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SPEBSQSA Fact Sheet
All the facts: who we are, what we do, how to reach us. Barbershop Harmony Society Fact Sheet Preferred names The Society is properly referred to as the Barbershop Harmony Society Legal name: The Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc. or SPEBSQSA, Inc. Note: no periods between letters of abbreviated form. Please do not try to pronounce SPEBSQSA as a word; use individual letters or "the Society" instead. Size More than 32,000 members in more than 825 chapters in the United States and Canada; world's largest all-male singing society. Approximately 2,000 quartets registered with The Barbershop Harmony Society headquarters; an estimated 1,000 more quartets are active but not officially registered. Affiliated organizations in: Australia, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, The Netherlands, Great Britain. There are also barbershop singers in Denmark, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Uganda, China, Hungary, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Iceland, and the Russian Federation. Governed by an elected board of directors; administered by a 50-person professional staff at Harmony Hall in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Motto "Keep The Whole World Singing." Founding First meeting: April 11, 1938 at the Roof Garden of the Tulsa Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Vision statement "The Society is to be an ever-growing fraternity of barbershop-style singers, leading the cause of encouraging vocal music in our schools and communities." Activities of the organization Education of members and the general public in music appreciation, particularly barbershop singing. Advocacy at all levels of society to keep recreational and social singing an important part of our culture. Charitable projects on a local and national basis, including many funded through Harmony Foundation, the Society's charitable arm. Public performances enhance community cultural life, preserve the art form, and bring cheer to all. Quartets and choruses contribute more than 100,000 man-hours per year singing for more than half a million people at churches, schools, hospitals, senior centers, etc. Programs to help seniors realize their full potential through singing. Music publishing and distribution of cassettes, compact discs and videotapes for entertainment and education. Contests in quartet and chorus singing at local, regional, and international levels. International champions named in chorus, quartet, and college-quartet divisions at international convention each July; international seniors champions named at midwinter convention each January Education programs Harmony College, a week-long school held each summer in St. Joseph, Missouri, brings together more than 600 Barbershoppers with a world-class faculty of vocal coaches, arrangers, choreographers, and educators to explore all facets of the barbershop hobby. Directors College provides instruction in conducting barbershop choruses. Regional Chapter Operations Training Seminars held each fall teach members how to run their local chapters, recruit members, develop musically and better serve their communities. Visits by staff music specialists enhance performance and education programs in local chapters. The Society publishes numerous manuals on vocal techniques, singing skills and chapter administration Youth Outreach programs The Young Men in Harmony program is designed to preserve the art form by introducing it to a new generation of singers. Harmony Explosion camps give high school students and teachers the opportunity to explore harmony with their peers. MBNA America Collegiate Barbershop Quartet Contest selects a national champion from colleges across the continent. Educator outreach introduces barbershop to music teachers at all levels. Many Barbershoppers are active in their communities, in parent-teacher associations, in arts advocacy groups and in education coalitions, working to preserve arts education in school curricula. Charitable and community activities Harmony Foundation, Inc., is the Society’s charitable arm. Through donations made to the Foundation’s general fund, grants are awarded to deserving projects. Harmony Foundation’s mission is “to be a leading philanthropic force dedicated to perpetuating the Barbershop Harmony art form for present and future generations to enjoy.” Barbershoppers donate sizeable amounts of money and time, and numerous performances to local charitable activities in their communities, particularly those which support the charitable mission. What is barbershop harmony? Four-part, unaccompanied, close-harmony singing, with melody in the second voice, called the "Lead." Tenor (counter-tenor voice) harmonizes above the Lead singer; Bass sings the lowest harmonizing notes, and the Baritone provides in-between notes, to form consonant, pleasing chords. Music is in the style of "the old songs" from the heyday of Tin Pan Alley, circa 1890-1920. Melodies in the vocal and skill range of the average singer, with lyrical emphasis on simple, heartfelt emotions: love, friendship, mother, moon & June & the girl next door.
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