HCNW got its start over 45 years ago and introduced Harmony Platoons two years ago as a class prior to the official start of the HCNW Weekend.  2026 will be its third year.

IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES between the HCNW Platoon and a regular Harmony Platoon attached to a convention:

• Participants need to REGISTER with HCNW for this platoon when the register for HCNW.

  • • Since HCNW operates on cost recovery, there is an additional cost for this workshop to cover room rentals, etc.

• This is a workshop/class that happens concurrently with the director and arranger workshops starting Thursday afternoon.

• We try to include an instructor for a seminar/session during the workshop 

  • • Last year we had Dan Wessler give us an excellent seminar related to quarteting.

Please make sure you check the Harmony College Northwest Website regularly for updates. 
There is already information about next year's event!

Preparing for the Harmony Platoon

Harmony Platoons are only successful when everyone is 100% confident in their notes and words for the songs. 
You will be given only three rounds of competition to sing with others in pick up quartet.
It can be very frustrating when everyone else in your quartet has worked hard to ensure they can confidently sing their part alone in a quartet only to find that one person didn't know their notes and words properly. 

If you're not quite sure if you're ready to sing in Round One, come a little early and 'warm up' with some social pick up quarteting/VLQ-ing. Sing in the mass chorus warm and rehearsal.  That will give you a good idea.

It's okay also to sit out a round if you're not sure and just 'throw your card/name' in the hat for the next quartet draw round.

Besides using the provided learning tracks, finding some others to rehearse with prior to the Harmony Platoon is also another great idea.  The more you practice singing with others prior to the actual Platoon, the more confident you will be.

SHEET MUSIC OR LEARNING TRACKS?

If there is a discrepancy between the sheet music and the learning tracks when it comes to notes, words, and interpretation defer to the learning tracks, especially since many do not read sheet music.

CHANGING WORDS to match Gender

Some of our songs include reference to a particular gender (he/she).  In these cases the Lead has the prerogative to change the Gender in the pick up quartet. Please make sure you discuss this with the quartet beforehand to make sure you are all on the same page.

CHANGING STARTING PITCH

If some of the songs chosen are a bit low or high for you, it is perfectly acceptable to change the starting pitch, by consensus, to a pitch that works best for all members of the quartet.