Do you know what I’ll be doing at least one night a week? I’ve found a perfect group for me to join. The SPEBSQSA. At least that is what it used to be called.

Yes, the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America. Now, since it has become a global organization, it is called the Barbershop Harmony Society.

In Santa Clarita the group is called the Men of Harmony. The music isn’t limited to tunes that your great-grandfather would have sung. We even do some fairly modern stuff. All of it is just plain fun.

Long before there were college and university-level a cappella singing groups like you would hear and see in the movie, “Pitch Perfect,” the SPEBSQSA was formed. It was from an era without radios or TV. Nothing was amplified, either. Just the power of the voice.

It is also a very American form of musical entertainment. Sometime along the way, the groups took to wearing clothes from the 1890s and almost always having a skimmer (or boater) straw hat. Quite often you’ll see them in bright vests, and they could even have spats on their shoes.

But it isn’t the costume. It is the voices in harmony.

Such groups come in all sizes, shapes and colors. You wouldn’t believe that so much talent resides in our little valley. It is the kind of music that makes you want to tap your feet. Given a few minutes, you’ll find yourself singing along if you aren’t careful.

You just never know where and when a quartet might show up. I learned about the Santa Clarita Men of Harmony during a concert they gave at the Senior Center a week ago last Sunday. Tuesday night I joined them just to see if I could still sing.

To make a long story a little longer, I picked up an application and will soon become a member. It was that much fun.

Now all of this barbershop quartet singing won’t keep me from my usual appointed rounds of karaoke. Wednesday night is Doc’s Inn on Lyons, Friday can be the ‘49er in Acton or the VFW on Sierra Highway, or even JJ’s Grill where Mulligan’s used to be. And Saturday is singing at Bergie’s. Do any of you know other places in the SCV?

Singing is a lot of fun. Most of the time it isn’t a matter of tone or the ability to follow the rhythm of the song. No, it is all about feelings. (By the way, “Feelings,” the song, should be banned from most places that have karaoke.)

That is what is – so much fun. Just singing. And once you realize you don’t need anything but your voice, it is even more fun. No silly instruments to confuse you, except for the pitch pipe to start everyone on the same key.

I’ve belonged to many musical groups, from large choral groups of 120 or more voices down to these neat little quartets. I’ve performed opera and in musicals. Karaoke, too. It is in the singing that we find the joy.

Maybe some of you guys out there would like to join in. The Men of Harmony meet every Tuesday night in the recreation room of the Valley Oaks Village apartments on Valley Street in Newhall. Things start around 6:30 p.m. and go on for a couple of hours.

Of course, if you’re not sure, you might want to go to the Pizza Hut on Lyons Avenue next Tuesday night when the Men of Harmony go there after the usual rehearsal around 8:30 p.m.

What is better than pizza and a little barbershop singing? That will give you a chance to check us out and see if you’d like to join.

Hope to see you there.

Darryl Manzer grew up in the Pico Canyon oil town of Mentryville in the 1960s and attended Hart High School. After a career in the U.S. Navy he returned to live in the Santa Clarita Valley, where he serves as executive director of the SCV Historical Society. He can be reached at dmanzer@scvhistory.com. His older commentaries are archived atDManzer.com; his newer commentaries can be accessed [here]. Watch his walking tour of Mentryville [here].