If you’re a woman and love to sing, and are thinking about joining a local chorus, the Spirit of Sound Singers might just be for you.

Now in its eighth year, the Spirit of Sound Singers (SOSS) chorus is a non-competing, women’s chorus whose members come from many Greater Puget Sound communities. Their director is Zoe Thompson of Bellevue, a Master Director; she has served as SAI President, is a certified judge, and has directed championship choruses for many years.

The members of SOSS have put their talented chord-ringing harmony to work in our local communities, singing for fundraisers as well as entertaining at retirement and life-care communities, and medical rehabilitation centers.

The Spirit of Sound Singers’ repertoire is wide-ranging. Virtually any song can be arranged into the style that has been described as four-part, unaccompanied, close-harmony singing, with the melody being carried by the second voice.

In 1945, Edna Mae Anderson of Tulsa, Okla., brought a few singing friends together. From that meeting grew the nucleus of what was to become Sweet Adelines International (SAI), an independent, nonprofit music education organization, now one of the world’s largest for women. Members number over 25,000 and extend over five continents. Over 10,000 women attend yearly international competitions. In 2010, the SAI convention and competition was held at Seattle’s Key Arena. A local chorus from Bellevue was one of the 33 award-winning choruses.

If you like to sing and are interested in learning more about singing a cappella barbershop harmony, visit a Spirit of Sound Singers rehearsal. For more information and rehearsal site location in Renton, visit spiritofsoundsingers.org or contact Sharon Johnson at (206) 232-1073 or Carol Drew at (425) 822-0949.