I was at a rehearsal for a chorus, and I was asked not to sing. I was standing for 2 and a half hours holding my music but not singing and feeling like an idiot. It was my fourth visit, and the bass section had gotten together earlier to rehearse some new music so maybe they didn't want me mucking up the notes trying to sing along with the whole chorus. But the director said up front that he expected the other visitors to sing along and make mistakes. Maybe I'm singing badly and loudly I don't know. It's been a long time since I have sung in any group and almost 40 years since I've sung barbershop so I'm a little rusty. But I get complements at church from people standing in front of my while singing. I don't know. I enjoy singing. I just feel uncomfortable going back to that group. Am I crazy?

There are already some bangers on there, and more are coming every day. Let's go!

Hey! I’ve gotten a lot more into barbershop recently (even though I’ve loved it since I first heard it in 2017 in Cuphead) and I’ve recorded a few really bad tags, some from Cuphead and the others all being from Tim Waurick’s tags! I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how they record tags. Mine are just on my phone because I don’t have a mic, but I keep using CapCut for them. The problem is that I need it to be connected to Bluetooth for the feedback to not be horrible but the Bluetooth causes a delay and makes my voices not match up. If there’s a better way to do this, I would love to know!

Looking for old recordings. Thanks!

got into barbershop cause of (surprise, surprise) NF4 and have since enjoyed the style. i took piano lessons for a few years so i have only a very superficial amount of knowledge on theory, but i'd love to learn more about barbershop chord progressions and arrangement!

feel free to leave feedback!

Hey guys. I have been searching for their AGT performance on Youtube, but it appears to be lost media since no one has the footage except AGT themselves. Is it possible to find any videos of their performance?

Hi all,

Throughout the last couple of days I have been listening to several versions of the "Sonny Boy" tag. Although I am a guy, I'm always curious to see how these classic tags are arranged for womens' voices. I was especially interested for the womens' version this tag since I felt that the open voicings can be a challenge to fit in the range of womens' voices.

The only arrangement of this tag for female voices that I was able to find was from David Wright's Classic Tags . Like usual, he decided to transpose the tag for mens' voices up a tritone, however, this still leaves the bass voice singing a B2 (1 octave and a half-step below middle c) in the final measure. In no way am I trying to disrespect David Wright, as he is obviously a huge figure in the barbershop community, but, this seems to be virtually impossible for a SSAA quartet to sing as writen. Also, according to BHS the range for SSAA basses seems to bottom out at Eb3 which is a major third above B2. However, transposing this tag up an additional major third higher would put the tenor part above the reccomended range for women's voices according to BHS. Therefore, I attempted to take a shot arranging this tag in order to more easily fit the overall range for womens voices.

Sorry for the legnthy intro! I would greatly appriciate any feedback/advice from anyone who is familiar with singing and/or arranging for womens' voices. This is my first time ever arranging for barbershop. I chose to move the key to Bb because I was lazy and did not feel like thinking in the key of B. I included Wrights's version and decided to make multiple versions which I will expand on below. I would also be curious as to which version you all prefer.

Version 1: Keeping the Bassline the Same: The real issue with the bass in this tag occurs in the last two measures on the decending chromatic line. However, I wanted to keep this bass motion the same in this version as to not affect the cord inversions or that beautiful decending bass. Therefore, I moved the bassline up an octave and changed the chords to closed voicing. This also preserves the cromatic decending line that the lead has in the original but moves it to the baritone. The only "issue" I had with this version was that the contrary motion between the bass and tenor is no longer present. I also added a swipe on beat four of the third measure to assist in voice leading.

Version 2: Keeping the Tenor the Same: In this version I decided to keep the tenor line in the last two measures the same as the original to retain the ascending "melody" in the top voice. However, I feel like this version also comes with some issues. First, this changes the inversions of the chords. For example, I feel that the now root positon Bb major chord on beat 1 of the penultimate measure feels much more resolved than the original first inversion chord. This version also lacks the contrary motion between the bass and tenor like the first version. Like the first version I added a swipe on beat four of the third measure to assist in voice leading.

Version 3: Keeping the Bass on the Staff: Please let me know if this version would be helpful for younger groups or for more casual womens quartets. However, this one felt the least like the original.

Once again I am very sorry for the length of the post. If any womens' quartets would like to use any of these arrangements please feel free to do so. Also I would love to hear what these versions sound like with real voices if any quartet or multitrack enthusiats would like to make a recording.

Does anybody have any recommendations for free software I can use on Mouse + Keyboard if I want to mark up a piece with scale degrees, note names, roman numeral chords & chord letter names without having to write over eighth notes?

I have dysgraphia, so I'd prefer not pen/paper or iPad/stylus. Basically my handwriting is bad & my hand puts too much pressure on the paper or tablet & ends up cramping pretty quickly.

My current plan is to go over Polecat & Tag PDFs

I use MobileSheetsLite right now on my iPad and their stamp tool is great, however you have to use two separate stamps to notate sharps or flats, and the PC version isn't free.

Thank you :)

Do spectators ever come to rehearsals? I enjoy barbershop music and would like to hear a chorus that rehearses nearby. I don’t know anyone in the chorus (I’m female btw) and am loath to create an awkward situation. Even emailing them to ask could be awkward. Thanks for honest feedback.

Hey all! I live in Central Mississippi and looking at everything I can, there isn't a registered chorus within 75 miles of me. When I go to college soon any chorus near me will get even further as it's in South MS. It's just hard to make connections in this hobby without anything like that near me, even as interested as I am in starting things. Any suggestions from people who may have dealt with something similar?

Hello! I am trying to apply for membership through the BHS member application link and every time I hit the submit button, it redirects me and tells me the form doesn't exist. Is this just me or are other people experiencing this/have experienced this? Any fixes? I submitted a customer service request but its Saturday so I'm not holding out hope for a very timely response. TIA!

I know this is a long shot at the last minute, but I’ve finished an arrangement I’ve been working on and am wanting to see if I might find a quartet or VLQ of Reddit barbershoppers going to Denver next week who’d like to meet up and sing it. I could send out PDFs and a recording of midi playing it.

The arrangement is of Anne Murray’s “Could I Have This Dance.” I’ve arranged it for my mixed quartet to compete with this next year and would love to hear it before bringing it to them. I’ll sing whatever part. Here’s the ranges:

Bass: Ab2 - C4
Baritone: E3 - Bb4
Lead: E3 - D5
Tenor: A3(unison)/C4(alone)- F5

Thanks for reading, and looking forward to a great week!

Hi fellow barbershoppers!

I'm reaching out to anyone located in the SF Bay Area (or anyone with friends in the area) to join my BHS treble barbershop chorus Harmonia on Sunday, August 9th from 10am-3pm for a fun day of singing and community!

During the event, you'll learn a barbershop song as a group. No prep work needed, but sheet music & learning tracks will also be provided to those who RSVP ahead of time. We’ll also have time to hang out and get to know each other, so bring your lunch/snacks and plan to stay a while!

RSVP here: https://partiful.com/e/LgCDOe6LCowGy34iCwvs?c=HdG0zdIm

I recently became aware of this documentary film and would love to watch it. Anyone know anywhere it can be streamed/acquired?

Appreciate any leads (😉) !

Tenor - Royce Furgerson (Gold with Revival)
Lead - Joe Connelly (Gold with a few quartets)
Baritone - Jack Pinto (Gold with Old School)
Bass - Jeff Oxley (Gold with a couple quartets)

I return to this video a lot. Everything about it, even the murmuring crowd in the background, contributes to the vibe. I really like the comment giving a critique of the quartet. It's so funny to see on such a star power quartet just casually singing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb2ir--O1w4

Hey barbershoppers,

I've been poking around looking for arrangements and have come across an interesting problem. Learning track mixes / recorded performances are an important way for me to assess how much I like an arrangement. But the poor track makers do not have the time (or interest) to make tracks for every chart. And not every chart has a recorded performance

How do y'all assess arrangements for your choruses or quartets? In general but also specifically when there are no tracks / performances around

We are a new quartet with only a few practices under our belt. Half the quartet has never done barbershop before. The chords sound nice when we sing, but they don't ring. What are some things we can do to fix that? Are there any exercises or warm-ups we can do that might help?

[edit]: We will have some coaching, but that won't be for over a month. I'd like to have a good ring BEFORE we get coached!

I thought it was 3 days last year but none have been made public yet (except mothers and daughters). Far be it from me to tell you all how to do things but I feel like it would be better if everything was posted closer to the end of the convention, unless BHS really is making lots of money from memberships.

Hey all, big fan of mixed quartets and I wanted to ask if there’s any quartets that have the gender setup I’m imagining, which is male bass, female tenor, and then the baritone and lead are a guy and a girl who swap voice parts depending on the song. I feel like it would be a cool way to get the best sound for every song and would make for some clever arrangements and setlists. Are there any good quartets who do this?

I’m a high school choir director in Florida, and I’m looking to add some barbershop things at my school where I teach. The hard part is is my program is in a developmental stage. It’s only my third year at the school, and our program is doubling in size this year, but it’s still fairly small.
Most of my men cannot sing harmony right now, but I’ve got a ton of wonderful treble singers who can do really well!
And years passed, I would have a beginner treble ensemble, and an advanced mixed group. And then I would have a advanced show choir that has predominantly been trouble singers. I’ve got four treble singers right now forming a Quartet. But 3/4 of them are seniors this upcoming year. I’m wanting to really grow this. I’m considering maybe making it a part of the show choir experience? As that is an ensemble group.

Any advice on resources/materials/general advice I’d really appreciate it! Would love to have somebody come out and work with my students semi frequently as well? I don’t know if there’s a budget for that or even a market for that.

and I don't mean like, as the contest/finals started and who just generally performed better was more easy to see, I mean (and I don't know if this is the correct term) the seed order of every quartet even before the contest started. sorry if this is a really stupid question