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As stereotypes that revolve around sticking to socially-inflicted gender roles slowly melt away, more young men are learning that singing could be something they could truly love.

However, the number of tenor and bass singers in high school and even up to the college level is still significantly lower than their female soprano and alto counterparts. A few years ago, WSU assistant professor of vocal music Dean Luethi realized he could help do something about this.

“We knew that tenors and basses in high school and middle school weren’t singing to their full potential,” Luethi said. “A few years ago, we saw a need in the region for a festival that could showcase tenors and basses together in song: Young Men in Song is that festival.”

Young Men in Song is a way to give tenors and basses the confidence that they are important to choirs and know what they do truly matters, Luethi said.

“This is a way for us to just be cheerleaders for the tenors and basses out there,” he said.

Vocal music major Zachariah Barnes is in the WSU tenor/bass choir that will be performing for, working with and eventually performing with the high schoolers who come to this festival. He believes events like this are important because they get rid of the stigma around men singing, he said.

“When I was in high school and we went to collegiate events like this,” Barnes said, “I thought that most of the singers in college would be female because I thought the guys would all drop before then.”

Over 200 students from 17 high schools will be led throughout the day by WSU music education majors. They will attend warm ups, learn the new music to be performed later in the afternoon, rehearse with the whole group and learn about music history and theory in the few hours that they are on campus.

The high school students will then listen to the WSU tenor/bass choir before taking the stage themselves. Finally, the students will get the chance to perform a piece with the WSU tenor/bass choir as well.

“My favorite part to experience of this whole event is the warm-up,” Luethi said. “This is the first time all these guys will be singing together. It’s a very unique sound immediately, and the students hear that right away.”

This kind of event that showcases tenors and basses is not only important for the young men themselves, but also the rest of the members of the choirs they participate in back home.

“There is so much repertoire written for tenors, basses, sopranos and altos,” Luethi said. “Because the tenors and basses aren’t singing out, the sopranos and altos are losing out on the ability to have that fuller sound.”

Young Men in Song is an all-day event beginning at 9 a.m. tomorrow. The high school students will be showcased at 4 p.m. in a free and open concert in the Bryan Hall Theatre.

“The tenor/bass choir and I were really proud of their product last semester,” Luethi said. “We’re really excited to share a little bit of that product with the high school students who attend the festival, and with the public who come to enjoy the final concert.”