# Anybody else sung in a quartet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [September 23, 2026, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-sung-in-a-quartet/1033301 "2026-09-23T07:28:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-sung-in-a-quartet/1033301/1 "2026-09-23T07:28:30Z")
Not necessarily a SATB quartet, it could be a TTBB quartet. I’ve sung in both. Gosh, they were fun. Anyway, anybody been in them? ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-sung-in-a-quartet/1033301/2 "2026-09-23T09:51:41Z")
I played in a number of bands, only one of which had four guys who could sing. Not exactly what you’re looking for, but on a song with four vocal parts it sounded awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-sung-in-a-quartet/1033301/3 "2026-09-23T10:06:22Z")
I’ve sung in lots of choirs and groups, including early music, doo wop and barbershop. Some have been quartets. Yes, it is enormous fun. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-sung-in-a-quartet/1033301/4 "2026-09-23T18:37:46Z")
Calling @Misnomer ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-sung-in-a-quartet/1033301/5 "2026-09-23T19:30:38Z")
Yepper, early music version. Also larger early music groups and other choirs, opera choruses, you name it. I am not soloist material but gimme an alto or quintus or even tenor part and I’m all in on the harmony. (Or polyphony, depending how you roll.) ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-sung-in-a-quartet/1033301/6 "2026-09-23T19:37:44Z")
I would sing a cappella with three other guys in High School. We were inspired by The Nylons. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-sung-in-a-quartet/1033301/7 "2026-09-24T00:51:05Z")
I’ve been the bass in an SATB quartet that sang a couple times at my church. We sang “God So Loved the World”. I enjoyed it very much. My mother was the alto. One time, before I was born, Mom, Dad, and Dad’s parents Nee-Nee and Pop-Pop sang a few songs together as a quartet, dressed in tuxedos and evening dresses. Then they pulled out kazoos and did the Hallelujah Chorus. It absolutely brought the house down. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-sung-in-a-quartet/1033301/8 "2026-09-24T00:58:18Z")
I often receive a request to sing solo. (so low they can’t hear me) mmm ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-sung-in-a-quartet/1033301/9 "2026-09-24T08:03:07Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > We were inspired by The Nylons. Our SATB quartet was inspired by the Manhattan Transfer. We could knock “Java Jive” out of the park. A few others too. For TTBB, obviously using different personnel, we could do things like the Barra MacNeils’ “Coal Town Road,” Tanglefoot’s “Vimy,” and Stan Rogers’ “Barrett’s Privateers.” Fun times! I kind of wish that Pentatonix had been around back in the day, because it would have been fun to try a S/ATTBB quintet, as they are. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-sung-in-a-quartet/1033301/10 "2026-09-24T14:42:45Z")
> [@BippityBoppityBoo](#): > > Calling @Misnomer I’ve done a lot of singing – solo, in musicals, with choirs/choruses – but never in a quartet. 🙂 (Thanks for the page! 😁) ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-sung-in-a-quartet/1033301/11 "2026-09-24T14:56:53Z")
We could ask @Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela too, he’s probably been in all kinds of quartets! ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-sung-in-a-quartet/1033301/12 "2026-09-29T00:44:39Z")
“Quartets? I’ve had a few…” 🙂 Not as many as you might think, though. For many years at Christmastime, I participated in what we call ‘Carols for Cash’. You know the drill - Victorian costumes, strolling through a shopping mall singing Christmas songs (but not the religious ones!). It’s pretty soul destroying, as you can’t hear each other, the arrangements are crap, and the music is soooo overdone! Lots of those gigs, they didn’t even bother to turn off the mall muzak. More along the lines of what @Spoons is talking about, though - I’ve subbed in many church choirs over the years. At Fairlawn, which was my regular church gig in Toronto, we had two soloists for each part, so at least once a month, we’d do a double-quartet, which was deeply satisfying. Here in NYC, I’ve subbed in at a couple of churches where there was only a quartet of soloists to lead the hymns, do the service music, and sing the introit/anthems/offertory. We rehearsed at 9:30am, and did the service at 11. One time, the repertoire was Tomas Luiz de Victoria, another time it was William Byrd. Apparently, that’s how that church’s music works - Sunday morning rehearsal and service, Renaissance or Baroque polyphony, and a quartet of soloists who can sight-read that kind of repertoire every week. It was incredible, but also a LOT of pressure!! ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-sung-in-a-quartet/1033301/13 "2026-09-29T10:21:37Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > Apparently, that’s how that church’s music works - Sunday morning rehearsal and service, Renaissance or Baroque polyphony, and a quartet of soloists who can sight-read that kind of repertoire every week. It was incredible, but also a LOT of pressure!! I can imagine. I can sight-read for flute, do it kinda-sorta on piano, and the same for vocal, as long as we’ve got a good piano line. Sunday morning rehearsal? Our church choir always rehearsed Thursday evenings. We warmed up on Sunday mornings, of course, with what we were going to perform today; but Thursday evenings were the weekly rehearsal, when we learned a lot of things we would do at some point in the future. I miss singing.