Gender & Identity Statement

A message from the Chair of Meantime

The world of Barbershop is expanding in a beautiful and exciting way. A new diversity is being embraced and encouraged, and people are bringing new perspectives to the world of Barbershop. Across the world, traditional structures are adapting and moving. Among this change, new and surprising people have asked us whether they would be able to join our chorus. This year, we realised that to answer that question we would first need to ask ourselves. Meantime is a TTBB chorus, and it was decided very early in this process that we will continue this way. Moving our voicing to SATB would involve such an overhaul that we would effectively start the chorus from scratch - we would need completely new arrangements, our current repertoire would become obsolete, and we would have to re-evaluate each member's position within the vocal range. It simply wasn't possible.

So the next step was to find our social identity. We asked our members why people feel a sense of belonging. Responses included our shared musical nerdiness; being driven to be better than we were yesterday yet embracing playfulness; and finding love and community here. And, for a majority of our members, providing some form of ‘male-centred’ space was important.

We have tried to create a message for potential auditionees that best describes who we are. We hope to balance diversity with belonging, and acknowledge that we are trying to be both inclusive and exclusive. We know it won’t please everyone, because we haven’t pleased everyone within the chorus. Some people believe it’s too far, others that it’s not far enough. We have spent a long time trying to find the ‘most right’ option, and the outcome is a first attempt which has been voted for by a majority of the chorus. For all of us this is completely new territory.

Our intention for you as a potential auditionee is that you can read this and see if you would feel the most sense of belonging with us. If it feels right, then get in contact. If it doesn’t, we hope you can find your home in other choruses - and we will cheer you on from the auditorium and tag with you at the afterglow. And if you're not sure, you can always ask us here.

Dominic

Chair, Meantime Chorus

Our statement on gender and identity

Meantime Chorus is a male-presenting, lower voices singing ensemble. Our voicing is TTBB, and from a traditional perspective we have the sound of a “Male Voice Choir”. We are also a male-centred community in which trust and friendship enables vulnerability, in turn supporting each member to find their most authentic expression: as singers, performers and individuals. Though male-focused in nature, membership is not limited to cis-men. We invite auditionees from across the spectrums of gender and sexuality who identify within this space.

For more information on our auditioning process, please see the Join Us page