Not everyone realizes all that the Big Chicken Chorus does. Here's what transpires in a typical year.
| Our year's activities start off with our Installation Banquet, at which annual awards are given and the new Board of Directors is installed. And, of course, there's singing, because we don't go anywhere without a song or three. |  |
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The Barbershop Harmony Society holds a mid-winter convention each year. A highlight of this convention is competitions and performances by some of our youngest members. Along with our friends at Atlanta Vocal Project, we sponsor Georgia Spirit, a youth chorus of students from the greater Atlanta area. Here are videos of their 2019 and 2020 performances. |
| From our youngest members to some of our, ahem, not-as-young members, another feature of the mid-winter convention is competitions and performances by senior quartets and choruses. Starting in 2019, each district (comprised of several states) mounted a senior chorus for competition. Our district's chorus, which included six Big Chickens, won the first annual competition. Here is video of that award-winning performance. | . |
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Big Chicken Chorus performs the national anthem before local college and professional sporting events. We have performed for the Atlanta Braves, the Rome Braves, Kennesaw State University's basketball, and most recently, Georgia Tech's men's basketball. |
| While they are our most regular activity, our rehearsals are anything but boring. In addition to working on our current repertoire for upcoming shows, we learn a tag each week, give our Beak of the Week award, and often have guest performers to entertain us -- both from within and outside the chorus. | . |
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Every year, we have a big drive for Singing Valentines. Candy and flowers are fleeting, but having four guys show up at your home or work and serenade you is a memory that will last forever (and earn your sweetheart some serious brownie points). Many of the quartets are assembled specifically for this event, giving guys who aren't in a formal quartet the opportunity to do some quartet singing. |
| One of the ways in which we support our community is our work with Keep Cobb Beautiful. We have adopted a mile of Johnson Ferry Road that we clean on a quarterly basis. We call ir "Jack's Mile", in memory of Jack Sweitzer, one of the best men we've had the privilege to sing with. | . |
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While we rely heavily on our director (and assistant directors) to help us become better barbershoppers, an outside perspective is always helpful. Recently, we had Dave Fobart, a district- and international-level judge, come to evaluate us. We performed our current competition set, and Dave showed us how to improve, with the inside view of "this is what the judges are looking for." |
| Our district (comprised of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and eastern Arkansas) holds two conferences each year. The Big Chicken Chorus has been competing at these conferences for many years. But beyond the competitions (both chorus and quartet), we get to meet, spend time with -- and most importantly, sing -- with barbershoppers from all over the Southeast. | . |
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Sometimes a patron wants more than just a quartet for a performance, but an entire chorus would be overkill. This is where Chicken Little, our "very large quartet," steps in. Recent performances by our VLQ include a senior adult banquet at a local church and as the entertainment for a luncheon honoring volunteers for Keep Cobb Beautiful. |
| Most years, we mount a Spring Show (one of our two biggest shows) every April. But in 2019, we did something a bit different. Barbershop in general, and the Big Chicken Chorus specifically, enjoy a rich heritage. Among our ranks is Drayton Justus, who was the lead singer for (among other quartets) Gentlemen's Agreement, the 1971 International Quartet Champion. Big Chicken Chorus combined with several other choruses and quartets in greater Atlanta to honor Drayton and Gentlemen's Agreement with a show that was almost exclusively music that this quartet had recorded. | . |
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After most rehearsals, we have an afterglow, where many of our members get together at a local restaurant for a little food, a little fellowship and -- of course -- a little singing. We also have more formal chorus-wide afterglows after most shows. |
| Reinhardt University's Falany Performing Arts Center is one of many venues that have hosted a Big Chicken Chorus show. |  |
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Every summer, we form quartets -- many of whom have never sung together before -- for an in-house quartet competition. Our winners often go on to perform in our shows. |
| As well as coaching from judges like Dave Fobart, we've also had professional coaches come teach us. Recent coaches include Chase Guyton and four-time international champion, Joe Connelly. | . |
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Every fall, a couple hundred young men from middle schools and high schools across the county come together for our biggest outreach of the year. Real Men Sing is a full-day singing clinic that is capped off with a free concert featuring those young men and the Big Chicken Chorus. |
| We don't just have coaches in to teach us. We also send out coaches. Coweta County held an event similar to our Real Men Sing, and our premiere quartet, Quadraphonics, was the teaching quartet for the event. | . |
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Autumn brings the second of our district's conferences. While the Big Chicken Chorus competed at both, we'd like to shift focus to our premiere quartet, Quadraphonics. Having only been formed nine months prior, and having only competed once before, Quadraphonics took fourth place among all our district's quartets. |
| Honoring those who have served in our nation's military (which includes many in our own ranks) is dear to our hearts. On or about Veterans Day every year, we participate in a show at the Earl Smith Strand Theatre to our veterans. Our set that night is patriotic-heavy, including a medley of all the service branches' anthems. | . |
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Another way that the Big Chicken Chorus is involved in our community is that we give funds to help students pursuing musical education. Here we see some representatives of our chorus presenting a check to the Cobb County Board of Education so that some students can attend seminars to learn to become better performers. |
| The holiday season is a busy time for Big Chicken Chorus. And we often kick it off by providing entertainment at the Salvation Army's Red Kettle Kick-Off. This event is usually held in Glover Park (on the Marietta Square), but the Strand Theatre has been nice enough to host it in inclement weather. | . |
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Got a holiday tree you want to light? Big Chicken Chorus has got you covered for the entertainment. Recently, the Atlanta Braves had us perform at the Battery (the shopping/dining complex next to their ballpark). It was particularly fun to see children dancing around in the open-air audience area, though we're not sure we were quite as popular as when Santa showed up. |
| Here's a performance with a twist. Every year, the Georgia Symphony Orchesta puts on their holiday show, and we join them for a rare accompanied song or two. | . |
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A couple weeks after singing at the Battery, Kennestone hospital had us among the acts that performed at their tree lighting ceremony. |
| Bringing joy to people who are in assisted living centers is an honor and a special treat. We got to do a brief set at Atherton Place shortly after the Kennestone tree lighting. |  |
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Our calendar year wraps up with our Holiday Show. All the stops get pulled out for an evening of songs, sketches and special guests. |
