Chorus

Photo credit: Graham Lindsey

The men of the Northern Stars Chorus have been singing together for longer than 19 years. Our ages range from about 19 to 78, with an average somewhere around 40. Our primary goal is to have FUN! For us, this means working hard at rehearsals, singing well, and entertaining audiences in an atmosphere of fellowship.

The Northern Stars Chorus is a growing, interesting group that has an exciting repertoire of songs.

From our inception, our objective has been to provide men with a place where they can learn to sing with good vocal technique, in four part harmony, a cappella. A cappella means without musical instruments, not without music.

We are members of the men’s Barbershop Harmony Society. We competed most recently in 2004, 2005, and 2006 at the Ontario District conventions in Niagara Falls and Kingston finishing second, fourth, and third. We compete periodically to receive judges feedback to assist us with improvement of our performance level.

We offer something to every audience, and every singer: contemporary a cappella, gospel, barbershop, country, doo-wop, musical shows, television shows, and even some of your favorites from the 50s and 60s! We strive to operate in a creative and innovative manner. We are committed to the pursuit of excellence in musical performance, providing a fun, achievement-oriented rehearsal experience, which supports membership commitment within the context of modern lifestyles.

Rehearsal

We meet every Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., at Bromley Road Baptist Church, 1900 Lauder Drive. The church is located one bock north of Carling Avenue, opposite Maitland. We meet in the gymnasium. The site offers plenty of parking. For a map and detailed directions, follow the Sing With Us link in the menu at the top.

Each meeting is open for singers to come and find out more about the Stars and a cappella singing. In addition, in September and January we extend a special invitation to new singers. The September and January evenings allow us to devote more time to introducing singers, new and experienced, to our chorus and to a cappella singing than on a regular meeting night. Don't let the first night be your only night with us, join us for several nights before you make any decision.

Stuart MacMartin, Co-Director

Stuart has been involved with music in many different forms for quite a while. He has studied music with courses at the University level. He has been involved with and performed in church and community musicals. He also plays flute for his church.

His son, Chris, who became interested in the chorus, strongly encouraged his father to join him at a meeting. Stuart quickly found he enjoyed our style of music, our repertoire, and the camaraderie. It was in early 2003 when Stuart was introduced to barbershop and a cappella singing and joined us.

Singing with the chorus is a family activity as both Stuart’s sons sing with him in the chorus. Stuart showed and expressed interest in directing and was soon in front of the singers as Assistant Director and in 2007 became Musical Director.

He has attended the Barbershop Harmony Society's Director's College since the summer of 2004 and has attended other directory development workshops. In 2005 at Director's College, he took Director's Level 2 courses. He is well on his way to becoming a Certified Director.

Chris MacMartin , Co-Director

Chris is a young director with a moderate amount of experience and a great deal of knowledge. He is in his second year of directing and has attended Harmony University for five years. He is very close to becoming a certified director of the Barbershop Harmony Society.

Chris is presently enrolled in the Bachelor of Music program at Carleton University and is a part of each rehearsal helping us with proper vocal techniques andpresentation aspects as well as directing songs. His past music involvement includes singing baritone in two quartets, composing (music for Bell High School's play "Ralph, Roister Doister" which reached the final showcase in 2005), and arranging songs and tags. In 2007 he arranged "Harbor Lights" that the chorus sung at it's spring show.

The Northern Stars has something for everybody!  Sure, we want to sing and perform well, but we also want to be accessible to the beginner, or the casual singer who just wants to come sing for enjoyment.  We have singers who are interested in developing their singing skills as best they can. To achieve this they can additionally sing in a quartet, attend coaching sessions, receive extra vocal lessons, learn additional songs beyond the chorus repertoire, and sing out. All members receive voice lessons as an integral part of our weekly rehearsals.

Whether it's your first time singing a cappella or in the barbershop style, you've sung for many years in a church choir, or you've sung with another choir or chorus, you can feel comfortable singing with the chorus.

Your membership includes
- licensed sheet music access,
- licensed sound tracks for learning,
- insurance for when we meet, practice, and sing out,
- voice instruction in good singing techniques and exercises,
- periodic coaching sessions with a recognized singer or director,
- access to the complete resources of the Barbershop Harmony Society. This includes a large catalogue of four part music, free sheet music, discounted rate at Harmony University, resources both human and printed at the Society and district level, and much more.

And don't worry if you don't know how to read music. A fair proportion of our singers do not read music. With our learning materials and instruction, this should not present a problem for you. We want to see you enjoy singing and develop your skills.

The Super Stars Programme - A Quartet Encouragement Program developed for the Northern Stars Chorus
Nepean Chapter, Ontario District, SPEBSQSA

Our Quartets

The following are our registered quartets. Some of our members are in other quartets as well.

 Stuart MacMartin (T),
    Larry Matschke (L),
        Peter Maitland (Bs),
            Chris MacMartin (Br)

 Jake Dunbar (T),
    Mark Palmer (L),
       Ryan Lindsey (Bs),
          Chris MacMartin (Br)

     Motivation is taking a leave of
        absence for a few months.