Personal Musicianship 

Singers join our chapters for many reasons, but all share the love of singing barbershop chords. Some singers come to us with years of singing experience and they can hop on the risers with no problem at all. Some singers come to us with nothing but earnestness and a love of singing and camaraderie. All should be welcome.

Joining a chapter and singing in a chorus can be intimidating, especially if you don’t feel secure in your singing voice or in your musicianship. Perhaps someone made a joke about your singing voice at one time (see a previous blog post to find out what we think of that!). Perhaps you feel self conscious about your music reading abilities.

In Good Company

Would it surprise you to know that some of our early quartet champs could not sight read music? A research study by choral professor and 1991 gold medal champion bass of The Ritz, Dr. Ben Ayling, showed interesting survey data results of the music literacy of early quartet champs. Of those surveyed, 26.7% indicated that they could not read music upon joining their quartet. Further, 96.5% of respondents indicated that singing barbershop music increased their ability to read music. How glad we are that they stuck to their desire to sing, despite their perception of their personal musicianship abilities!

Resources To Help

Singers join our chapters for many reasons, but all share the love of singing barbershop chords. Some come to us with years of singing experience and they can hop on the risers with no problem at all. Some singers come to us with nothing but earnestness and a love of singing and camaraderie. All should be welcome.

Joining a chapter and singing in a chorus can be intimidating, especially if you don’t feel secure in your singing voice or in your musicianship.

There are a variety of sources for you to use on your musical journey. Try these free resources:

• Barbershop.org: Did you know we created a free, online musicianship tutorial? It is divided into 4 sections, each with 7 parts. Most of the examples use excerpts from barbershop songs.
• MusicTheory.net: This website has many free exercises to help you build your skills learning. You can go as fast or slow as you want.
• Teoria.com: A great site to learn music notation and even work on ear training (identifying intervals and chords).
• Phitulga.com: A neat site that can help you learn to read rhythms.
• PitchImprover.com: This is a great resource for ear training. Of particular interest was their chord identification section.
• SightReadingFactory.com: This website has a several free exercises to download.
• Eyes and Ears – An Anthology of Melodies for Sight-singing: This free, downloadable book is a great resource to sequentially build musicianship.

If you know of a resource that should be on our list, let us know: harmonyu@barbershop.org.

Practice Patience
No one is born with the ability to sight read music. The process of learning to sight read is often compared to learning a new language. Please exercise patience with your fellow singers, as we are all at different places on our musical journey.

A Place In the Chorus
There is a place for everyone in barbershop. James Howe wrote a clever book in 2013, called Horace and Morris Join the Chorus (But What About Dolores?), (Atheneum Books for Young Readers). Here is a portion of the book description:

Horace and Morris, but mostly Dolores, are back again for another uproarious adventure. When the three best friends decide to try out for the school chorus together, they’re shocked when Dolores (who can only sing notes that no one has ever heard before) is the only one who doesn’t make the cut. After all, they’ve always done everything together.

In an especially poignant moment, Dolores tried not to feel hurt or angry for being left out of the chorus, particularly as her friends are now too busy with rehearsal to play with her. But she felt both of those things. She finally decides to write “Moustro Provolone” a letter and declares, “Who tells a bird she shouldn’t be heard? Singing is just what birds do! So please take my word – I’m a lot like a bird. I have to sing out loud and true!” Her impassioned pleas convince the director to let her in the chorus and Dolores agrees to take extra lessons with the director in preparation for the final concert.

One of the loveliest moment in this book is the care Dolores’ teacher took to personally teach her. By the end of the book, Dolores most of the time “sang notes in the concert that everyone had heard before.” Is there a Dolores that wants to join your chapter, but is worried about how they are perceived? Is there a Dolores now in your chorus that you can help? 

Happy, healthy singing, my friends!

When health issues forced world-class trumpeter Tim Wilson to give up a performance career, he turned to teaching, and gave his talents and treasure to an instrumental music program in an impoverished school district. Mike sought him out and provided a tremendous surprise and… well, better you watch for yourself.

Rowe, who became an Honorary Life Member of the Barbershop Harmony Society in 2017, credits his show business career in part to the influence of his high school choir director, Fred King, who also happened to be a world champion barbershop quartet singer. (Read Mike’s touching memorial tribute to Fred, or listen to him tell the story.) 

The quartets performed at a rally at the U.S. Capitol building that launched a day of meetings with legislators in support of implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act. Both quartets appear frequently at music education camps, making them outstanding representatives for the barbershop world. Douglas Carnes, director of the Great Northern Union Chorus and a middle school music educator,  represented the Society in a seminar with future teachers.

This cooperative effort builds on the Society’s ever-growing partnership with NAfME, which last year honored 2009 champs Crossroads with the Stand for Music Award, and last fall featured The Vocal Majority and Main Street in a stunning closing night performance at its national conference.

Eligibility

• Recipient must be a music educator and member in good standing of NAfME
• Recipient must be a Member or an Associate in good standing of the Barbershop Harmony Society
• Recipient must demonstrate the highest values of professionalism, commitment, cooperation, and inspiration in instilling the virtues of lifelong singing, teamwork, and joy in the creation of vocal harmony.

Nomination process

• Members and Associates of the Barbershop Harmony Society should submit nominations for the 2019 Barbershop Harmony Society/NAfME Music Educator Award by November 1, 2018.
• Nominations should discuss in depth the ways the nominee is making a difference in people’s lives, inspiring a lifelong love of vocal harmony, and uplifting spirits.
• Anecdotes, videos, or testimonials from students or families affected are welcomed! Be thorough–be joyful!
• The nominees should be considered carefully each year. Many qualified nominees are expected, so please do not hesitate to update and resubmit the nominations of outstanding educators not previously honored.

You may make a nomination online using this entry form, or request a hard-copy form and further details at outreach@barbershop.org.

 Deke Sharon, the music director of the Pitch Perfect movie franchise as well as NBC’s The Sing-Off, gave a powerful keynote address at the 2017 Midwinter Convention in San Antonio. The BHS Honorary Lifetime Member encouraged Barbershoppers to make audiences cry while singing a Polecat, addressed the issue of mixed singing, spoke about the importance of video in growing the popularity of barbershop and so much more. It’s a candid yet impactful perspective that warrants the attention of all who love our amazing art form.

“What is this gift that you have that the world needs?”

Tell us, Deke. And let us listen.

The Society’s Outreach team has built progressively stronger ties with ACDA over the past four years, and all interest sessions and booth traffic have shown tremendous growth. Of course, it certainly helps to back up the talk with premium performers on the stage and our passionate Society staff talking (and SINGING) with students and educators all week long.

Music educators and Barbershoppers — be sure to stop by to see us at Booth 623!

The Barbershop Harmony Society has joined forces with fellow choral organizations Chorus America and the American Choral Directors Association to create a movement that is intended to unite people through choral singing. We’re already seeing choirs and vocal ensembles from all over posting their videos and making #sing1voice come alive… let’s fill social media with people singing together!

1. Record a video of your ensemble singing something that unites us – love, beauty, truth, peace, or JOY!
2. Share your video using the hashtag #Sing1Voice on Facebook, YouTube, and any other social media platforms you use.
3. Challenge more groups to do the same! In your post, tag at least two ensembles that are somehow different from yours – whether in location, musical style, size, age, or another way – and invite them to participate.

Although one first may think of the Harmony Brigade movement as primarily a quartetter’s dream weekend (which it is!) many Brigades take very seriously the outreach and service components. 

[We] are so grateful for the support from the New England Harmony Brigade. Our choral students have enjoyed the opportunity to listen and sing together with members of the brigade on the Friday of their visit, and then to perform with them at the Saturday Night show. NEHB has been so gracious to do impromptu a capella mini-concerts in our Rotunda, Main Office, and Cafeteria to the great surprise and thrill of students and staff. Your generous sharing of proceeds has enabled us to retire our venerable Steinway Piano, and purchase a shiny new Kawai Hybrid. Amy Collins and Kathrine Waters are over the moon with this new addition to the music program at Algonquin, and judging by the immense response to my tweet, so is the Algonquin community!

Any Barbershoppper who’s ever sung at a nursing home or senior center can attest to this truth, as reported by AARP:

Music therapists who work with Alzheimer’s patients describe seeing people “wake up” when the sounds of loved and familiar music fills their heads. Often, after months or even years of not speaking at all, they begin to talk again, become more social and seem more engaged by their surroundings. Some begin to remember names long forgotten. Some even do what Alzheimer’s patients often cannot do as their disease worsens: They remember who they are.

Neurologist Oliver Sacks wrote in his book Musicophilia that for Alzheimer’s patients, music can be very much like medicine. “Music is no luxury to them, but a necessity, and it can have a power beyond anything else to restore them to themselves, and to others, at least for a while.”

via Music Therapy for Dementia, Alzheimer’s Patients – AARP.

Take a look inside one of Harlem’s inner city schools that is setting a new standard in how much we expect from our children, and how we challenge them to “Dream Big”. See how lives are being changed, futures are being forged, and how with the help of the Barbershop Harmony Society and Harmony Foundation International, singing, music, and arts are being used to reach into the hearts of a whole new generation, while preparing each student for college and life beyond the classroom.