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Barbershop, race, and history
Acappella.how launches
Pure barbershop! Tasty!
Harmony University scholarships offered
Paul Olguin's Year Of Songs
It's a beautiful day in Pittsburgh
Barbershop, race and history:
landmark issue of The Harmonizer now online  

Looking to our future means examining our past. A landmark study of "The African-American Roots of Barbershop Harmony, and Why It Matters" is the cover story of the January/February 2015 issue of The Harmonizer, now available online at bit.ly/barbershoproots and coming soon to your mailbox. 

 

Based on a presentation made at the 2015 Midwinter Convention by Society Historian David Wright and Tulane University researcher Lynn Abbott, this fascinating study illustrates the myriad sources which definitively prove that African-American harmonizers were most likely the primary sources of our music, and also gave us the word barbershop.


 

Accompanying stories from non-Caucasian Barbershoppers address contemporary issues in the challenges and opportunities for reaching out beyond our predominantly white demographic to communities of color.


 

This landmark issue is a critical component in educating ourselves and the world on the breadth of our past. An additional print order of the magazine has been ordered for distribution at the upcoming national ACDA convention, where 2009 quartet champion Crossroads will be joined by gospel legends The Fairfield Four for education sessions and showcase performances.

 

Read the story online at bit.ly/barbershoproots


 

See the full class online now at bit.ly/barbershophistory


 


Acappella.how launches

When universal font of knowledge Google decided to launch a new web domain devoted to instruction, it tapped acappella giant Deke Sharon to lead the effort in singing.


 

 ACAPPELLA.HOW debuted this week, and resources will eventually include many instructional videos and links from the barbershop world. Take a peek at the framework of what may prove another powerful teaching and outreach tool.

PURE, PURE BARBERSHOP
Love this song, and the world is thine 

"I wander on as in a dream..." C'mon, you know the piece. Its simple elegance and lyric make it timeless. Arrangements of "Love Me, And The World Is Mine" have existed for decades but we're especially fond of the David Wright setting. It has been performed and recorded by numerous ensembles including Joker's Wild and Ringmasters.


 

Ringmasters - Love Me And The World Is Mine
Ringmasters - Love Me And The World Is Mine


 

EIGHT GREAT SCHOOLS * ONE AWESOME WEEK

Harmony University scholarships offered

Not everyone has attended Harmony University. Not sure why, though, because there's not a Barbershopper alive who wouldn't find his harmonic thirst slaked at the premier education event. It's not one school, but eight distinct experiences:

  • Harmony College

  • Music Educators College

  • Director's College

  • Leadership College

  • Quartet College (8 of 16 spots already taken!)

  • Chorus College (already sold out!)

  • Next Generation (men 25 & under)

  • Young Women in Harmony (25 & under)

Many scholarships available, and are weighted toward

  1. first-time music educators

  2. first-time front line BHS directors/assistants

  3. first-time BHS leaders

  4. returning music educators

  5. returning front line directors/ assistants

  6. coaches who work with BHS groups

  7. college music students

  8. Special situations/needs 

 View the course catalog, learn about scholarships and register now.
Visit our blog FROM THE BLOG
Paul's Big Adventure: A Year Of Songs

You may know Paul Olguin as an arranger, director, or quartet singer... but his most well known credit these days is likely his incredible class on Woodshedding at HU 2014.

 

Following up on his wildly successful 100 Tags in 100 Days project last year, he has taken on a new mission: A Year Of Songs.

So, here's the plan. I will write an original song intended to be sung by barbershop harmony singers, one per week for the entire year of 2015! So far, most of my friends and colleagues think I'm a little bit crazy, but they also think that I just might be able to pull it off. My inner voices are only slightly more confident.

I'm excited and nervous to see what this process may have to teach me as a creator, teacher and human being. I hope to contribute in a significant way to the barbershop repertoire. I hope to inspire others to take on their own creative challenges. I look forward to collaborating with other tune weavers, storytellers and barbershop arrangers. By granting a very broad license for the songs, I hope to inspire people to think of music and song in a different way, not so much as property to be bought and sold, but as gifts to be shared and expressions of thanks (yes, sometimes in the form of dollars) to be made.

Follow along on Paul's journey!

Blog - www.2015ayearofsongs.blogspot.com

Facebook Event -  bit.ly/aYearofSongsEvent


HONOR THY NEIGHBOR
This American hockey crowd sings "O Canada" from the heart

In an era when so many poor renditions of national anthems cross our screens, it's heartening to hear a sporting crowd sing with gusto.

BHS staffer/pro hockey blogger Jeremy K. Gover recently reported on a moving moment in which U.S. hockey fans repaid a debt by singing the Canadian anthem in reply to Maple Leaf fans rescuing the "Star-Spanged Banner" from a microphone failure.

Nashville Predators fans say
Nashville Predators fans say "thank you" to Leafs fans while Brett Kissel sings "O Canada."

Those Preds fans ought to become Barbershoppers -- the arena is only a block from Harmony Hall!
 
Pittsburgh offers family funPittsburgh white
See all these great things we've bragged on for 2014 Las Vegas and 2015 New Orleans Midwinter Convention? We're doing all of them--AND MORE--in Pittsburgh this summer.

But Pittsburgh has something no one else has, something that will delight several generations raised on TV (but PBS--the classy stuff, dontcha know.)

Children's show host, or chapter secretary? Or both?
Add this to the family activity list for Pittsburgh - A visit to Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood! We don't think that Fred Rogers was a Barbershopper, but it's probably just because nobody asked him.

Visit the Heinz History Center Special Collections Gallery to see the largest collection of original items from the "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" television set on public view. 

Featuring select artifacts from the popular children's show, the new display marks the first time these items are on long-term view. Highlights from the installation include the entryway and living room set that Mister Rogers walked through to begin each show; King Friday XIII's Castle; the residence of Henrietta Pussycat and X The Owl, and more...  (And who'd like to take the over/under on quartet references to Mr. Rogers next summer?)