Beautiful music | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

Their mother, Jane Hunt, was a longtime member of the Baltimore-based Harbor City Music Co. Mrs. Disney even met her husband, Scotty, at a choir function about 10 years ago.

"We're a very musical family," said Mrs. Kuethe of Glen Burnie, who remembers attending rehearsals with her mother when she was a child.

She and her sister, who lives in Odenton, are half of Harbor City's barbershop quartet Capri. Harbor City, which has about 70 members across Maryland and northern Virginia and 26 members from Anne Arundel County, is a barbershop choir affiliated with Sweet Adelines International.

The women, who range in age from 22 to 81, are traveling to Calgary, Canada, next week to sing in the Sweet Adelines' 61st Annual Convention and Competition on Oct. 11.

Thirty choruses from all over the world will each perform two songs, and the top 11 chosen will go to perform a 15-minute song-and-dance package. Harbor City is planning a tribute to Lucille Ball, complete with red wigs and polka-dotted dresses.

"It's got to be big. This is a Lucille Ball celebration!" choir director Michael Gellert told the women during rehearsal this week at the Chesapeake Arts Center in Brooklyn Park.

Quartets have their own competition, and Mrs. Disney and Mrs. Kuethe are especially excited: Last year, Capri placed eighth out of about 50 quartets from all over the world. The quartet, which includes Kate Mannherz of Baltimore and Maggie Butts of Annapolis, hopes to break the top five this year.

"We wouldn't want to share this hobby with anyone else," Mrs. Disney said. "We're very close, and I think that helps."

All in all, Harbor City boasts two pairs of sisters and three mother-and-daughter teams, choir spokesman and longtime member Leslie Allen said.

Susan Kohli of Pasadena joined the choir a year and a half ago after her daughter, Mandy, signed up.

"I think she kind of caught the bug, too," said Mandy Kohli, who at 22 is the choir's youngest member.

She joked that she's the family's "resident choreography expert."

"We have that common bond," Sandy Kohli said.

But even choir members who aren't related by blood still feel they're part of one big family.

"This is a very tight-knit group," team coordinator Sally Kelly said. "You come here, and no matter how bad of a day you had at work, you sing and dance and when you leave, you feel better."

It's that upbeat atmosphere that drew members like Lynne Whittington of Glen Burnie and Tina Brady of Pasadena back after brief hiatuses.

Mrs. Whittington left Harbor City when she moved to Florida in the 1990s, but rejoined when she returned to the area five years ago. Mrs. Brady also came back about five years ago after taking time off to have a baby.

"I missed the singing," Mrs. Brady said. "I still came to choir events, but it wasn't the same as actually being in it."

Sharon Ehrisman of Salisbury enjoys the choir so much that she drives two hours each way every week to practice at the arts center in Brooklyn Park. She originally got involved with Harbor City more than a decade ago after seeing the women perform at a competition.

Now, she can't imagine singing with any other group.

"The chorus is like my second family," Ms. Ehrisman said.

Interested in joining Harbor City? The choir will be hosting a guest night at 7 p.m. on Oct. 29 at the Chesapeake Arts Center, 194 Hammonds Lane, and all prospective members are invited to stop by. Learn more about the show choir at www.harborcitymusiccompany.org.