Learning to sing as one voice in different parts has been the long-time goal of Singers in the Rain, a men’s choral group that is preparing for an upcoming performance.

Directed by Hazel Johnson and coached by voice teacher Sydney Keegan, the group averages about a dozen voices.

Listeners will be able to hear the difference between this well-rehearsed choral group and amateurs, Johnson said.

“They sing in tune and they try to all follow the same instructions at the same time, whether it is dynamics or entrances: all the little details you do that takes time and effort to come together,” she said. “They have worked hard.”

Membership in the group is stable, with members returning year after year to participate, Johnson said, and that consistency has led to marked improvement.

She also credits Keegan’s “tireless” efforts as a vocal coach.

“I work with each section to help them tune one another and make sure they are all singing exactly the same vowel, which has to do with how they are shaping their mouths,” Keegan said.

Keegan also helps them blend vocally so that no one voice is drowned out or too loud.

“It is important they learn how to sing together,” Keegan said. “Hazel and I see improvement in that every year.”

The men are ready for the big show, Keegan said.

Singers in the Rain will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 25 at Trinity United Methodist Church, 609 Taylor St., Port Townsend.

Their performance is part of the Candlelight Concert Series.

Admission is by donation.

Each year Johnson and Keegan choose a theme that emphasizes the development of certain skills.

With a good-sized repertoire, the two decided it was the right time to present “The Best of Singers in the Rain, Volume I,” in which a number of successful pieces from the past are revived, along with some new material, including one substantial number from the classical repertoire.

This year it will be a perennial choral favorite “The Cantique de Jean Racine” by Gabriel Fauré, in a four-part arrangement for male voices with violin obbligato performed by Port Townsend newcomer Claire Martin.

“It is a very popular number with choruses, with many ways of setting it,” Keegan said.

The special goal for this year is singing the long musical lines in the Fauré.

An ongoing goal is that each singer can sing his own part correctly without the others.

Revival favorites will include “We Sail the Ocean Blue” from Gilbert and Sullivan’s “HMS Pinafore,” Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” and two Latin American folk songs.

A special part of this year’s concert is a tribute to tenor Frank Boyle, a charter member, who passed away over the holiday season from a sudden illness.

Songs planned for Boyle will include “To my Old Brown Earth,” “Ashes of Love,” and “Sitting on Top of the World” with an extra stanza especially about Boyle.

Boyle was a member of the ukulele group Ukes of Hazard, who will accompany the group on the song “Ashes of Love.”

Bruce Cowen will accompany Pete Seeger’s “To my Old Brown Earth” on guitar, while “Sitting on Top of the World” will be sung by tenor Scott Rosecrans.

Keegan launched the group nine years ago after concluding a series of similar classes for both men and women who wanted to improve their effectiveness in community singing groups.

After eight weeks together, the men agreed that they wished to continue to grow their skills in a continuing series of classes.

They wanted to display their accomplishments in a public performance, the founders said.

They chose the name Singers in the Rain because their first group photograph was taken outside in a typical Port Townsend drizzle.

They were invited to give their first performance at Trinity United Methodist Church in Port Townsend the following spring.

With Diane Thompson, long-time accompanist of the Port Townsend Community Chorus at the piano, they have given an annual concert at Trinity ever since.

Singers in the Rain is committed to the growth of its membership both as choristers and individual singers.

The singers have extended an invitation to men in the community to join their group.

Any man who can match pitches and is interested in developing his voice and his musicianship is eligible.

No prior experience is required.

For more information about membership in the group, call Johnson at 385-6000 or Keegan at 379-4735.