Volume 2: Issue 8: January/February 2023

Performed by Boston Common, Arrangement by Lou Perry

What a beautiful arrangement and a masterful performance by one of the greatest barbershop quartets of all time.

Salutations Fellow Preservationists,

Take a listen to the "Old Songs Medley" in the above video by the Boston Common. This song, arranged by Lou Perry, is a hallmark of what SPPBSQSUS is all about. Bringing back the Music, Fellowship and FUN that the brotherhood of male barbershoppers experienced for decades and can do so again!

Take a look at the lyrics of this classic song:  

"So What ever happened to the good old songs they sang when dad was young. It seems too bad as the years go by you seldom hear them sung. They were gentle and charming with a simple old tune, a stroll through the park by the light of the moon. There were songs about Broadway and old Harold Square the banks of the Wabash, how I long to be there. Mammy, Mammy, I'd walk a million miles for one of your smiles and those were the good old songs!"

And those good old songs? Well we're bringing them back. The songs Dad and Grandad sang when they were young. We're calling them Chestnuts. When I first got involved in Barbershop the old timers would say, let's sing this old Chestnut (which was code for a solid barbershop song). Joe Browne is Chairing our Chestnut Project and is charged with gathering Chestnuts for us to sing, preserve and propagate.

So there's the Music but what about the Fellowship and Fun? Well, we've just held our 3rd Convention in San Antonio and I would venture to say that the Fellowship and Fun was off the charts. With many members telling me "This is the way it used to be".

Let me take a moment to talk about Fun. Because it's so important that every member is satisfied at Convention by experiencing their type of FUN. Be it woodshedding, pick-up quartetting, gang singing, or competing in a quartet contest. No one's type of fun is more important than anyone else's. The challenge is to create an environment where every man has an opportunity to get his singing FUN! I would venture to say at our SATX III, "Mission Accomplished!" But, your leadership team isn't completely satisfied and we're curious as to how we can make the next Convention even better. We'll do that by understanding Convention attendees' thoughts, which is why we've have sent two surveys. One to general convention goers and another to quartets that competed in the first Worldwide quartet contest.

Speaking of the first Worldwide Quartet Contest, Congratulations to Brouhaha, the first SPPBSQSUS Gold Medal Quartet Champion and to all the other competitors who sang the Good Old Songs! I'd also like to thank our Audience Volunteer Judges (who proved that Joe Barbershopper knows what good is). Actually, Thank You to everyone who attended the Convention. What a time we had, Thursday night, I went to bed at 4 am, Friday night 1:30 am, Saturday night 4:00 am (whew, it was awesome! Singing everywhere, all night long)

I'd like to publicly thank Jim Kline, who looked me up Thursday night and said he wanted to sing one with me. It was the first time (but not the last) that I got to quartet at Convention. Thanks Jim, I'll never forget your generosity in singing with me!

And that my brothers is what it's all about. "Just Men, Singing Our Song"

Yours in Harmony,

Pete Carentz

Head Janitor, Newsletter Editor & President of SPPBSQSUS

Our 1st Worldwide Quartet Champion

Brouhaha

Come On, Let's SING!

PDFs of these Chestnuts will be available in March on the SPPBSQSUS Website for Free

Arrangements Wanted

Arrangers are invited to contribute to the Chestnut collection. Here are some of the characteristics we'll be looking for.

• Arrangements should be short, one or two pages. In most cases this will mean a chorus, possibly a short introduction, and a tag.
• The arrangement must be in traditional barbershop harmony style.
• The arrangement should be something that typical barbershoppers can learn quickly and will enjoy singing.
• Arrangements must be ones not already widely available.
• Our use of the song must be legal. In almost all cases that means the song must be in the public domain.
• A song's copyright protects it for 95 years (in the USA; other nations have their own
• laws). It passes into the public domain in the 96^th year. For example, a song copyrighted
• in 1925 was protected through 2020 and entered the public domain on 1/1/2021.
• An exception to the public domain requirement could be made if the arranger has legitimate claim or permission to use all components of the song which are not in the public domain. e.g. adding new lyrics to a public domain tune, or writing an entirely new song.
• In submitting an arrangement it is understood that you are granting SPPBSQSUS permission to place the song on the web site for free, non-commercial use by others and also permission to include the song in an issue of the organization's newsletter. You retain all other rights.



So, if you have an arrangement, or want to write one, for this collection, please send it to Joe Browne, contact information below. Entries in Finale file format (.mus or .musx files) are preferred, but other music processors are OK (let me know which one you used). Neatly hand-written entries will also be considered.

Joe Browne

94 Simmons Terrace

Syracuse NY 13219

(315) 469-1994

jbrowne3@verizon.net

The New Tradition Quartet Teach "Just Men Singing Our Song" at the Saturday Night Banquet during SATX III

Part Tracks along with a PDF of the sheet music are available on our Society's website.

Articulating the Style We're  Preserving and Propagating

Style Definition:

Barbershop quartet music is a style of four-part a cappella singing with some particular characteristics.

• The four parts are called lead, tenor, baritone, and bass.
• The melody is sung by the lead, with brief transfers to other singers permitted.
• The tenor sings a harmony part which is almost always above the melody. 
• The bass almost always sings below the lead part.
• The baritone sings notes in the middle which complete the chord.
• Barbershop music is primarily homophonic.

Polyphonic passages are not only permissible but a musical necessity, as the creative use of embellishment is an essential part of the barbershop style, including:

• call & response
• swipes
• echoes
• bell chords
• back-time
• patter refrains
• rhythmic propellants
• sustained or rhythmic neutral syllable support of brief solo passages.
• melodic embellishment
• brief solo passages

Short portions of a song may be sung by fewer than four voices for effect and musical contrast.

The style is characterized by songs sung predominantly in English with clear, relatable lyrics and easily singable melodies. Harmonically the songs should largely suggest the use of major and minor chords with frequent use of barbershop seventh (dominant and secondary dominant seventh) chords which resolve around the circle of fifths and sometimes other resolutions. The music should have an easily discerned tonal center and a balanced, symmetrical form. Thus, the song's arrangement, and by implication the arranger, play an important part in creating the presentation of the song and closing it effectively.

My Friends,

Over the past fifteen to eighteen months, I’ve been invited to participate on countless Zoom meetings with barbershop choruses, both men’s and women’s, all wanting to know the secret to the recruiting techniques that we implement here with my Friends In Harmony and my Harmony Belles, in order to maintain the high membership numbers of both groups.

These folks are often incredulous when I explain to them that we NEVER recruit! Big corporations recruit. The military, of course, recruits. Here in San Antonio, we continue to introduce many new singers to this wonderful hobby, simply because our members are consistently motivated to give the GIFT of an invitation to other singers to come for a visit… and to possibly enjoy a life-changing experience.

You’ll note that I rarely refer to these two special groups as “choruses.” I prefer to identify them as my Friends In Harmony, and my Harmony Belles, FAMILIES! When a guest walks in the door, he, or she, is immediately warmly-welcomed into our caring family.

Back when I established the FIH in 2013, the first position that I created was my “Director Of First Impressions!” I selected a personable and outgoing chap, himself a new barbershopper, named Roger Winkelmann. I then assigned him the responsibility of greeting all of our guests, of printing a name badge for them, of providing them with a guest music book, and then, introducing them to a number of other members… all of whom were wearing their own personalized name badge! Obviously, Roger did an exemplary job! Within our very first year of existence, we went from the initial nineteen participants at our first gathering, to a membership in excess of a hundred singers… the vast majority of whom were first-time barbershoppers!

One of the challenges of being a more-than-one-hundred-voice chorus is that members don’t get to learn very much about each other while attending rehearsals. So, a number of years ago, I established the “Friends’ Friday Lunch Bunch.” I reserved the large back room of a popular Mexican restaurant in town, and now, every Friday, anywhere from twenty-five, to forty or more, of my Friends gather there for lunch. It’s simply amazing to watch how the bonds of friendship are strengthened to new levels when you sit across the table from another member, and, in the course of a delightful conversation, you discover that you’re both alumni from the same university, or you were both stationed at the same Air Force base together, or you wind up uncovering some of the many other things that you have in common with one another! It’s then that you truly become “friends in harmony.”

I started directing my first barbershop chorus sixty-two years ago, when I was just eighteen years old. The directing philosophy that I espouse today hasn’t changed very much through all these years. It’s difficult for me to perceive the vast number of lives that have been impacted, in a very positive way, as a result of their introduction to the barbershop community through one of my choruses! Certainly, none of those lives have been more impacted than mine! I am, indeed, very blessed!!!

In a-chord…

The Dolt

Brother George Azzam

Get ready for some FUN!

The Clonts Brothers recorded this in 2016, singing the tag in the Key of C (written in the key of G)

Or you can click the below Tag Meister button to get your free copy of the "Classic Tags" book and/or to download Georgie's MP3 Files to sing along with whatever parts you're missing.

The Eastern Kentucky Harmonic Order (EKHO) Lodge #7 recently held our annual elections. We dare say that we believe we now have the YOUNGEST Lodge President in the SPPBSQSUS! Justin Elswick, age 26, recently took over the duties from our “organizing President”, Brian Sparks. We will also soon be experiencing a change in the director position as well. Carl Taylor, our director for over 30 years is retiring. We anticipate election of another qualified young man to that position soon! 

We are proud that one of our quartets participated in the SATX III competition. Commonwealth definitely left an unforgettable mental image on the crowd with their hospital gowns! 

By the time of this publication, we expect we will have completed another fun and successful year with Singing Valentines! If your Lodge doesn’t do this, we highly recommend it as a great fundraiser and outstanding fun in the community!

 ♫♪ KEEP A MELODY RINGING! ♫♪ 

Keith Richmond

Brothers In Harmony

SPPBSQSUS Theme Song

Words & Music by Norm Starks, Arranged by Bill Eberius

"Brothers in Harmony is our Society's Theme Song. Another free piece of music for your quartet or Lodge . Learning Tracks were created by our Tag Meister, George Azzam (thanks George) both sheet music and the learning tracks are available on our Society's website

Help Wanted

Join the SPPBSQSUS Team

Every Man Can Lend His Voice and Talents to the Chord

Hey Barbershoppers!

Are you interested in contributing to something bigger? Lending your talents and your voice to the future of Barbershop Quartet Singing?  Well give me a call or drop me a line.  There's lots of exciting work to be done as we build an organization that will keep Barbershop Harmony alive far into the future.

Pete Carentz

phone: 315-885-0651 (cell)

email: harmonize.together@hotmail.com

Montana Jack Speaks to Conventioneers

during the Saturday Night Banquet - Listen in!

Special Thanks to our Founder, Montana Jack Fitzpatrick, for having the foresight to create a home for Men who love to sing Barbershop, Harmonize and Ring Chords like they did in the days of yore! A place for fraternal brotherhood, where men can escape the stress of daily life singing and bonding as men do.



Thank you Jack, BlesSINGs to you for your gift to mankind and the world!

I've something magical to share with you. Talk about Preservation, Wow!

Enjoy Lou Perry and the Four Rascals as they discuss and teach woodshedding. This is simply as good as it gets. What a special moment in history. Enjoy! 

Yours for a song, (just blow the pitch)

Mike Ebbers

Lou Perry & the Four Rascals:

Woodshedding Presentation

NAFOBS - Lodges and Membership

As we celebrate a successful 2023 quartet contest and convention, we remember that 85 percent of our members did not attend. There is more to the barbershop culture than conventions. 

Lodge development and quartets are the next pieces of the puzzle, in pursuit of fellowship through singing in our men-only culture.  As your membership VP dude, Lodges are somewhat outside of my scope.  Nevertheless, I can still help get one going in my community. 

Kay and I visited “Friends in Harmony” at their Monday rehearsal on January 24th, as Artie Dolt’s guests, in order to guide the planning for our Lodge.

Now, our vision for the Northern Alabama Fraternity of Barbershop Singers (NAFOBS) is to start with four vital guys who can hold their parts, and who are committed to attending every week, to serve as a teaching quartet.  That way, we can perform as a quartet or chorus in our community from the very beginning.  The rest of the ten or more “seeds” needed to form a Lodge will be barbershoppers who are not currently active in chapters of other societies. 

We anticipate that our opportunities to perform will be mostly for churches and civic events.  Therefore, our first six songs will be simple religious and patriotic arrangements.  The second batch of tunes will come from the new “Chestnuts” program being pioneered by one of our Shepherds of the Style, Joe Browne.  

When performing in the community, we will be sure that church bulletins, announcements and press coverage will tell non-barbershoppers how they or their male relatives can contact us to visit or join the Lodge.  We will also pass out flyers after each performance, and will invite friends and relatives to check us out. 

I plan to change my way of communicating with the members, to set an example as a kinder and gentler musical leader.  We will show empathy with each individual member, and keep track of his reasons for missing a meeting, followed up with phone calls and personal visits during the week. Of course, if a fellow presents himself as a good arm waver, with better leadership skills, I will always be willing to step aside.  

We will begin a regular Friday luncheon get-together, for all comers, as a regular social event, where we can take time to get to know each other, and further our tag-singing adventures. 

We will send a weekly email bulletin, to keep the members and interested parties aware of brothers who face health challenges and those who have distinguished themselves as contributors or achievers.

We will focus a portion of each rehearsal meeting on the guests who are not yet members, to show them how important they are to us.  We will set aside some time at each meeting for any Lodge quartet to sing a song or two for the group.  We will also budget time before and after each meeting for our guys to woodshed and sing tags.  

It will nevertheless be attainable for us to perform at a B level consistently, without the need for much choreography.  We joined this outfit to sing - not dance.  

We will not actively recruit schoolboys, because they have historically been short timers who did not have means to support their hobby. The exceptions will be relatives and young friends of active members who will take responsibility for the youngsters. 

We will utilize our roster of 1,700 SPP members who live in our area, and invite them to help form our Lodge. We will encourage those men who live too far away to form or join a Lodge in their area. 

Excellence has always been my first consideration, and all actions served that objective.  However, too much focus on that negatively affected recruiting and retention, in my experience as a medalist chorus director.  Our chorus will include both quartet men and leaners.  We will use simpler arrangements, and fewer of them, and will perform the best we can within the time allotted to chorus rehearsals.  

Of course, you might have a different idea for the kind of Lodge you prefer - maybe one devoted strictly to quartets or recreational singing.  We prefer to add performance and growth to that short list. 

We will remember our Founder’s mission of “Singing, Fellowship and Fun,” as well as the methodology exemplified by Artie and FIH.  All future actions will serve THAT mission, and our brotherhood will then grow.  

If you think this is a good plan, feel free to follow it, and be sure to read through Paul Cohen’s “10 Steps to Forming a Lodge,” on our website. 

Thanks, Jack, Artie and Paul!

Looking Forward,

Kenny Ray Hatton

Boy Singer and Membership VP

www.sppbsqsus.org

256-957-8106

What a Convention

President Pete Carentz Kicks off the Saturday Night Banquet

Opening Remarks & Introductions

SING:

Satisfy, Inspire, Nurture & Grow

2020 Leadership Award:

Keith Richards

2021 Leadership Award: Roger Heer

2022 Leadership Award:

Jay Giallombardo

Bb Songs in 3/4 Time

Fun with Steve Delahanty

Mic-Tester: Meanwhile (TN)

Chad Bennett – Tenor, Ken Hatton – Lead,

 Dan Sauls – Baritone, Bill Munn – Bass

#1. Wheelhouse (DE)

Brandon Brooks – Tenor, Rich Gray – Lead,

Jeff Gray – Baritone, Dan Van Wetering

#2. Last Minute (TX)

Joe McCorison – Tenor, Mike Hatch – Lead,

Steve Coon – Baritone, Clark Magee – Bass

#3. Gang Busters (CA)

Jim Thompson – Tenor, Brad Kelso – Lead,

Dan Jordan – Baritone, Geoff Wilson – Bass

#4. Commonwealth (KY)

Jordan Huff – Tenor, Justin Elswick – Lead,

 Carl Taylor – Baritone, Brian Sparks – Bass

#5. InVoice (WA)

Jake Yoakum – Tenor, Paul Carter – Lead,

Dean Waters – Baritone, Kevin Stinson – Bass

#6. Quatrain (NY)

Bob Kelly – Tenor, Steve Marrin – Lead,

Paul Santino – Baritone, Alan Fennell – Bass

#7. South of Normal (IL)

Bryan Reeder – Tenor, Tim Woodall – Lead,

Craig Ahlgrim – Baritone, Bret Reinthaler – Bass

#8. High Priority (AZ)

Ray Estes – Tenor, Byron Bennett – Lead,

Mark House – Bari.,, Dan Davenport – Bass

#9. Sound Check (UT)

Jimmy Schofield – Tenor, Mark Andromidas – Lead,

Blair Dowd – Baritone, Brian Dowd – Bass

#10. ABQ (NM)

Hal Ratcliff – Tenor, Joe Vertrees – Lead,

Bill Biffle – Baritone, Richard Grady – Bass

#11. Chordaholics (NY)

 George Azzam – Tenor, Phil Nagy – Lead,

 John Kenney – Baritone, Steve Condie – Bass

#12. Smedwick (FL)

 Roger Smeds – Tenor, Ken Smeds - Lead,

 Shannon Elswick – Baritone, Aaron Elswick – Bass

#13. Hometown Heroes (AZ)

 Les Dergan – Tenor, Rob Baltensberger – Lead,

 Dan Ryan – Baritone, Rich Kates – Bass

#14. Steel Town (PA)

 Tim Speicher – Tenor, Jon Clunies – Lead,

 George Lepsch – Tenor, Dave Callis – Bass

#15. Preservation (OK)

 Ben Teel – Tenor, Bob McCullough – Lead,

 Marshall Crowl – Baritone, Doug Crowl – Bass

#16. Boise Boiz (ID)

 Brad Kitto – Tenor, Dan Kaufman – Lead,

 Con Hobson – Baritone, Dave Durfee – Bass

#17. Vocalocity (AZ)

 Rob Menaker – Tenor, Trevor Way – Lead,

 Eric Bjornsen – Baritone, Dan Davenport – Bass

#18. Brouhaha (GA)

 Tim Reynolds – Tenor, David Calland – Lead,

 Clay Hine – Baritone, Kirk Young – Bass

#19. Saturday Evening Post (CO)

 Scott Delude – Tenor, Allen Gasper – Lead

Bobby Gray, Jr. – Baritone, Brian Beck – Bass

The Terry Clarke Memorial Trophy

Our traveling trophy has been made in the image of one of our most beloved barbershoppers – the late Terry Clarke. Terry was best known as the iconic bass singer of the legendary champion quartet – Boston Common. He was a fine performer, but was also a gifted spokesman and Master of Ceremonies, combining self-deprecating humor with irascible wit, to entertain every audience, even when not singing.

Terry was a dissenter. Whenever he felt a poor decision had been made by administrators or judges, he was never afraid to make his feelings known in person or in writing – always with an “air of irreverence.” These demonstrations of political courage earned Terry the admiration of barbershoppers everywhere.

We in SPPBSQSUS, Inc. are especially proud to honor his memory, as he was the kind of performer and leader that we aspire to be – encouraging our members and our leaders to focus on our noble mission – singing, fellowship and fun.

Fifty of our members and their families donated the moneys needed for our fine artist, Paula Slater, of Hidden Valley Lake, CA, to sculpt the life-sized portrait bust in Terry’s image, cast in bronze. This project was conceived by our Quartet Contest Committee, to be sure the main prize for our champion would be worthy of the effort all of us are spending to recreate and grow the all-male culture of fellowship through singing, in the interest of generations of men yet unborn. This was done with the prior permission and blessing of the Clarke family and the surviving members of the Boston Common.

The fund drive raised enough money to cover the cost of the traveling trophy, a carrying case, medals and ribbons for the top five quartets and a special pitchpipe memento for each member of the top ten finalist quartets in the 2023 inaugural Worldwide Barbershop Quartet Contest.

The trophy will be entrusted each year to the Worldwide Barbershop Quartet Champion. There is room enough to engrave the names of forty champion quartets. 

Terry Clarke

Paula Slater

Unveiling of the Terry Clarke Memorial Trophy

Singing Order for the Finals

Well brothers, our beloved society has grown by leaps and bounds since the hiatus caused by the Covid epidemic! It frustrated our members during that time, not able to attend our great San Antonio conventions to share hugs and ring chords with one another.

However, not only did we resume those happy times last month at our Third Annual Convention (SATXlll) held at the Doubletree Hilton San Antonio Airport, we pretty much doubled the number in attendance at our Second Annual Convention!

At SATXlll, we also proceeded to kick off our Inaugural WORLDWIDE BARBERSHOP QUARTET CONTEST and to put it mildly gentlemen; it really feels to me that we are now a complete “all-male barbershop singing entity”! Accordingly, our leadership teams and helpers need to take a huge series of bows for all the hard work they did for us, behind the scenes that brought us to this historic time in our society!

Since Montana Jack first had his dream, many of our brothers have picked up the reins for moving us forward. The yeomen effort most recently put forth by the guys who sat on the quartet contest creation team ultimately provided a perfect set of rules, guidelines and a process for administering our contests. Their focused goal of “fun for all” proved to be the reason for achieving the amazing success experienced during our first quartet contest! (See the details by clicking on “documents” on the society homepage).

OK, “how do you know all them-there things?” you ask. Well, I know because I had the fun-filled honor of being selected from a list of audience volunteers to be a judge for our first EVER Worldwide Semi-Final Barbershop Quartet Contest! Being one of the 15 randomly selected judges from the audience, was not only an honor, but it was really, really fun! Knowing that I (as were the 14 other brothers randomly drawn from Kenny Ray’s Grand Poobah hat), could adjudicate all 19 quartets based on any criterion I chose was curious. Further, as Jay G. explained in his judges rules session for us 15 brothers, “If you don’t particularly like a guys shoes, that can be an element for assigning a performance number”. Uh huh, that’s really the case. His next comment made the sense of the judging effort though which focused on “ranking”.

The “ranking” of all quartets being adjudicated by each judge, should reflect comparable use of his specific criterion for arriving at his number assigned to each quartet performance. Also, the numbers available for each performance ranged from 1 to 100 (and more precise numbers could also be used i.e., 52.1, 52.2, 52.8, etc). Fair but also certainly “fun”! The computer software created by the team used by the contest administrators performed as required for the “creative” number awarding system to work flawlessly!

Now, for those of you, who think such a whacky score-awarding system is just a little too whacky, be amazed and aware of the following. In the teams attempt for creating and contemplating scoring rules that were both “fun” yet fair, it held numerous scoring trials by individuals using actual performances. To their delight, they realized the ranking of the performances were virtually identical to those as previously ranked by certified judges in actual previous contests!

Look at the contest results on the website, using 15 volunteers from the audience who elected to use any criterion they chose! I should mention here that of course all quartets are required to sing acceptable barbershop songs (that’s what we’re all about, right?). If a quartet violates that rule, the system employs 3 brothers duly sworn and duly capable of assessing that requirement and to render appropriate yea/nay action. 

If you attend our next convention (and why shouldn’t you) go ahead and put your name in the hat for volunteering to judge the quartet contests and join in the fun or, better yet, enter the contest with 3 other brothers!

CONGRATULATIONS to BROUHAHA for winning the gold as our inaugural Worldwide Barbershop Quartet Champions! Also huge congratulations to the other fantastic 18 competing quartets and the official Mike Testers quartet for helping to make our society a stronger, better and a “funer” brotherhood!    

Love ya,

Dink

(Jan Muddle)

“If you bought a ticket to the contest, you‘re qualified to judge. Everybody knows which quartet they like better than another one. You can use any criteria you like; singing in tune, synchronization, who has the prettiest shoes, who is funnier, who sings from the heart, etc. Each volunteer judge represents a segment of the audience.”

Those were the words of Grand Poobah Kenny Ray Hatton as he welcomed and instructed the newly selected panel for the Inaugural Worldwide Men’s Barbershop Quartet Contest.

I had hoped to be selected to be on the panel of any quartet contest that might happen at SATXIII.  I had been empaneled at the SATXII “Old Codgers Contest”  and had a great time.  Seemed to be a matter of writing anything we wanted, all “influenced” by a continually refilled pitcher of beer.  (I seemed to remember DQing my dear Canadian friends quartet for singing a patriotic number, “O Canada”. )

On the other hand, at one point I had aspirations to go through the BHS C&J program, especially after the 2016 introduction of the Performance category.  Priorities weighed, it was not to be, but I still do have an interested in judging our art form in one way or another!  Perhaps – not unlike the knock on critics – my lack of success in front of the microphone has led me to offer up anything I can behind the mic!  (And aside the mic, as I have had many, many “support” functions in my barbershop career.)

To give you an idea of just how much I wanted to be on the panel, I had downloaded the .pdf of the Quartet Contest Rules, printed them off, attached them in my trip binder (I prefer hard copies of my trips over risking everything on the phone!) and studied them on the flight to San Antonio.  (Yes, I am that much of a geek, as many of you learned in San Antonio!) 

So I dutifully put my name in the hat – literally the Poobah’s fez – and hoped for the best. At a designated time, all potential panel members were to meet in our grand ballroom for the selection. I looked around me and saw some pretty heavy-weight BHS contest hardware in this crowd. Folks I had (and still do) looked up to as barbershop role models.  As the selection for the fifteen panel seats progressed my cynical side wondered if those in power had pre-selected – as in dumped the fez and took out names like mine who couldn’t possibly be in a position on such an important and ground breaking board – before dismissing the rest of us.  As the drawing went on I resigned myself to accept that I would probably not be selected and would still enjoy the contest and weekend, regardless.  All of those thoughts were assuaged when my name was called as panelist number 14!  Dreams do come true!

Ken “Grand Poobah” Hatton then began our orientation with the statement that which I began this narrative.  And then proceeded to explain, in detail, the judging system developed – and tested extensively – by the very respected Jay Giallombardo and a team of barbershop harmony luminaries.  

In the spirit of the Founding of SPPBSQUS, this judging system relies less on an academic knowledge of music theory, musicianship, arranging “rules” and other criteria well developed in other singing societies.  Not to necessarily knock the fine work that has gone into development of these judging systems, but – as SPP Founder Jack Fitzpatrick felt – things had gotten too complex.  Barbershop Harmony was – in its original form – was a participatory sport; the “pop music” of the time. Contests and judging were not to be taken too seriously.  Looking back on Kenny’s opening statement, we all know what we like. And most of us have been around barbershop harmony long enough to be able to say “This is barbershop” even if the genre is not always specifically defined or codified. 

Stealing from my own address to our SPPBSQUS Board in a letter of feedback to SATXIII:  While I felt great that apparently my scores were pretty much in line with the panel as a whole, it dawned on me that this is what we were supposed to be about. I could imagine that when the Bartelsville Barflies won, it was more of a panel like ours than the highly trained folks we see elsewhere.   

the Quartet Contest Rules can be found on the SPPBSQUS website Quartet Contest Rules

So there we were, in a double arc of chairs, in front of the stage of the contest.  Each with a clipboard and a set of sheets, each designated for the specific quartet in the order they crossed the stage. Things were a bit different now, a little more “upgraded” than three years prior.  Nice stage dressings and lighting, a very good PA system, an “administrative table” where David Mills and Jay Giallombardo kept their noses in their laptops, as well as our “Shepherds of the Style” and a timer sitting behind we of the “filthy masses” panel.  (The Shepherds of the Style were those whose job it was to be completely fluent in what we define as “barbershop” and have the power to DQ or penalized for severe departure from the “style”.) 

The judging itself was pretty easy.  Not wholly different from what I would do at nearly a quarter century of attending contests, from casual, to Division, to District, to International. Scribble in the program what I thought the judges might see and assign a score.  Just this time, I had an “official” score sheet and turned it in to the runner after every quartet left the stage.  Despite “memorizing” our Contest Rules, it all boiled down to 1) Was it barbershop? And 2) Did I like it? I guess additionally, 3) would be what it was I did or did not like; I would note it on the sheet.

Admittedly, the first few quartets that crossed the stage, I had a bit of trouble getting my bearings. Despite any prep work, it is still tough to get a bead on just what I was looking for.  I wonder if I had short-changed any of the early quartets.  Eventually, I did get “warmed up” and had my mind “calibrated” for the contest and off we went.

Thankfully, as the Semi-finals were complete and the Finalists were announced, I learned that I was pretty much in line with the rest of the panel.  Admittedly, that made me feel that I do indeed know this art form as it was developed and should be preserved.  Should it “innovate” as it has over the course of history? (The Barflies and the SunTones sounded very different.) But I believe that there needs to be a point of evolution where we freeze the development lest it get too far afield of what we, as preservationists, consider to be “barbershop”.

I had hoped to participate in judging the Finals for the contest. I was caught between “really excited to do this again” and “let another set of gents get their shot”.  While I did put my name in the fez again, I was not chosen to the panel.  As my nature, I did ask Grand Poobah if there were any support tasks that needed to be done.  As one of the door guards needed to step away, I assumed that job, in SPP terminology “Bouncer”.  The fun part of that role was having a bevy of old timers near my door that had their own “judging” going on of my performance as door guard!  A nice fun little aside from the proceedings at hand! 

I did get to watch the contest from close to the administrators table, so I got a bird’s eye view of the crowning of our very first Worldwide Champs!  Even more fun was that this was all in a ballroom and not in an arena.  And that I knew personally a whole lot of the gents that crossed the stage.   After all was complete in great barbershop tradition, we had adult beverages, sang, told fish tales and war stories, sang some more, hydrated our vocal cords, sang some more and got far less sleep than we normally do!  

I can’t wait until SATX IV!

Respectfully Submitted,

Derick Sturke

SPPBSQSUS Charter member #140 

My fellow Judges

Jay Giallombardo giving Instructions

You can listen to the Nighthawks complete album by playing the YouTube Video

REPORT FROM CONTEST TEAM

What we heard: 

"The best Barbershop convention I have ever attended..."

"I'm coming back next year".

"The Quartet contest was great..."

...and much more.

The convention had it all. Here are a few highlights:

• Wonderful Buffet Breakfast each morning
• Free-time singing (songs, tags, and woodshedding), and lots of it
• 17 AIC quartet members were at the convention and sang around with everybody.
• Thursday- First Worldwide Quartet contest with 19 quartets
• The MC and the audience went back and forth, creating a spirit of slight irreverence, it was great fun.
• The fast-paced semi-finals had each quartet singing 1 song
• the audience loved it, quartet after quartet, all singing great barbershop.
• The Top 10 Draw was a hoot; you had to be there...
• Friday was a free day 
• Singing
• Relaxing
• Sightseeing
• Beer part
• Saturday - Top 10 Finals on Saturday afternoon was truly exciting.
• MC had the audience in stitchs with some really funny stuff
• The Quartets were excellent and sang wonderful, traditional barbershop.
• The new Contest Ranking Award system worked perfectly.
• Our Member-Audience Judges were remarkable
• Judges picked the top 10, and then the 5 medalists in very close contests
• Saturday Nite Banquet was a highlight of the convention
• we received and heard on a cell phone a congratulatory call from Society Founder, Montana Jack
• leadership awards 
• song singing
•  
• 1985 BHS Champs, New Tradition debut performance of Society Motto Song: "Just Men Singing Our Song",
• (composed and arranged by yours truly)
• 200 Members then sang it for the first time.
• New Champs, Brouhaha performance,
• Performance by Friends in Harmony, local barbershop chorus, under the direction of Past President, Artie Dolt.
• Singing until "the wee small hours of the morning..."

The convention team has met and is planning for a WWQC II in 2024.

We will be bringing back some events like the big "gang-sing" and possibly a new "tag sing" session that will be great fun.

Plan to attend WWQC II. It will definitely be a good time for all...and maybe the best barbershop convention you've ever attended!

Jay Giallombardo

Executive VP

Contest Team Chairman

Help us Market Our Society by downloading the memes below and posting them on your social media platforms. Together we can spread the word about the Joys of Just Men Singing Our Song (In four part Harmony!)

Acapellooza

Joplin, MO April 14/15

Dear Friends and Family ... 

So now that I'm retired, I'm working! One of my projects is a huge FREE Vocal Clinic for hopefully around 300 High School Students in our Joplin, MO area. Some of you know about this and some of you are folks whom I've supported in your causes through the years. Others are family members and close friends to whom I'm begging for money! 

We've teamed with Missouri Southern State University to establish a Music Scholarship at that school and part of the fundraising for that scholarship fund is the Acapellooza Vocal Clinic; a Free All-Day Clinic for 300 or so High School Students in this area.  

The Clinic will be first class ... but it's not inexpensive to produce. Although the facilities are being donated by MSSU, we are getting support from our parent Barbershop Organizations (Harmony Foundation, Inc. and the Asoociation of International Champions, SPPBSQSUS, the BHS and the Central States District, and our local chapters, we still have to purchase the music for the kids, food for the kids, we are providing them with a T-Shirt to commemorate the event and we are bringing in the BEST musical educators to help out with the all day clinic, culminating in a FREE show in the evening for the students to present what they've learned! (See Attached Flyer)

Please consider providing a small tax-deductible donation to help our cause.  

Support Our ACAPELLOOZA YOUTH VOCAL CLINIC, April 14th, 2023 at MSSU ... All High School and Middle School Students Welcome as the Clinic is FREE! Call or write Bobby at 620-605-1752 or bobbyg1031@gmail.com for more information.  

Log on to www.mssu.edu/giving-tristatesmen to DONATE NOW! Please choose "Event Sponsorship" as those funds will go into a separate fund to pay for the clinic. Any excess funds raised will be placed in the MSSU Vocal Barbershop Endowment Fund.

Thank you all for supporting me in this endeavor to help kids in this "tax deductible event". Let me know that you've made an individual donation and I'll make sure that your name is printed in the program as a "Crystal" patron of our event. :-)

Happily and Thankfully, to our knowledge there were no members who joined the Lodge Eternal so far in 2023. Amen!

SPPBSQSUS T-Shirts

SPPBSQSUS T-SHIRTS ARE BACK IN STOCK!  Be the envy of all your Barbershop buddies and order yourself one. You can purchase in the "Shop" on our website. (link below)

Shop

Editor's note: the next issue of the Encore being available in April If you have suggestions or an article you'd like to share please forward to your editor at harmonize.together@hotmail.com