program
The Polecat program (sponsored by the Society) is a collection of 12 familiar tunes (nicknamed ‘polecats’) that all barbershoppers around the world should know. Metro is on the way to learning the entire Polecat book, so we can sing with any other ‘Polecats’ in choruses or quartets around the world!
If you like vocal harmony, come on out and watch and listen to the Steel City Harmonizers practice. We’re sure than once you do, you’ll by itching to ring chords with us as the newest member of our chorus!
Take the Parkway East (I-376) to Exit 10 (Forest Hills). At the 3rd traffic light, turn left onto Braddock Road. Bear right at the second stop sign, and afterwards, turn right onto Ridge Avenue. The school is the 2nd building on the right.