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A Holiday Greeting from the Barbershop Harmony Society
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Midwinter webcast brings the best to you
Kick off the new year with awesome barbershop harmony by the youngest, the oldest, and the best in-between!
A single-price, all-events pass is just $39 and gives you four great events: -
Seniors quartet contest
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International Youth Chorus Festival
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Medalist Show Friday night
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Show of Champions Saturday night
See your favorite quartets -- A Mighty Wind, Lemon Squeezy, Main Street, Forefront and Musical Island Boys -- air out their full repertoires, beyond just contest music.
See the future of barbershop burst across the footlights in the Youth Chorus Festival.
See high quality seniors quartets show that maturity and quality vocal skills create impactful performances.
It's all online -- and at an attractive, accessible price. Order today! |
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BRENDA-LEE WE ROLL ALONG
"Jingle Bell Rock" rocks, jingles
After a brief hiatus from publication due to licensing withdrawal, we're pleased to announce that "Jingle Bell Rock" is once again available for purchase. This fun, lilting Burt Szabo arrangement is a nifty addition to your holiday party package, works great on radio shows, and is a quick read/learn
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 Lunch Break to open for Street Corner Symphony
Building a musical presence in Music City is a growing part of our headquarters strategy,and finalist quartet Lunch Break has been building some nice connections. Having previously sung on Vince Gill's Christmas shows at the historic Ryman Auditorium, the quartet now jumps style again to open for Sing-Off stars Street Corner Symphony. Passing through Nashville next week? Catch the boys at City Winery on Tuesday, December 23.
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Hard to Handle - Street Corner Symphony
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ALL ELVES ON DECK FOR PACKING PARTY
CDs and DVDs are shipping!
 Just in time for gift-giving, the 2014 convention DVDs and CDs came in the door one day and went out the door the next. Order backlog: solved. (A few overstocks are still on hand: order now, or get our special Top Ten quartets LP.)
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 DON'T JUST SIT THERE!
Midwinter line-up includes more singing & learning
You could easily spend your entire Midwinter Convention doing nothing other than soaking up barbershop education and singing -- tags, in the All-Chapter Chorus, and in Harmony Platoon. Here a few new opportunities just announced.
Harmony University: Teach tags like a PRO!
Tag teaching is tough! Learn a variety of teaching methods on HOW to teach tags more effectively. Strategies include breaking the tag into smaller chunks, sol-feg, barbershop numbering, hand signs, and learning tricks. All levels welcome, and yes, we will sing tags! Donny Rose, instructor
Harmony University: All-Chapter Chorus rehearsal
Gold medalist director and singer Greg Clancy works with our chorus, as well as your section leaders from Musical Island Boys, Forefront, Main Street, A Mighty Wind, and Lemon Squeezy. Why sit and watch others sing, when you can hop up on the risers and join us?
Youth Tag Contest
Come help (or watch) our young folks have a try at our treasured art form. Share a tag, or even learn a tag from our 20-somethings! Joe Cerutti, Donny Rose, instructors
Harmony University: Gold Medal Hour with the Musical Island Boys
The champs share how they finally earned the gold, after many years of being so close. What helped push them over the top? They will also take questions, and even share a few songs.
Harmony University: The African American Roots of Barbershop and Why It Matters
The class will discuss the little-known African-American origins of our music, including the New Orleans contribution, and introduce scholar and author Lynn Abbott, whose 1992 article "Play That Barbershop Chord" opened our eyes to a vibrant and thriving barbershop culture that once existed. The significance of this connection to barbershop in 2014 will be explored.
Harmony University: Classic Tags.
In this class, we will learn at least 15 tags from the Classic Tags book. All of your favorites, plus a few gems that are not sung as much! If people are tagging, Donny will go well into the wee hours!
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Judging Categories: Choose your depth of study
Whether you need a cursory overview or a plunge into the depths of judging, your Society Contest and Judging Committee hopes to make it easier to understand the judging system. Committee Chair Kevin Keller introduces some new ways to learn about what those judges are really looking for:
Have you ever thought "what in the heck does that category actually judge?" Other than a brief paragraph offered, you have had to wade through that Category Description and, after 10-12 pages, you find yourself still in the same spot you were in!
The Society Contest and Judging Committee (SCJC) recognized that there was an opportunity to better explain exactly what the three categories are judging. SCJC also recognized that there are differences in how much detail people want.
Check out the C&J website for some modifications.
barbershop.org/contest-a-judging-system.html For each scoring category, there is a "nutshell" of what that category judges. If you want more information, click and that is expanded to a paragraph. If that's not enough, then you can download a 2-3 page discussion of the category -- no judge-speak but written for all readers (competitors and others interested). THEN, if you want more information, you can download the C&J Handbook and read the Category Description.
ENJOY!
Kevin Keller, SCJC Chair 2012-2015
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It's the Music ... that can make the difference.
Give a gift that inspires kids to sing!
 One by one, Barbershoppers are coming together to fund life-changing, proven education programs for young people. THE POWER OF ONE STARTS WITH ONE SIMPLE ACT OF KINDNESS.
At this time of year, we are reminded of what giving really means. Every good act is significant. Each gift truly matters. Joining together for the good of many is not only the spirit of the holidays, but it is also the essence of Barbershopping. The Power of One is your part of the equation when it comes to ensuring the future of Barbershopping. Your generous support makes it possible for many young people to experience and carry on the rich tradition of Barbershop singing. IT'S NEVER BEEN SO EASY TO BRING SO MUCH JOY -
GET STARTED TODAY!
Harmony Foundation wishes you and yours happy holidays and a prosperous new year! |
SHOP FOR 'SHOP
Give the gift of togetherness with the Family Four-Pack
Fight consumerism this year by rethinking your gift-giving strategy. Pledge that 2015 will be the year that your family chooses to do things rather than acquire things. And what can be better to do as a family than to spend time together at a barbershop convention?
For $599, you can get registrations for four people, a savings of $217. With downtown convention hotels as low as $109 a night, you can put together a pretty attractive driving vacation for under a thousand dollars.
Drive? Sure! Pittsburgh is less than ten hours away from most of the Atlantic seaboard, Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, St. Louis, Atlanta -- in fact, more than half the U.S. population is within 500 miles! 
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City
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Distance
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Drive Time
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Erie
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126 miles
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2.5 hours
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Cleveland
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129 miles
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2.5 hours
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Baltimore
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218 miles
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4.5 hours
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Washington, DC
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221 miles
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5 hours
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Cincinnati
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295 miles
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6 hours
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Philadelphia
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295 miles
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6 hours
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Toronto
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324 miles
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6 hours
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New York
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368 miles
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7 hours
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Chicago
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452 miles
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8 hours
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Boston
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593 miles
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10 hours
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St. Paul
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849 miles
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15 hours
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Omaha
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891 miles
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16 hours
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Miami
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1168 miles
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21 hours
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Dallas
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1228 miles
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23 hours
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Seattle
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2006 miles
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44 hours
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Phoenix
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2118 miles
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40 hours
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Los Angeles
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2445 miles
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48 hours
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San Francisco
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2587 miles
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50 hours
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Load the car with snacks, sodas, an iPad ready to plow through barbershoptags.com, and set off on a family adventure! Add some other recreation ideas along the way courtesy of the good folks at www.visitpittsburgh.com, and you have a great summer vacation.
Get your best price on Family Four-Packs before January 15, 2015. Use code FP2015 when registering; must add two adults and two youths from the same household to cart for discount to be applied.
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BHS headquarters and Foundation holiday schedule
Annual winter break runs from close of business on Tuesday, December 23 through Thursday, January 1. Offices return to normal schedule on Friday, January 2. Merchandise orders and membership renewals received during furlough will be processed as quickly as possible. Some merchandise shipping delays also may occur during the midwinter convention, January 6-11, so best bet is to order before December 18, the deadline for delivery in time for Christmas.
Harmony Foundation offices will be closed on Christmas Week - Monday, Dec 22 - Friday, December 26. Foundation offices will be open again Monday, December 29 - Friday, January2 , with the exception of January 1, New Year's day. HFI Development Directors will be available by cell throughout the entire season:
- Ryan Killeen, Director of Development Cell 615-497-1497
- David Calland, Regional Director Cell 614-859-2554
- Jim Clark, Regional Director Cell 720-290-4657
- KJ, Regional Director Cell 615-881-6922
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