A melody you want to sing,
A story the lyrics tell,
Harmony that supports the melody,
Chords that build to a high point and satisfying finish,
Embellishments that help our unaccompanied voices flow from phrase to phrase,
beginning to end.

These are the elements of a good arrangement and what we teach at our one-day ADP workshops. Just as an actor studies the depth of the character to be portrayed, we think that it makes good sense to learn as much as we can about the music we sing.
Knowledge of our craft helps us in our desire to be the best quartet and/or chorus singer and performers we can be!

Local Workshops
We hope you will attend one or more of our one-day workshops. Each year we hold two in Oceanside, CA, Scottsdale, AZ, and Albuquerque, NM. Check our Home Page for dates and locations.

When you come to a workshop for the first time we begin this part of your musical adventure with a Basics of Barbershop class. During the laboratory-style workshops we use an annual project song as the basic learning tool with everybody participating in its development. As we work our way through creating an arrangement we concentrate on
• Knowing the eleven chords used in Barbershop
• Voicing the chords as appropriate for the song
• Insuring that the vocal lines for every voice part are singable
• Creating embellishments to add interest and “move the song along”
• Developing a contestable performance vehicle

Annual Retreat
To wrap up one year and get a start on the next we hold an Annual Retreat in Scottsdale, AZ. During the Friday night thru Sunday noon weekend we
• Give a Basics of Barbershop class to new attendees
• Review the work done during the year on the project song and complete the arrangement which will be copyright cleared and available for choruses and quartets to sing
• Have classes covering in depth some specific aspects of our music
• Review and critique work done by individual arrangers for their continued progress
• Plan for the coming year, and
• Have a lot of fun doing it all

The Retreat is usually scheduled for the first weekend in May of each year.