National Barbershop Quartet Day commemorates the birth of the organized barbershop movement on April 11, 1938, when 26 men gathered together at the invitation of Rupert Hall , the “Royal Keeper of the Minor Keys,” and O.C. Cash, “Third Assistant Temporary Vice Chairman” for a songfest. Subsequent gatherings snowballed, leading to the founding of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, now known as the Barbershop Harmony Society. Organizations for women sprang up soon after, and in the following decades, a worldwide network of harmony singing societies spanned generations and tens of thousands of singers.

Listen to a first-hand account of the very first meeting from O.C. Cash, himself.

Is this the future of barbershop?

The well-established art of the music video to enhance and promote a song has come to barbershop in the form of the latest release from international semi-finalist quartet Vocality. Released in time for U.S. Veteran’s Day (elsewhere Armistice Day or Remembrance Day,) the quartet’s “Carry On Wayward Son” video frames the 1977 gold record by Kansas  as a tribute to service men and women. 

Vocality has a flair for placing barbershop in visible locations – you may recall their entry in Mike Rowe’s theme song contest. 

Watch your favorite #BHSNASH performances on YouTube!

One of the most frequent messages to our Harmony Hall team is “MORE VIDEO!” And we agree… to the tune of nearly 500 new videos added to the BHS YouTube channel in 2015, including all competitor performances from our Convention in Pittsburgh.

Getting our best performances out into the world is a total win all around, and we’re ready to make it happen again this year on a much faster timeline. Look for all convention recordings to hit our YouTube channel on August 15, ready to be watched, shared, and enjoyed by everyone.

But… what about the convention DVD!?!

While we honor the tradition of the convention videos (and your carefully curated collection of them,) the reality is that the production time and expense of creating them VASTLY outweigh the demand for the product. Sales have been sharply dropping each year, with less than 2% of our membership purchasing a quartet DVD in 2015 and even fewer for chorus DVDs. This, combined with skyrocketing YouTube views on our channel, tells us that it’s time to evolve our strategy and provide content in the format that members will use most.

For the past several years, the Convention DVDs have been supported solely by the BHS operating budget – using up significant financial resources and staff hours on production, clearances (a months-long process), and design work. We would rather make all of our convention content available much sooner (and at a more reasonable production cost) and focus our resources on other important projects that will benefit you, your quartet, and your chapter.  

Does this replace the Delayed-Viewing Webcast?

Not in our book! The webcast offers subscribers a way to experience the contest as it happened, capturing the pacing, the expert commentary, the interviews, the excitement of the call-off… a YouTube playlist could never replicate that. For those who want the as-close-to-being-there-as-possible view of the convention, the delayed webcast will still be the very best option. (You can still order the 2016 webcast here!)

Why YouTube is great for us… and YOU!

Moving our video distribution entirely to our YouTube channel has a lot of benefits that we already mentioned, but here are a few more:

• ANYONE can watch any video from the contest, share it on their own social media, embed it on their web site, and show it in a classroom, seminar, or rehearsal.

• YouTube’s proprietary ContentID system ensures that everyone with a stake is compensated (hello there, copyright holders!), and at a MUCH faster rate than the arcane and cumbersome DVD sync license process allows. 

• Immediate access (anywhere!) to top performances that can be a gateway to even more Barbershop. Case in point: Main Street’s Pop Songs Medley video from the 2016 Convention has a suggested video list featuring Lunch Break, Old School, Kentucky Vocal Union, Storm Front, Lemon Squeezy, GQ (SAI), Ambassadors of Harmony, and FRED. There’s something for everyone in that list! 

Best Barbershop Album

Best Barbershop Song

Check out the full list of nominees here! The winners will be announced on April 9 at a live awards ceremony at Boston Sings [BOSS], and then posted online on casa.org.

“The Forcep Four was a group of students including Jim Haaland, Robert Clark, Douglas Chambers, and Hollis Augee who were active in the early 1960s. Various singing groups had existed at the University of Oregon Medical School (the predecessor to today’s OHSU School of Medicine) for years, but the Forcep Four seemed to have gained quite a reputation during their time. In the December 1960 issue of “What’s Going On?”, an article on the Forcep Four mentions that they were practicing regularly during the noon hour at the OHSU Auditorium and would frequently perform around campus, for instance for the School of Nursing Wassail and the Hospital Christmas parties. According to the article, the quartet was eyeing competing in the Barbershop Quartet contest in Forest Grove [which is now in its 70th year – ed.] in late February of 1961.”

LISTEN NOW 

http://jackbaird.barbershop.org/

This simple list of over 900 songs from the early 1900s is just that… a server with directory browsing turned on, but it provides a place to explore the archive and will make it easy enough to click around and listen. These are not barbershop arrangements or performances, but rather the original versions of many beloved songs with vocalists and instrumentation that of course gave rise to many of the current arrangements we know and love. Most are digitized recordings from the original vinyl, so enjoy that vintage sound!

For background, the Society has reached an amicable conclusion to its association with Naked Voice Records, which has handled digital distribution under contract with BHS for several years. The digital music distribution landscape has substantially changed in the past ten years, and as with any business process, prudent and responsible stewardship of resources suggests periodic review of our practices. An immediate first step is to deal directly with industry leaders in digital distribution, and our new partner, The Orchard, will allow us to extend into new areas more efficiently, quickly and profitably. We think you’re going to like what’s on the horizon, especially as it relates to releasing more music from more performers more broadly more often!

We apologize for any interruptions during transition from one vendor to another, and look forward to vastly expanding your choice and pleasure in legally streamed and downloaded barbershop. Yes, it will be back, and soon.

Barbershoppers aren’t the only people listening to barbershop albums. The Contemporary A Cappella Society recently released the nominess for its recording awards. Stop by for a great shopping list of music in all styles, and also to be proud of nominees from our own favorite genre:

Best Barbershop Album

• It’s Epic by Epic
• Made in America by Foreign Exchange Quartet
• Straight Up! by Martini Quartet
• Something in the Air by A Mighty Wind
• GQ Vol. 1 by GQ

Best Barbershop Song

• No, No, Norman on Made in America by Foreign Exchange Quartet
• Bill Grogan’s Goat on Something in the Air by A Mighty Wind
• Ebb Tide on GQ Vol. 1 by GQ
• Cruella De Vil on It’s Epic by Epic
• Deed I Do on Straight Up! by Martini Quartet
• Come Rain or Come Shine on Touché by Touché

via 2014 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Nominees | A Cappella Music – The Contemporary A Cappella Society.