This month's newsletter includes: - A celebration of the incredible internationals performance by BHA Women's Champions Skylark - An article on The Electric Barbercats recent performance at Dunsborough SongFest - A newspaper article featuring a wonderful Christmas program being run in Tasmania - A callout for Festive content for our December Harmony News - A summary of AGM motions, including recommendations - Information about the 2025 National Council face-to-face meeting - An EOI callout for Contest MCs and Judges Check it out here |
One month on from the end of our 2024 Festival, we thought it would be fitting to celebrate with a little wrap up in the form of Harmony News! View here |
It's that time again! Welcome to issue 2 of the #singitforward BHA & SAA Youth Newsletter! Check it out here and don't forget to Subscribe! | |
For more information, see: | eepurl.com/iZbIe6 |
Welcome to a special bonus edition of Harmony News as we find ourselves 7 days out from this year's festival on the Gold Coast! In this newsletter, you'll find useful info for first-timers and returners, as well as the lineups for some of our non-contest performance opportunities, and plenty more! |
The August edition of Harmony News, featuring all things Barbershop Harmony Festival! View here. |
The July edition of Harmony News, in which we celebrate the launch of the brand new Australian Songbook 2.0, and all things Festival! View Here |
The June edition of Harmony News, featuring a multitude of updates about the 2024 Gold Coast Festival. View here. | |
For more information, see: | sway.cloud.microsoft/Aht2ivscOoT1XBFk?ref=Link |
It was fantastic to see over the six Regions, a total of 72 quartets competed for qualification, a record high number, and up on 2023 (50 quartets) and 2022 (54 quartets), with participation up across all Regions. It was great to see members back in full force, with exciting events happening in all Regions. There were also chorus performances and contests held and lots of fun and camaraderie all round! Of the 72 quartets that competed in the Regional contests, 15 were Senior quartets and all met the minimum requirement to be included in the top 45 quartets for the National quartet open semi-final which is a fantastic achievement. After reviewing the resulting cut-off score for the remaining 30 Open quartets at 67.7%, the BHA National Council has decided to invoke Contest Rule 7.3.3 and hold a separate Senior Quartet Contest this year. This will enable more quartets to compete in the Open quartet contest and lower the cut-off score for Open quartet qualifying to a more acceptable level. Effectively this will enable up to 60 quartets to compete (45 in Open and 15 in Senior), rather than just 45, meeting BHA’s goal of more inclusion and participation. Invitations will be issued shortly to qualifying quartets by the Contest Administration team. Those Senior quartets which also qualified in the top 45 of all quartets will be given the option of selecting either the Open quartet contest, or the Senior quartet contest, but not both. This affects seven Senior quartets. Senior quartets that did not reach the top 45 will only be eligible to compete in the Senior quartet contest. Only quartets competing in the Senior quartet contest will be eligible to win Senior quartet medals. The Open quartet contest semi-final round will be held on Thursday 5 September, with the final round of the top 12 (plus 13th place as mike tester) on Friday evening 6 September. The Senior quartet contest will be held as a special event single round on Friday morning 6 September. Any questions should be directed to BHA VP Contest & Judging, Ian Mulholland, ian.mulholland@barbershop.org. |
Sadly, Barbershop Harmony Australia has lost one of its early pioneers, the delightful Mr John Wareham OAM. John started singing at eight years of age, progressing from busking on The Corso at Manly, to singing at weddings. Following his early forays into singing and taking some lessons in Sydney years ago, John gave his vocal chords a rest before joining a barbershop chorus on the Central Coast in 1991. “I’d seen an ad for the chorus and thought I’d give it a go, but I was pretty shy,” he said. “I remember I got halfway to the first meeting and turned around and went home." Six months later John, a natural leader, became the President of the Central Coast Barbershop Chorus (now known as Soundwaves). Eventually, John was elected Vice President of the World Harmony Council, as well as holding a number of positions with the (then) Australian Association of Men Barbershop Singers (now BHA), of which he was a member from 1991- 2008, including serving as National President (2000-2001). But it is chiefly for his services to aged welfare and the community through the ‘Touring Old Farts’ group that John was recognised with an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in 2020. “I wondered what was going on when I heard about the award,” he said. “I really didn’t think I was worthy of something like that. I had lots of positions over the years but I’ve been mostly singing in the shower since then.” In 2007, The Touring Old Farts group was born. “Three of us guys used to meet every Tuesday while our wives were singing with Coastal A Capella and we really enjoyed each other’s company” he said. “We got to talking about what we could do for older men we knew who needed to get out and meet a few people. We wanted to do something to improve their quality of life and decided to kick off a men’s social group. On our first outing, there were only a few of us, and we took a train to Thirroul. We didn’t really know what we were doing so we had lunch at a pub and came home.” Since then, Touring Old Farts grew to a membership of more than 300, with six branches throughout Sydney and one in Foster-Tuncurry. “Each group goes out once a month on a trip, museum visits, walks, factory visits, performances, and any TOFs member can go on any outing he likes." Our thoughts go out to John’s wife Linda, their children and grandchildren, at this sad time. May the road rise to meet you… A service will be held to celebrate the life of JOHN SYDNEY WAREHAM at Greenway Chapel and Memorial Gardens, 460 Avoca Drive, Green Point, NSW on THURSDAY 20TH JUNE 2024 AT 2pm. Following the service, friends and family are invited to gather at Erina Leagues Club, 18 Ilya Ave, Erina The service will be live streamed for those who'd like to watch from afar - details can be found at https://palmdalegroup.com.au/scheduled-funerals-greenway/ |
The May edition of Harmony News, featuring the announcement of the 2024 guest quartet!! View here. | |
For more information, see: | https://sway.cloud.microsoft/HXegibApFRtw52BT?ref=Link |
The April edition of Harmony News, featuring the launch of Gold Coast Festival registration! View here. | |
For more information, see: | sway.cloud.microsoft/KpKc0CV4aDTXjfY5 |
Registration for the 2024 Gold Coast Festival including Harmony Academy is now open! Earlybird prices are available until 30th June, and merchandise pre-order is available until 14th July! www.barbershopfestival.com.au | |
For more information, see: | www.barbershopfestival.com.au |
The March edition of Harmony News! View here. | |
For more information, see: | sway.cloud.microsoft/7pir5u53RDRzKWov |
A new revision (24) of Contest Rules has just been posted as Standing Order 6. Rule 1.14 - Removal of the 75/25 ratio for mixed choruses – now just requires two different gender identities without any minimum ratio Rule 1.17 – clarification that an Invitational quartet or chorus cannot compete, just perform for evaluation, and that scores won’t be published for them Rules 3.2.5 and 3.3.5 – reinstatement of the one year stand down rule for Open Quartet and Chorus Champions – this previously applied until 2020 (removed during COVID period) - will re-apply from 2024 on (not retrospective to 2023) Rule 3.2.6 – clarification that a previous Open Champion quartet can compete with more than two members, just not in their stand down year Rule 3.3.3 – clarification that choruses with common members must satisfy the 75/25 rule as if in Open competition Rule 4.2 – change to entry closure for National contest to 28 days before contest Rules 7.1.13, 7.1.15, 7.1.20 – removal of gender divisions for youth quartets, and most improved divisions for quartet and chorus
Rule 7.2.7 – new rule stating that if there is a single entrant in a senior contest division, then to be awarded a gold medal, that entrant must have ranked 5th or higher overall in all senior divisions, otherwise a silver medal is awarded
Replacement throughout of “Contest Administrator” with “Administrative Judge”, and “Music Judge” with “Musicality Judge”
Sundry grammatical, punctuation and formatting edits
* Gender divisions in Senior quartet and chorus have been retained
Any questions should be directed to the VP Contest & Judging at contest@barbershop.org.au
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Introducing the new monthly BHA newsletter - Harmony News! This will be emailed out monthly, as well as posted here on the website. View here. | |
For more information, see: | https://sway.cloud.microsoft/c7aRSp5BEj2cX8Jq |
Introducing #singitforward, the new newsletter for barbershop Youth Development in Australia! Are you a student, an educator, or simply interested in the future of barbershop? Check out the first edition of the newsletter using the link, and click Subscribe if you'd like to receive future editions! https://mailchi.mp/376a4437a27d/singitforward-issue-1-december-2023?e=1a8139302a |
Here's the last Pan Pac Newsletter. There's lots of good information here including: - HOW TO ACCESS LIVE STREAMING OF THE CONTESTS - THE QUARTET AND CONTEST DRAWS AND IMPORTANT CONTEST INFORMATION - WHERE TO DINE IN THE EVENING (This augments information sent to you last week) - HARBOUR CRUISE TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE - AND MORE! See you in Auckland soon! | |||
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Welcome to the latest edition of the 2023 Pan Pac Newsletter! There is lots of useful information here, so please take some time to read through the content, and hopefully it will address most, if not all, of your questions.
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The contest portal is now ready to accept your chorus entry for the PanPac contest in Auckland in Sept 2023. All your singers will need to be financial members of BHA as well as paid convention delegates. Registrations for convention are found on this webpage: https://convention. The contest portal is open now and all entries must be completed by 11th August. You can access the contest entry portal here: https://contests. There is no additional fee to enter the contest. All choruses will enter the PanPac divisions along with the relevant BHA contests. The contest rules are available to read from the Convention website and it is expected that these have been read before completing your chorus entry. |
Now that all qualifying contests have been completed, the full list of quartet qualifying results has been published. Quartets who meet the criteria according to Pan Pac Contest Rules will be contacted to formally enter the Pan Pac and associated BHA and BHNZ contests. Congratulations to all quartets who competed. | |||
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Exciting news: you can now register for Pan Pac 2023! You won't want to miss out on this epic event which is shaping up to be the largest Barbershop Convention in the Southern Hemisphere - ever! Check out all the details in the latest newsletter, which is hot off the press and attached for your convenience. There's some awesome updates for you, including an Early Bird extension and some seriously cool merchandise. And don't forget to hit that registration link - it's time to get pumped for Pan Pac 2023! | |||
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Results of qualifying for National Contest are now out! (See attached PDF) This year qualifying was via Regional contests and also a video contest for quartets who could not attend their Regional contest due to COVID restrictions. Under BHA Contest Rules, the top 45 eligible quartets scoring greater than 60% qualify for the Open, Men’s, Women’s or Mixed as appropriate, plus Senior or Youth quartets scoring greater than 55% qualify for those Senior or Youth contests. Congratulations to those quartets that qualified and commiserations to those who didn’t. Qualifying quartets will be contacted shortly by the National Contest Administrator and invited to enter the National contest. Quartet members will all need to be financial members of BHA and all registered for the Hobart Festival. Early Bird registration to the festival is open to 14 August, after that full registration is payable. Any questions on the qualifying process or results should be directed to contest@barbershop.org.au. Regards, Ian Mulholland VP Contest & Judging Barbershop Harmony Australia | |||
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BHA has announced that quartets that satisfy any of the criteria below are eligible to enter.
Please contact the BHA Executive Officer, Jeannie Hattendorff (admin@barbershop.org.au) to register your quartet (if not registered already) and ensure your BHA memberships are up to date. Please contact the Contest Administrator, Linda Vinall (calindav@internode.on.net) to request video round contest entry. Please contact VP Contest & Judging, Ian Mulholland (contest@barbershop.org.au) if you have any other questions. |
Dear Members, BHA is excited to announce that delegate registrations for the Barbershop Harmony Festival 2022 is now open! Details are in the Festival News (PDF attached) and on the Festival website. Start planning your trip now!In Harmony, Richard Wadick Barbershop Harmony Australia www.barbershop.org.au | |||
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For more information, see: | www.barbershopconvention.com.au/ |
Dear members and friends The past few years have seen significant change in the worldwide barbershop harmony community towards the removal of barriers to entry into this historically men-only singing society. The expansion of barbershop as a genre that includes and embraces all people, regardless of gender identity or other attributes, has grown across the world and challenged the long-held divisions that have characterised the barbershop community during its history. Since its humble beginnings in Perth in 1985, the Australian Association of Men Barbershop Singers (AAMBS) made a change of identity to Barbershop Harmony Australia (BHA) in 2012. This was followed by the introduction of Mixed Harmony in 2014. Over the past 35 years, BHA grew to become an Australia-wide community of male and female singers who gathered together to sing four-part harmonies in quartets and in choruses. And while membership of BHA was open to all men and women who love to sing, full membership was only open to men. Societal expectations of equity, diversity and equal opportunity continue to gather momentum and influence the thoughts of young and old alike. Within BHA, the voices of members and associate members that have raised the issue as far back as 1995, continued to advocate for a more egalitarian approach to the movement that respects the contribution of all people and calls for the organisation to facilitate this through constitutional and structural change. Monday, 13 December 2021, saw a monumental and significant change to the way our Association, Barbershop Harmony Australia, will operate into the future. With an overwhelming level of support from its members, BHA membership is now open to any person who is in sympathy with the objects of the Association. I do not think we can understate the magnitude of this vote. Historically, our AGM has attracted votes from around 25% to 30% of our members. After two years of consultation, discussions, meetings, surveys and information events, your National Council was thrilled to see so many men vote today – a record 55% of total membership. And that percentage voted 92% in favour of changing the membership structure to be completely open to anyone sharing in the Objects of the Association. This decision has changed the face of BHA forever. But it is important to note that although Barbershop Harmony Australia can now extend membership to all; regardless of background or identity, our Mission remains the same; to embrace harmony and the perpetuation and promotion of singing in the barbershop style. Importantly, a key finding of the membership engagement undertaken by BHA supported the capacity for clubs to make their own choice on membership and the ensembles that they wish to perpetuate. In other words, the decision by BHA to allow fully inclusive membership does not require clubs to change their current membership or the current composition of ensembles associated with that club. Each club retains absolute choice and control in this regard. However, knowing that any club that does wish to broaden its barbershop environment now has the full support of BHA to do so – which can only result in a more vibrant, longer-lasting Association for many more years to come. We still have a lot of work to do over the next few months to bring this historical vote into action. We acknowledge that change can mean uncertainty for some. And we wish to address the uncertainties our current or future membership may have around identity, inclusion and equality. It is paramount to BHA that we create a safe, supportive space for anyone who wishes to sing barbershop. And it is now our expectation that all members, current and future, will embrace this ethos, and welcome new members in with open minds, hearts and voices. BHA stands proudly for equality, diversity and inclusion. Inclusion means everyone – keeping BHA safe for all. We will soon be providing sets of manuals, instructions for clubs and individuals to help out in this regard. As your President, I am once again compelled to state how incredibly proud I am of how far BHA has come since its inception 35 years ago. And you can all be proud of what you, the members, have built. Take pride in your BHA. Take pride in the BHA Brand. To everyone who has been involved in this important discussion over the last few years, I’d like to take a moment to thank all of you for being a part of this historic time for BHA. Thank you for helping us to understand what drives our members, to understand the different issues and topics that affect such a diverse membership, and for helping us to learn what we can do to better support you. We will continue to strive for a culture of excellence, of pride in our brand, of sharing, of leadership, of education, of participation, and of community-building. BHA is far more than a group of unrelated singers who happen to like barbershop music – it is a nationwide Association of friends, of family, dedicated to Enriching Australia Through Harmony. And today, our circle of family and friends became much bigger. In harmony Dan Millgate President Barbershop Harmony Australia www.barbershop.org.au |
Making a multi-track video can be a challenge. There are a wide array of processes, software and tools which you have to choose from and going from camera to schmick final product can be a daunting prospect. To that end here are some tips and tricks to help streamline the process:
Final tips:
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BHA MEMBERSHIP REVIEW UPDATE Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic facing Australia and the world, we continue to progress with the BHA Membership Review and the task of developing a full understanding of the issues important to all members. The BHA Membership Review Survey saw a significant percentage of our members respond, representing a broad cross-section of clubs and age groups. The quantitative data will be forwarded to members in the near future, and the qualitative responses analysed for key issues. Some of this data was presented at the BHA Online Town Hall on Friday 19th June, a recording of which is available on the BHA YouTube Channel. We recognise that the recent member survey was based on a series of questions and topics, and that sometimes people seek other avenues or formats to provide their feedback. As promised, we aim to collect input and data from as many different avenues and methods as we possibly can. Therefore, we are now seeking individual submissions from BHA members and associates on perspectives and issues related to the membership review, challenges that we must face, concerns and reservations that may be held, potential solutions for transition and future options and proposals to address viable pathways for the future. Your open submissions should be forwarded to the VP Membership via email to membership@barbershop.org.au by Friday 7th August 2020, in any form you wish - by email, a Word document, a link to a shared resource - whatever is easy for you. These submissions will be considered with the survey data and other feedback through forums and research, to develop a comprehensive summary of the information gathered and likely scenarios indicated, and the structure of operations required to facilitate each scenario. The outcomes delivered will then be used in a further round of consultation commencing with another BHA Online Town Hall dedicated to this topic in August 2020. Given the organisational challenges of dealing with the pandemic, we are a month or two behind our original timeline. However, the BHA National Council is still working diligently to progress the review, and plans remain in place to present recommendations for the future to the AGM in December. In the meantime, it is important to reiterate that no decision on outcomes has yet been reached. Should you have any questions or comments please direct them via email to: president@barbershop.org.au or membership@barbershop.org.au. Please stay safe and look after each other. Yours in harmony, Dan Millgate President Barbershop Harmony Australia www.barbershop.org.au |
The BHS Marketplace is excited to announce the addition of several new shipping options for international orders. By partnering with FlavorCloud, the largest premium network of 250+ carriers, BHS can now offer international delivery options at a fraction of the cost.
All international online order confirmations will contain a tracking number, when clicked, will provide door to door tracking and delivery notification. Customers may choose International Express (2-5 business days) or International Standard (6-14 business days). Currently international customers will need to pay applicable duties and taxes upon receipt of their order (Delivered Duty Unpaid or DDU); however, we are currently working to provide customers with the option to pay duties and taxes at checkout (Delivered Duty Paid or DDP.) Try it out today! Simply place your order, and select one of the international shipping options at checkout: Shop.barbershop.org |
Dear Members Following yesterday's message about the cancellation of all BHA regional barbershop events due to the risks involved with COVID-19, it is with great disappointment that I pass on the news that the Board of Barbershop Harmony New Zealand has no other choice but to cancel the upcoming Pan-Pacific Convention scheduled for September 2020, in the interests of public health and safety. The Australian and New Zealand Governments have both tightened border controls. Everyone entering NZ in the forthcoming period must self-isolate for 14 days, and must self-isolate for a further 14 days upon return to Australia. As you can understand, it is not feasible to hold this event under these circumstances. BHNZ has felt it important to act early, before bookings and travel arrangements were committed. We trust you understand the reasoning and we hope any personal inconvenience is minimised. Please pass this message on to all concerned. In the meantime, one of the key tenets of the Australian strategy to minimise the spread of the coronavirus is to provide information to support best practice health care and to empower the community and responders to manage their own risk of exposure. In this context, it is worth noting the following advice:
Stay well - and let’s keep everyone safe. In Harmony, Dan Millgate President Barbershop Harmony Australia www.barbershop.org.au |
Dear members Over the last week, the pace of information about Coronavirus (COVID-19) and its impact has escalated rapidly. Your BHA National Council has been working with Barbershop Harmony New Zealand leadership and the Australasian Guild of Barbershop Judges to gather information and make recommendations about how best to manage our response and to make decisions about our upcoming regional events throughout April and May, and our BHA National Quartet and Contest planned to be held at the Pan Pacific Barbershop Convention in Auckland NZ in September. The medical experts tell us that for most Australians in good health who contract the virus, they will experience a mild illness. That said, this virus is also highly transmissible and for those Australians whose health is more vulnerable, especially the elderly, the risk is more severe. After much careful consideration, in order to protect the safety of our members and their families, our volunteers, and attendees, we are advising that all BHA regional events are cancelled. This is a decision we do not make lightly. We recognise the important role that these events play in the lives of our members. But barbershop is a voluntary activity and is not worth jeopardising the health and wellbeing of our communities, both large and small. The regional events obviously have an impact on BHA’s 2020 National Quartet Contest qualification in Auckland. Though we are still assessing the likelihood of hosting an in-person Pan-Pacific Convention, the BHA leadership team will continue working with the Australasian Guild of Barbershop Judges to formulate a contingency plan for quartets who wish to qualify for the National Contest, should it go ahead. This plan is likely to utilise video submissions. We already use video qualifying at times for our regional events, so there is a tested and familiar process in place. Details will be released over the coming weeks. The Pan-Pacific Convention, at which we would hold our National Quartet and Chorus Contests, has not been postponed or cancelled at this point in time. We are communicating with BHNZ, watching closely the travel and quarantine advice issuing from both the Australian and New Zealand Governments, and continue assessing the likelihood and logistics of the events. More information will be shared soon as we continue to monitor the situation. Thank you for your care and concern for each other and our community. We will be providing more updates and information as things develop. We encourage you to stay healthy, maintain good hygiene, observe the local recommendations around gathering and social distancing, and connect with your fellow barbershoppers virtually, online, or by phone. We can still keep singing... even if we’re not able to gather in the usual ways. In harmony Dan Millgate President Barbershop Harmony Australia |
Are you interested in becoming a judge? If you are, please submit an Expression of Interest to our Chairman of Judges, Ian Mulholland, at ianmul58.im@gmail.com. The window for this year’s intake ends on 15 March 2020. |
With our chorus year coming to an end, it's time to start planning for 2020. Yikes! From the 2018 Champions, Scottsdale Chorus, we have Director Lori Lyford and Assistant Director Jana Gutenson bringing all their wealth of experience and knowledge to share with you. AUGUST 21-23 – WA and AUGUST 28-30 – QLD Then in August, we will bring you Rob Mance, sought-after barbershop coach and BHS singing judge. For more information about our fabulous coaches click here Although this event is being organised by Sweet Adelines Region 34, all members of BHA are welcome to attend. Save the date now! |
MEMBERSHIP REGISTRATION — WHAT DO I NEED TO DO?
The new membership year begins from 1 January 2020.
You don’t need to do anything.
Clubs are responsible for Membership Registrations and Club Registrations by 31 December.
Each Club appoints a representative to complete these registrations on behalf of its members.
These registrations provide the following insurances for the club and members from the beginning of the new year: o Group Accident Cover o Volunteer Workers Accident Cover o Management Liability Insurance o Public Liability Registration also provides coverage under the Community Band, Choir or Community Group Licence
covering the performance of music from the APRA repertoire at rehearsal and non-ticketed performances events.
CLUBS ARE ASKED TO COMPLETE THESE REGISTRATIONS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
QUARTET REGISTRATION
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Our first association involvement in the 2019 Movember campaign has delivered some extraordinary results. We all know the health benefits and camaraderie that comes from singing together as part of this wonderful Barbershop family and this activity allowed us to collaborate across our nation as we shared that message with the Australian community.
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Thank you to all those who have completed the delegate survey from the 2019 BHA Festival held in Hobart last September. |
Dear members this Newsletter article is to: 1. Call for nominations for Vacant BHA Council positions The following Council positions become vacant for 2020-2021:
The deadline for receipt of nominations for these positions will close with the Secretary at midnight on Friday 8 November. A Nomination Form is attached HERE 2. Call for Motions to be considered at the Annual General Meeting of BHA Members are invited to submit Ordinary Motions or Special Resolutions to be considered at the Annual General Meeting of BHA. The deadline for receipt of Ordinary Motions and Special General Resolutions will close with the Secretary at midnight on Friday 8 November. Full members will have an opportunity to vote over the following three weeks. 3. The Annual General Meeting of BHA will be hosted by Vocal Evolution at St Dominic's School Hall, 95 Beatrice Street, Innaloo WA 6018, on Monday 9 December at 6.30 pm WST. Yours sincerely, Trevor Rootes Secretary Barbershop Harmony Australia secretary@barbershop.org.au www.barbershop.org.au |
Hello members |
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE LATEST FESTIVAL NEWSLETTER |
Here's your opportunity to sing with the 2019 International Gold Medallist Quartet, Signature. This will be held from 11.30am on the Sunday at the Wrest Point Hotel. |
Please see the John Little Show Schedule below.
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Competing quartets may have noticed that on the Festival website Schedule there are 2 Session times. However, in the Order of Appearance there are 4 Session times. |
As usual this year you will have access to a printed schedule of events and activities in your Festival Handbook which will be available at the Registration Desk when you register on arrival. |
Tickets to Sunday Lunch are now closed. |
Delegate registrations closed as at 1st September.
Yes, you can still register for Harmony Academy by purchasing up to 2 Day Passes. Please note that the Monday Day Pass will give you access to all activities from Sunday through to Monday evenings. The Tuesday Day Pass will give you access to all activities from Tuesday morning until Wednesday lunch time.
Unfortunately, we can no longer offer you an accommodation option. You will therefore need to arrange your own accommodation and transport to Police Academy. Please contact VP Events, Richard Wadick at events@barbershop.org.au if you need any guidance in finding suitable accommodation.
Join with lots of locals (we are well on our way of reaching our goal of 1500 participants – Yes! This is going to be huge!) and other barbershoppers to learn and perform Throw Your Arms Around Me in 4-part harmony in just 90 minutes.
Tickets to the contest sessions will be available right up until the end of the relevant sessions.
Tickets to the Chorus Corral will be available right up until the end of the event.
If you know any Hobart locals or you have invited your friend or partner to the Festival but they’re not registering as a delegate – make sure they don’t miss out on this!
Here's your opportunity to sing with the 2019 International Gold Medallist Quartet, Signature. This will be held from 11.30am at the Wrest Point Hotel. |
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With so much great work happening throughout our organisation we need to take the time to recognise and acknowledge the individuals that are the backbone of your Chorus. Every Chorus is invited to nominate their "Chorus Member of the Year." Each of these members will be acknowledged at the Welcome Dinner. Please note that every club is invited to nominate their "Chorus Member of the Year ", whether or not they are able to be in attendance at the Convention. Chorus Member of the Year This important acknowledgement is designed to allow Clubs throughout BHA to take an opportunity to more publicly recognise a member for outstanding service and accomplishments as a member of your Club and as a member of Barbershop Harmony Australia. The criteria for the selection of your Chorus Member of the Year is up to each Club to determine. All Clubs appreciate having committed members who are willing to go the extra mile, and this award is a timely opportunity for Clubs to show the tremendous gratitude that we have for these members who tirelessly contribute to the success of every Club. This person’s name, photo and a brief description of their efforts should be forwarded to the BHA Executive Officer, Jeannie Hattendorff (admin@barbersahop.org.au), by Friday 6th September, 2019. The Chorus Member of the Year will be acknowledged at the Welcome Dinner and a list of all nominees will be included in the following edition of In Harmony. I look forward to seeing you in Hobart. Paul Adams Barbershop Harmony Australia www.barbershop.org.au |
The BHA National Council continues to work through the results of the 2018 BHA membership survey . We are referencing the information contained within the responses in consideration of the key strategies and objectives for BHA. This is in line with our strategic vision of Enriching Australia Through Harmony. |
With the 2019 BHA Festival drawing near this is the last call for nominations for the 2019 BHA Medal and we have extended the deadline for entries to Thursday 22nd August 2019. |
Your Hobart 2019 Festival Committee is comprised of members of Hobart Men's Barbershop Harmony Club which operates as Deep South. Led by Festival Co-Convenors, Trevor Rootes and Anthony Burrows, the committee has been extremely busy since last year, working together to ensure the production of a first-class event. |
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The Festival Contest entry portal is open. Qualifying quartets will have received an invitation email to register. If you haven’t already done so, please follow this link to register your quartet or chorus now. The closing date is 1 August.
To cover these costs and subsidise the general costs of running the Contest, the Contest entry fees have increased this year and have been set as follows: |
This year Harmony Academy is shaping up to be one of the best yet. Don’t miss out as there won’t be a Harmony Academy next year and you’ll have to wait until 2021 for the next one! |
Those who came to our Hall of Harmony in Adelaide last year will remember that we had a lot of new BHA merchandise on offer. Well, we have the same exciting range for Hobart this year with several additional lines available now to order.
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There are two chorus rehearsal rooms available at Wrest Point for use by competing choruses on Wednesday 18 and Thursday 19 September (limited Friday sessions are now full). The fee is $100 per hour and is payable via EFT by 25 August to: |
Choruses are invited to appear in the traditional Chorus Corral from 2.00pm on Friday 20 September 2019 in the Tasman Room, Wrest Point Hotel. |
A very popular event but limited to a maximum of 20 quartets. This event is now closed. |
This is a two-and-a-half hour harmony singing workshop open to delegates and Hobart locals who love to sing in harmony. Festival delegates are encouraged to attend to swell the numbers and support the locals. |
A fantastic event wrapping up six days of contest, fun and singing, this separately-ticketed event is not to be missed! |
Here's your opportunity to sing with the 2019 International Gold Medalist, Signature. This will be held from 11.30am at the Wrest Point Hotel. |
TUESDAY ACTIVITIES
There is so much happening at the Festival this year that we're starting early to fit it all in! |
WIN A NIGHT’S ACCOMMODATION AT WREST POINT
That’s right, we have one free night’s accommodation to give away. One lucky delegate will receive free accommodation on Tuesday the 17th September 2019 in a Tower Deluxe room at Wrest Point Hotel valued at $200. |
Wednesday 18 September
10am to 4pm City Pop-Ups (choruses and quartets singing in city venues) Register here 10am to 12pm City Pop-Ups (choruses and quartets singing in city venues) Register here Sunday 22 September10am to 11.30am Farm Gate Market Pop-Ups. Register here Of course, as a contest delegate, you can also participate in all the traditional activities you enjoy: |
REGISTER NOW!
Have you registered yet? Don't forget you only have until 30 June to secure the Early Bird rate and save $60 on the cost of a full registration. So head to the Festival website now or register here |
The Festival Contest entry portal is open.
To cover these costs and subsidise the general costs of running the Contest, the Contest entry fees have increased this year and have been set as follows: |
This year Harmony Academy is shaping up to be one of the best yet. |
Those who came to our Hall of Harmony in Adelaide last year will remember that we had a lot of new BHA merchandise on offer. Well, we have the same exciting range for Hobart this year with a few new additions becoming available in the coming weeks. |
The Quartet and Chorus Contests will be livestream webcast as well as broadcast to auditorium screens and TV monitors in the venue foyer. |
Dear Members Note : To access the sheet music and learning tracks for this great new song go to the BHA website https://www.barbershop.org.au |
The BHA National Council is pleased to call for nominations for the 2019 BHA Medal.
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BHA 2018 Membership Survey Snippets - Recognition The BHA National Council continues to work through the results of the 2018 BHA membership survey. We are referencing the information contained within the responses in consideration of the key strategies and objectives for BHA. This is in line with our strategic vision of Enriching Australia Through Harmony. |
ISSUE 2 of the 2019 Hobart Festival News has now been circulated to all members with lots of vital information about the upcoming Hobart Festival. You will find information on the following in the Festival Newsletter |
Following the completion of the regional contests and the approval of the BHA Council and the VP Chair of C&J, Alex Morris, the following quartets have qualified to compete in September at the Barbershop Harmony Festival and Convention to be hosted in Hobart. We had great number of quartets sing at regionals during Autumn and to be eligible for the top 30 this year, the cut off score is 63.5. This means for some of the senior quartets, you may have missed out on being offered open as well as senior at this point in time. As we have a number of quartets who have missed out this year, if you decide that you are not going to compete, please let our Contest Administrator (CS) know ASAP. Her email address is calindav@internode.on.net. This way we can extend an invitation to those on the waiting list. | |||
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The Australasian Guild of Barbershop Judges is seeking applications from people interested in joining the judging program What does it take to be a judge? |
As explained in the last edition of In Harmony, ensuring compliance with copyright law is not always straightforward. You must have a sufficient number of legal copies of any sheet music for each member of the chorus or quartet. (Note, however, that if your group is capable enough, you may be able to learn a song just from (legal) learning tracks and not need sheet music at all). |
Important Information for Clubs and chorus administrators. This survey was designed in conjunction with Geordie Cullen, who has been a big help, and will be involved in the analysis of the outcomes of this survey, Thanks Geordie! Yours in harmony, Kieran O'Dea Vice President, Youth Development |
BHA 2018 Membership Survey Snippets |
Voices In Paradise is back!
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The second edition of the Festival News has now been circulated to all members. This included important information to everyone as summarised herein. Click the "Read more" link then click on any of the headings to see the latest Festival News
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This year we are offering a diverse program that celebrates barbershop culture and will connect more intimately with the broader Hobart community. Because of this we have chosen to call this year’s event a “Festival” - a celebration, rather than use the term “Convention” which has insular connotations.
2pm to 4.30pm Cascade Brewery - Beer School and singing opportunity. Register your interest here
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Each contestant will be entitled to a “Contestant’s Package” which provides the following benefits:
To cover these costs and subsidise the general costs of running the Contest, the Contest entry fees are increasing this year and have been set as follows: |
There are still some rooms available at Festival headquarters – Wrest Point Hotel - however, availability is reducing fast. An easy process for booking your accommodation has been set up here, however, if you want to make a bulk booking for your Ensemble, it is best to phone the Wrest Point Hotel directly on 03 6221 1888 or free call 1800 030 611. Make sure you tell them you’re a BHA member! |
Compliance with copyright law is a vexed issue in BHA and BHNZ. While the majority of choruses and quartets comply with the law, there are a number of misunderstandings of what is needed and some inadvertent breaches do occur. Achieving copyright compliance is not cheap, but it is important that BHA and BHNZ are equally fair to all and everybody does pay their dues for copyright. Copyright breaches are potentially expensive for those involved.
The majority of songs are somebody’s intellectual property and subject to copyright protection. Copyright holders are entitled to royalties for any use or copying of a song. There are separate requirements and separate royalties for sheet music, to live performances, to live or delayed streaming on social media and other platforms and to recordings in other forms. This article will only consider the copyright laws and royalties as they apply to sheet music. Contest rules only apply to sheet music. Copyright law varies in different parts of the world. This article is written for Australia and New Zealand and may not apply in other parts of the world. |
Affiliate Discount Code Update As you may know, BHA members are entitled to a 25% discount on the BHS Marketplace site shop.barbershop.org – the same discount BHS members get. This discount applies to all clothing, merchandise, learning tracks, and printed sheet music. |
Now is the time for quartets to get organised for regional contests.
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Just in case you missed the email I sent to all members in January, here is a recap….. |
One of the benefits of our affiliation with BHS in the USA is access to their magazine The Harmonizer. |
GAINING COPIES OF MUSIC FROM BHS THAT DO NOT HAVE INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT CLEARANCE Some members indicate this is a time-consuming task. Print copies purchased in this way are usually around AU$3.30 a copy.
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The 2018 BHA membership survey received over 200 responses leading up to the National Convention and the early results are demonstrating some clear trends in member experience and aspirations for our Barbershop community. |
On a magnificent Adelaide evening over-looking the city lights from Adelaide Oval, BHA President Dan Milgate had the honour of awarding the 2018 BHA Medal to Mr Mel McMichael. |
For the second year running, The Blenders have been awarded the 2018 Club of The Year title, presented by BHA Secretary Mr Trevor Rootes. |
All Clubs appreciate having committed members who are willing to go the extra mile, and this award is a timely opportunity for Clubs to show the tremendous gratitude that we have for these members who tirelessly contribute to the success of every Club and ultimately BHA. |
Still reeling from the euphoria of participating in one of the most exciting events in Adelaide’s history? Makes the Beatles appearance at the Adelaide Town Hall all those years ago pale in insignificance doesn’t it? Richard Wadick |
Quartets are responsible for their own BHA registration.
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The new membership year begins from 1 January 2019.
You don’t need to do anything.
Clubs are responsible for Membership Registrations and Club Registrations by 31 December.
Each Club appoints a representative to complete these registrations on behalf of its members. covering the performance of music from the APRA repertoire at rehearsal and non-ticketed performances events. |
Hobart 2019 Convention is from Wednesday 18 September to Sunday 22 September 2019. |
We are still on a high from all the wonderful performances at this year's convention in Adelaide. Did you want to share your performance with your family and friends? Well you can! This year all photographs are available for you to download and share free of charge. We're also in the process of uploading all performance videos to our YouTube channel for you to share as well. Note that we are still in the process of uploading all of these videos, so yours may not be visible yet. Why not subscribe? That way you'll be notified as soon as a new video is released. |
Bob Fritz, 1935 – 2018 Bob Fritz died last Friday after a long bout with cancer. Rob fell into a deep sleep on Friday the 12th of October and did not wake up. This was a blessing in many ways as he had a very serious form of cancer that stopped production of red blood cells: he had transfusions every two weeks. This has been happening all of this year. To quote him, “I had good weeks and not so good weeks”. It was a good week when, in May, he caught the train from Toronto NSW to Hornsby to MC the Eastern Region quartet competition. He then had to take the train home.
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The BHA Club of the Year is an annual award, coordinated by the Vice President - Membership and adjudicated by a special Committee of representatives appointed by the BHA Council. |
This is separate to the Club of the year award. It is, however, an equally important acknowledgement designed to allow Clubs throughout BHA to more publicly recognise one of their members. This would be for outstanding service and accomplishments as a member of your Club and as a member of Barbershop Harmony Australia. The criteria for the selection of your Chorus Member of the Year is up to each Club to determine. |
A key strategy for the BHA National Council is to engage more with our members and the Presidents Advisory Council on Membership (PACM) is one opportunity to do exactly that. |
As part of your membership of Barbershop Harmony Australia, we have negotiated an arrangement with the Barbershop Harmony Society in the US to offer you discount purchases from the Barbershop Harmony Store. |
There will be two chorus rehearsal rooms available at the Adelaide Town Hall for use by competing choruses on Thursday 13 and Friday 14 September - one for large choruses and one for small choruses. It is expected that these rooms will be in high demand and time allocations will need to be fairly distributed. Each Chorus representative requesting the use of one of these rooms will be allocated a one hour session. Every effort will be made to allocate a session as close as possible to your requested time. If a second session is desired, these will be allocated once all choruses, who have requested a session time, have been allocated their first hour. Any session vacancies after the two rounds of allocations will be advertised on the Convention website and will be available on a first-come basis. Applications will close on 31 August with the final session allocations advised soon thereafter.
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The BHA National Council is pleased to call for nominations for the 2018 BHA Medal.
First awarded in 2017 to Mike Donnelly, the BHA Medal recognises an individual’s exemplary contribution to the advancement of barbershop in Australia. It will be awarded to a current BHA member in good standing who has consistently “put in” for barbershop. The award is made for sustained outstanding leadership, innovation, influence or initiative development, which has resulted in an exemplary, transparent and publicly evident advancement of BHA. They will be recognised nationally for their sustained contribution for the association, their club, their community, or behind the scenes. In limited circumstances, individuals may also be considered for nomination whilst no longer an active member due to retirement on the basis of incapacity. Nomination for the BHA Medal must be made in writing and may come from individual BHA members, Regional or Club Committees.Each nomination will be assessed by a subcommittee of independent (i.e. not involved in nominating or being a nominee) BHA members appointed by the BHA Council. If awarded (at the absolute discretion of the BHA Council), the BHA Medal will be presented at the next available national convention. Nomination Criteria to be Addressed (There could be many and varied reasons that set the nominee as an exemplar to the barbershop community. Below are few ideas, but not an exhaustive list)
The nomination must include the rationale for nomination, details of nomination criteria and supporting evidence, certification of the BHA members supporting the nomination and contact details for follow up with regards to the nomination. Life membership still remains BHA’s highest honour and award. Nominations must be received by the BHA Executive Officer, Jeannie Hattendorf admin@barbershop.org.au, by close of business on Tuesday 28th August 2018. For clarification on any aspect of the BHA medal purpose or nomination process please contact VP Membership via email on membership@barbershop.org.au Yours in harmony Paul Adams - BHA VP Membership Barbershop Harmony Australia www.barbershop.org.au |
Eight Australians have just returned from an amazing week at BHS’ Harmony University in Nashville, Tennessee. The eight of us (Lyndal Thorburn, Geordie Cullen, Jennifer and Glenda Lloyd from Canberra; Tim Green and Jono Albertini from Brisbane; Alex Morris from Melbourne (also on the faculty this year); and Lea Baker from Sydney) were amongst almost 800 students and voluntary faculty that delivered classes for a full week at the historic, green and very gracious Belmont University campus in Nashville. This year, participants came from 16 countries. We started every morning with physical and vocal warmups and then learned a tag and practised one of our songs for the concert on the Saturday night – all this was achieved in 45 minutes in what was a masterpiece of timing and coordination. It was especially impressive watching Kirk Young really focus on the tricky rhythmic bits of “Can’t Stop the Feeling” in a short rehearsal that achieved so much over 2 morning sessions!! My own program this year was based around arranging and conducting. My Arranging 3 class worked with David Wright to arrange a song and argue over the finer points of moving arrangements from men’s into women’s ranges and vice versa. I learned a whole lot more about ways to achieve a key change! My (absolute) beginner conducting class every morning taught me the basic beat patterns and the afternoon “Outstanding Out Front” class the beginnings of melding (that tricky task of maintaining the beat with one hand and indicating key interpretive changes with the other). In shorter elective classes I learned about listening for overtones, using social media effectively, getting paid for quartet gigs, care of the ageing voice, sight reading using Solvege, judging categories, coaching singers and analysing arrangements for both harmonic content and interpretation. |
Adelaide Convention - Registrations are now closed Registrations for the Adelaide Convention need to close well prior to the actual Convention dates to enable catering and logistics to be finalised. If you have not already registered unfortunately you can no longer register. |
Ticket Purchases for Individual Events Now Available Great News! Your family and friends can now purchase their tickets to various Convention events via the
NB: The start time for the Showcase of Champions concert has been amended to 7.30pm. If you have purchased tickets to this event on behalf of family and friends please let them know of the revised time. The additional tickets you have purchased will be made available at the Registration & Hospitality Desk situated at the Level 1 Foyer, Adelaide Town Hall from 12.00pm Wednesday 12 September. |
During August we sent out our most comprehensive member survey since 2005 as we seek to explore the views of our members, clubs and regions and inform the priorities and strategies for Barbershop within Australia. |
Following on from our convention in Adelaide, we will be holding our annual Harmony Academy at the Adare Camp and Caravan Park. This is an educational event you won’t want to miss, with a top class faculty of educators including our headline quartet Instant Classic.
See you there! |
If you've been on Facebook lately then you may have seen that we have some great new merchandise coming to the Harmony Marketplace in Adelaide this year. Including:
So whether you're looking for a way to drink your morning coffee, stay hydrated during the day, or have a quiet tipple during the afterglow then the Harmony Marketplace has something for you. |
Purchasing Music Online
https://shop.barbershop.org/sheet-music/sheet-music/worldwide-rights/
https://shop.barbershop.org/sheet-music/sheet-music/worldwide-rights/
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Dear colleagues Many of you may have seen the Barbershop Harmony Society’s (BHS’s) recent statement on the future of membership within BHS, in particular the opening of membership to all. If you haven’t yet seen it, you can view it HERE. Your Barbershop Harmony Australia leadership team has watched with interest the reaction and debate within the United States barbershop community and its aligned associations, as people come to terms with what this might mean for the future of their associations, clubs and members. It’s important to note that the BHS made the decision about its membership without consultation with the BHA National Council, so it is fair to say that we were unaware of the decision, nor that such an announcement would be made. As a result, the full implications of the BHS decision are not yet known, nor fully understood. In the coming months, the BHS will be developing and sharing materials and more specific information, so you can expect a series of updates throughout the remainder of the year via email and on the BHS website. In the meantime, your BHA National Council will watch with interest as the full picture unfolds and keep you updated. We recognise that many of our own members may have questions and perspectives about the BHS announcement, and we are committed to fully exploring those views as we build our understanding of the implications and how we may need to respond for the future. The next BHA National Council teleconference is scheduled for 2 July 2018, and this will be an item for further discussion. If you have any questions or perspectives, you can send them through your Regional Chair or via email to membership@barbershop.org.au. In the meantime, we view this discussion as important to our ongoing consultation on our new Strategic Vison as we focus on building Barbershop Harmony Australia to reflect the views and goals of our contemporary membership. We want to hear from all of you, as we strive to create an environment that helps all of us enjoy our singing more, and every single voice is important to us. This is your Association, and your opinion counts! Make sure you take the opportunity to play your part by visiting our BHA webpage HERE and sending me your specific comments. In harmony, Dan Millgate President www.barbershop.org.au |
1. Member Survey drafted and ready for launch! |
As we hurtle inexorably towards our 2018 annual Convention now less than three months away, your Convention Committee has been working hard to ensure that your event comes to fruition as smoothly as possible with the aim of creating an exceptional experience for all. |
Calling all photographers! |
The "BHA MEDAL"
Gentlemen of our southern land.
We have but a short time left to get our thoughts together to choose your next "BHA Medal" recipient. When the time comes, please ensure that you have included in your nomination the reasons why you believe he should win.
Remember, the judging committee should have heaps of "stuff" to discuss. Lets give them a truck load of reasons for a robust discussion.'Cos all the nominees deserve their full adjudication.
All members will receive an email in June with details on the nomination process and timelines for submissions
Cheers and good luck.
Derek |
Dear members | |||
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From the keys of the Contest Administrators……. We have just completed the successful rounds of Regional contests over three weekends. This has kept John, Aaron and Linda, as the three Contest Administrators in Australia, on their toes, travelling around the countryside. We are very happy with the way everyone has been able to use the online contest entry system we introduced last year. The benefits of entry online have streamlined some of the administrative processes that are required to be carried out by the CA prior to a contest occurring.
As we journey towards the National Convention, we offer our thoughts and guidance herein on what you need to know if you are competing this September. The online Contest Entry website is ready and waiting for a representative from each competing chorus or invited quartet/mixed chorus to complete their entry. (invitations were sent shortly after the regionals to the qualifying quartets for the National contest) There are some important steps that need to occur to complete an entry.
When the entry form and payment has been confirmed, you will receive a note from a CA confirming receipt. |
COPYRIGHT AND MAKING COPIES OF MUSIC Recently, Barbershop Harmony Society has tightened up on BHA members being able to buy copies of music directly from the BHS Marketplace. Under US copyright law, BHS is only able to sell music to Australia where international copyright has been secured. This means it is often unable to sell its arrangements into the Australasian copyright territory. Fortunately, there is a solution. A. BHA members can obtain a Reference Copy From BHS BHS has agreed to provide Australian barbershoppers with one Reference Copy, free of charge, of any arrangement they publish that is not available for sale to Australian barbershoppers from the BHS Market Place. B. Steps to obtain a Reference Copy from BHS: 1. Go to the BHS Marketplace at http://www.barbershop.org/resources/get-music/ 2. Choose the song. 3. Email BHS library at library@barbershop.org 4. Indicate you are a member of Barbershop Harmony Australia. 5. Indicate you are unable to purchase a copy through the BHS Market Place. 6. Request a Reference Copy of the title. C. Your Legal Obligation in Australia If it is decided to include the song in your repertoire, to meet Australian Copyright Requirements BHA members must obtain a Print Licence to make copies in Australia. D. Steps to Obtain a Print Licence: 1. To identify the publishing house that represents the title in Australia, contact APRA at print@apra.com.au with details of the title, composer, and lyricist. 2. Contact the nominated publishing house, requesting permission to print the required number of copies of the specific arrangement. 3. They will quote a price. 3. To comply with copyright law, you need to purchase copies for all members. Trevor Rootes - BHA Secretary |
Greetings!
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MEMBERSHIP YEAR
From 2019 we will change our membership year to the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December.
The intent of the change is to bring membership registration more in line with the operational year of clubs.
The new arrangements were passed at the 2018 AGM and come into effect from the beginning of 2019. For this transition year, 2018, members’ registration will be extended for Oct/Nov/December at no additional cost to members. Member registration, and club re-registration will be required by 31 December 2018. Trevor Rootes - BHA Secretary
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Barbershop singing has been featured in the rock musical We Will Rock You. Staged at His Majesty’s Theatre in Perth with a semi-professional cast, a number of members of Vocal Evolution were involved. |
As we move closer to the convention, BHA is pleased to announce that we will be having two separate workshops at the convention. One schools workshop on the Wednesday, and a youth workshop on the Friday. Our guest clinicians, along with workshop materials will be announced closer to the date. Once again we will be running our successful Teacher's scholarship for educators to attend the 2018 Harmony Academy, so if you know a secondary music educator who would jump at the chance for some international standard training and development, get them to send an email to Youth@barbershop.org.au I'd also like to wish all youth quartets and choruses the very best of luck as we roll into our regional contest season! Yours in Harmony, Kieran O'Dea - VP, Youth Development. |
In the last In Harmony Newsletter, Derek Cosburn provided a timely reminder that recognition is a key component of expressing our gratitude to those members of our barbershop community who contribute so much in keeping our clubs, regions and national association thriving. The introduction of the inaugural BHA medal in 2017 was the first time that a member could be nominated by their peers and considered for a national award that recognised their contribution. |
The last major survey of member’s views was carried out in 2005. Since that time we have seen many changes in the Australian and International Harmony landscape requiring responses by our clubs, regions and association to ensure the ongoing viability of the Barbershop community. Drawing on the latest research by Barbershop Harmony Society, a major survey has been designed to explore the views of our members, clubs and regions and inform the priorities and strategies for Barbershop within Australia. |
In today’s society of sue first ask questions later, insurance is one an absolute must for all organisations.
BHA has several insurance policies to designed to protect members, club offices, performers and volunteers. Group Accident Cover Cover for students and member’s injured whilst participating in the nominated activity: ·Death & Disablement lump sum benefits, ·Non-Medicare Medical Expenses, and ·Loss of income Volunteer Workers Accident Cover Cover for Voluntary Workers injured while carrying out their duties in the nominated activity: ·Death & Disablement lump sum benefits, ·Non-Medicare Medical Expenses, and ·Loss of income Management Liability Insurance Damages following a wrongful act committed by the club officers, the regional management team or the national council. I.E defamation, slander, libel, harassment, breach of contract, employee dishonesty, fidelity/crime, unfair dismissal, breach of OH&S law. Public Liability Public liability insurance is designed to protect us from interacting with guests or members of the public. It protects against claims of personal injury or property damage that a third party suffers (or claims to have suffered) as a result of our events or rehearsals. All venues we book require a copy of our public liability certificate of currency, you can find this on the BHA website under Downloads - documentation.
Regards,
Trevor Bruger CA - BHA Treasurer |
Quartets need to re-register on an annual basis and in time for the regional contests. |
The 2018 BHA National Barbershop Convention website The Convention will run from Wednesday 12 September 2018 through to Sunday lunchtime 16 September 2018, followed by our primary annual educational event for all members, Harmony Academy, from Sunday 16 to September through to lunch time on Wednesday 19 September.
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We're thrilled to have secured the Barbershop Harmony Society's 2015 International Quartet Champions, Instant Classic as the headline quartet in the Adelaide Convention and as educators at the Harmony Academy that follows. Instant Classic is comprised of Kohl (baritone), Kyle (bass), Theo (lead) and David (tenor). They are four good friends with a passion for barbershop harmony, a cappella music, and youth outreach. They perform a variety of music from several decades and styles, including vocal jazz, musical theater, pop, and even R&B! The quartet began singing together in college and first competed in the Barbershop Harmony Society International Collegiate Quartet Competition in 2009. The group has since become the 2011 Cardinal District Quartet Champions, the 2012 International Collegiate Quartet Silver Medalists, the 2012, 2014, & 2015 Cardinal District Quartet of the Year, and then went on to become the 2015 International Quartet Champions. Check out their website here: www.instantclassicquartet.com |
On the 11th of April we celebrated Barbershop Quartet Day! This date commemorates the birth of the organised barbershop movement on the 11th of April, 1938, when 26 men gathered together at the invitation of Rupert Hall, the “Royal Keeper of the Minor Keys,” and O.C. Cash, “Third Assistant Temporary Vice Chairman” for a songfest. Subsequent gatherings snowballed, leading to the founding of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, now known as the Barbershop Harmony Society. |
This year we will be using the online entry portal found at Contests.barbershop.org.au. It will be available from 1st March. Closing dates and details for each of the regionals are as shown below.
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Believe it or not, I didn’t join BHA because I had a love for administration and paperwork. I would hazard to guess that, like you, I joined BHA because I just really liked the music. But now, thirty years later, I find myself in the rather daunting position of guiding our association and ensuring that BHA as an association can provide you, me and all of our members with a great environment in which to enjoy our barbershop music. |
As a first-time attendee I was impressed with the whole weekend and how well, and how smoothly everything went. At the peaceful and delightful Myuna Bay Sport and Recreation Camp, accommodation is in bunkhouses containing multiple rooms, each having three double bunks and its own toilet and shower room. The location was perfect for our use, as barber-shoppers in that there were plenty of communal rooms, a large hall, verandahs and other areas where small and large groups could congregate. There was one additional educator who was not on the original list. His name is Russell Bailey, formerly of Tasmania, but now living and studying at Wollongong. Russell, a singing coach and former chorus director, was asked if he would like to come along and participate in the weekend’s learning activities. People that I spoke to were very impressed with his insight into barbershop singing generally and particularly enjoyed his session on ‘making chords ring’.
Considerable time, on Friday and Saturday, was spent by all the educators with the whole group of chorus attendees, in learning and rehearsing the song: ‘If I Only had A Brain’. This song, from the ‘Wizard of Oz’, was sung as the finale, by the combined chorus group at the East Coast concert on Saturday Night, at the Wangi Wangi Worker’s Club. |
Greetings! I'm your new VP Events, Richard Wadick. I just came back from my first Face-to-Face meeting in Adelaide with your National Council. I am so excited to have visited the city where our next national convention and contest is going to be held. I am also pleased to report that a majority of the groundwork has already been completed by the local team in Adelaide, who, led by Cameron DuRieu, have done a superb job in securing great venues for the Welcome Gala and contests. Meantime, as local regional events unfold such as Harmony Colleges and prequalifying contests, I will be available to help ensure that these events are executed as well as possible. |
As VP of Marketing and Development, a big part of my portfolio is making sure that the message gets through to you. We have a number of exciting things happening this year so I can't wait for you to hear more about:
Of course I'm still looking at ways to promote barbershop to the wider community. We are Australia's best kept secret ... and it's time we were heard. |
I hope everyone is ready for a great, harmony filled year. As VP Music my biggest focus is to develop better and more accessible education to help all of our members, choruses and quartets, realise their potential. |
We have some new initiatives planned for 2018 to support the engagement of the wider Barbershop membership with the future of our wonderful organisation.
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I Need You(th)! |
To all members. Last year at our National Convention, I had the distinct pleasure in designing, producing, then presenting the very first “BHA Medal” to Mike Donnelly. For all of us who were at the Sydney Convention, we know what the “BHA Medal” represents. But as a short explanation for the “newbies” to our organisation, the “BHA Medal” is awarded to a member who has generally worked tirelessly for his chorus, his quartet, or done anything in your opinion deserves to be nominated for the “BHA Medal” Sing-cerely Derek. |
This is my last newsletter article as BHA President. I hand over to my good friend, Dan Millgate, who I am sure will lead you well. I also want to thank all members past and present of the National Council who have provided me great assistance and served all members well. Lastly, I want to thank you, the members, for your support.
When I was elected President, we made some changes. Some were necessary because of our poor financial situation, some were popular, some were not, but the National Council and I strongly believe that they were all for the betterment of our hobby.
First, we introduced annual Conventions. This had been sought for a few years by members, but we needed to make sure we could run annual Conventions profitably. After a thorough analysis, we took the plunge in 2016 in Newcastle. It was a raging success! We did anticipate a drop off in numbers (which we had already seen in Perth in 2013), and that continues. Only half of our members are attending Conventions, and that needs to improve. If you don’t attend Conventions, you are missing a lot!
Along with this we developed new awards for our groups and new events at Convention, like the Andy Aberle Mature Chorus Award, the John Little Show and the Chorus Corral. We also brought in a new Convention management model, with the National Council assuming a bigger role so that our local hosts were not re-inventing the wheel as much as they had been every new Convention.
Next, we introduced Mixed Harmony. This was largely accepted by members (around 85%), but sadly was rejected by a vocal minority who argued that we were changing the nature of our organisation. At a National level, I would say yes, and that’s a positive. In the modern world you simply can’t be gender exclusive any more. At a local level (i.e. in your Club), I doubt that much has changed for your weekly rehearsal or performances. But we now have a whole new membership base that is starting to grow and that will sustain our organisation for a long time. For the first time we have nominated a mixed chorus (Adelaide Allsorts) to represent BHA at the World Mixed Contest in Germany.
I recall the early days of my Presidency in 2014, after our poorly attended Perth Convention put our finances at risk. We had to make cuts to survive, but we have brought those services back to members, with extra activities like the Deke Sharon workshop in Sydney and the National Education Faculty Club visits. Next year the plan is to bring out International educators to assist every Club improve their singing and performance skills. We also saved money by commissioning a re-write of our website to automate the membership process. This has been very successful, especially for the Clubs using HarmonySite website software.
We’ve signed two MOU’s with BHNZ over the last couple of years, one for sharing of Pan Pac Conventions (the next one is in Auckland in 2020), and also to share the costs of our Judging program (the Australasian Guild of Barbershop Judges).
We have refined our membership recognition criteria, and with the generosity of Derek Cosburn, introduced the BHA Medal this year. Congratulations to Mike Donnelly, the inaugural recipient. We also ran COTS programs (Club Officer Training Scheme), and we had visits from International educators, such as Dr Don Campbell.
This year we needed to make some changes to our Constitution, and we took advantage of that to provide for Deductible Gift Recipient status for BHA. What this means is that any donations made to BHA are now tax deductible, and we are in the process of setting up a Foundation to manage these donated funds.
I also remember the visits we had from three magnificent International champion quartets, Vocal Spectrum (2015), Forefront (2016) and Crossroads (2017). These gentlemen are an inspiration to us all.
So, I look back and strongly believe that we have achieved improvements to our organisation that will stand us in good stead into the future.
For me, I want to thank all of you for the honour of being your President. I hope I lived up to your expectations. I will look forward to singing on the risers and in quartet, and I hope to see you around the traps sometime.
Sing-cerely, Ian Mulholland BHA President |
Prior to the 2017 Pan Pacific Convention in Sydney, the AGBJ held it’s 3-yearly Category School to train our talented pool of judges in Australia and New Zealand. We were joined by a stellar faculty in Kevin Keller (MUS), Sean Devine (SNG), Rob Mance (SNG) and Linda Vinall (CA) who ably led our judges through what was an incredibly intense but educationally enriching three days. I want to again, thank John Faris for his tireless efforts in the creation and development of our new Scoring Software, Barbershop Organiser. Thanks also to Mark Virture for his work in developing the back end integration of this software with the BHA online database. At the conclusion of the school we certified at total of 8 judges per scoring category and 5 judges in the Contest Administrator category across Australia and New Zealand. I want to thank each and every attendee at this years’ school who continue to volunteer their time for the betterment of our respective organisations. We are incredibly lucky to have our very own judging program in the pan pacific region that continues to grow and evolve as the needs of our organisations change. Our judges are at the forefront of global barbershop education and I can honestly say that the future of our music making is in very safe hands! |
The once-in-a-lifetime faculty included all four members of Crossroads , Jim Henry, Fred Farrell, Mike Slamka and Brandon Guyton together with visiting judges, and barbershop legends, David Krause, Rob Mance, Kevin Keller and Dale Comer. What a great bunch of knowledgeable and likeable guys.
The sessions were full on and started on Sunday afternoon soon after everyone had arrived at the Conference Centre and carried on until around 10.30pm each evening. The program, which was put together by Andrew Howson assisted by Dan Beckitt, included a great mix of general sessions, smaller, specialist classes and lots of personal voice instructions for both quartets and individuals. Not surprisingly, all the available personal sessions were quickly booked up with Bec Hewitt from WA stepping in to offer additional PVI’s to those who missed out on a session with one of the faculty members. For those of you who decided not to come to Harmony College because “you had heard it all before” boy! How wrong you were. All the sessions included new, interesting and stimulating ideas and discussions. Not to single out any one in particular but the voice coaching from Rob Mance and the various Chorus sessions with Jim Henry were outstanding. The social side of Harmony College was also outstanding culminating in the “Showcase” on the last evening. What a night with some brilliant and unusual performances. The duet performed by Bec Hewitt and Jo Oosterhoff left us spellbound and the one man improvisation session by Brian Martin was amazing. It was so great to also share in a reunion performance by Alliance. They showed they still have it and it was great to see these guys back together again. The best part of the evening came during the Afterglow when Crossroads sang virtually every song they knew to a spellbound late-night audience sitting on the floor around them in the foyer of the canteen. A truly magical experience. We said our farewells on Wednesday morning and went our separate ways after a fantastic three days. I am sure all those who attended will remember it for a long time. |
What a great Convention we’ve just had. Full of events and activities. The fact that everything seemed to run so smoothly was wholly due to our hard-working band of volunteers. I gave lots of accolades at the Convention to these people, but I want to put it in writing again. A big thank you to the leader of the local team, Warren Lewis, and members of Sydney Harmony, Hills Harmony and Penrith Harmony, Jerry Harris, Alex Richards, Richard Wadick, Dick Bushell, Ros Bushell, David Farley, Tony Sykes, Guy Gibson, Phillip Powell and Mal Woods. And a second big thank you to the BHA team, VP Events, Dan Millgate (overall management), Trevor Bruger – Treasurer (Finances & Contracts), Dan Beckitt - VP Marketing & Development (Marketing & Advertising), Kieran O’Dea - VP Youth Development (Deke Sharon workshop), Andrew Howson - VP Music (Harmony College), Alex Morris – AGBJ Chairman (Contests, Judges, & Judge’s School coordination), Paul Adams (Membership Awards), and Trevor Rootes – Secretary (Deke Sharon workshop). Putting on a Convention like we did in Sydney is a huge effort, and it wouldn’t have been possible to do that without the help of many other volunteers, too numerous to mention individually. Thank you all. You made a difference. Congratulations to our competitors. Without you we wouldn’t have an event like this. While there are medal and trophy winners, it is the contribution of every competitor that makes a successful Convention, so thank you all. All results are listed on the BHA website. We now look forward to the holiday season with several fund-raising opportunities singing Christmas Carols generally available, and then a break in January to plan for 2018. Coming up we have the BHA AGM in December and there will be some Motions necessary to change our BHA Constitution to bring it into line with new legislative requirements. There are also changes afoot to the National Council. I recently informed the BHA National Council of my intention not to re-contest the position of President at the end of this year. Of my 30 years membership of BHA (and AAMBS) I have been on the National Council in one capacity or another (e.g. VP Music, VP Events, President) for around 15 years – half my membership, with the four most recent years as President. I have been honoured to work alongside many others dedicated to developing BHA to the point where we now have a strong international profile, we are relevant to our modern and evolving society, and we “move with the times”. Thank you all for your support over the years. I do encourage everyone to consider nominating for some sort of leadership position, whether it be in your quartet, your Club, your region, or on the National Council. Our organisations won’t run without volunteers, and they all need you! Keep Australia (and the whole world) singing! Ian Mulholland BHA President |
It is hard to believe the PanPac is done and dusted. There were certainly many great highlights but the one that sticks in my mind the most is the welcome Gala Dinner. What a wonderful night that was. The camaraderie and bonhomie in that room on the night was positively uplifting and enjoyable. I heard later that the Kiwis are thinking of re-introducing this dinner to their future conventions because they were blown away what a great event it was. There were, of course, many other highlights, not the least of which was the gold medal performance from Vocal FX and the numerous performances by Crossroads. What a great bunch of guys! The Convention proper got underway on the Thursday in the fantastic Pyrmont Theatre within the new Sydney Convention Centre. The first and second quartet semi-final sessions were held during the day followed by that wonderful Welcome Gala dinner in the evening. With an unprecedented fifty seven quartets competing in the various competitions and categories, it was necessary to hold a third quartet semi-final session on Friday morning. Following the completion of this third session the successful quartets qualifying to compete in the finals in the evening were notified. The traditional Massed Sing was held in the Amphitheatre of Sydney’s Martin Place at midday following the third quartet semi-final. Hundreds of barbershoppers performed to the sometimes bemused and delighted lunch time crowds liberally sprinkled with “party faithful” who had come along to enjoy this rare spectacle. The appearance of Crossroads electrified the audience and almost certainly spurred on out ticket sales to the Showcase of Champions show on Saturday night. As a prelude to the chorus competition on Saturday, the Chorus Corral was held in the Pyrmont Theatre during Friday afternoon with most Choruses informally performing in front of an appreciative audience. Seventeen quartets lined up for the finals in the evening which were made up by the top ten PanPac finalists, the top ten BHA finalists and the top seven BHNZ finalists.
Full scoring details of all other medal winners and competing quartets can be found on the BHA website under the Contest Scores tab. The Chorus Competition got underway at 8.30am on Saturday morning in the much larger Darling Harbour Theatre. A total of twenty five choruses performed throughout the morning and early afternoon with Chorus sizes ranging from the largest of 42 singers down to the smallest with just 10 singers.
The highlight of all conventions is generally the Showcase of Champions on the Saturday night. The PanPac show well and truly lived up to this reputation with upwards of fifteen hundred people being treated to a wonderful show of the finest in barbershop singing culminating in a once in a lifetime performance from Crossroads. With many delegates on their way home, those remaining gathered for the farewell lunch overlooking the vibrant Darling Harbour and were again treated to excellent food, great fellowship and, yet another brilliant performance by Crossroads. For those who attended, we are sure you all enjoyed the Convention, for those of you who were unable to attend, we hope this gives you a small taste of what a great event it was and encourage to consider coming to the Adelaide Convention in 2018. The final official act of the Convention was for the Ceremonial Pitchpipe to be handed over by 2017 Convention Chairman Warren Lewis (left) to the incoming Chairman for the 2018 Adelaide Convention, Cam DuRieu. Dick Bushell - Editor |
Competitors can access their photos as follows...
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When you register at the Convention you will receive, amongst other things, your Convention booklet. you may note on Page 7 of the booklet that it states all registered delegates will receive a separate ticket to attend the Showcase of Champions on Saturday night. Please note, this is incorrect. All registered delegates are entitled to attend the Showcase of Champions just by showing their Convention name tag to the door ushers on entry to the Darling Harbour Theatre. Please also note, their will be no designated seating at this Concert. |
Please note that the Sunday Church Service was previously advertised as being held at St Andrews Cathedral in George Street Sydney, This has now been changed and the Sunday Church Service will be held at 8.30am at Scots Church which is located on the Corner of Margaret and York Streets in Sydney directly opposite Wynyard Park. Further details are as shown below. |
The John Little Show is an informal Concert, prior to the main Competition on Thursday and Friday, aimed at giving competing Quartets a chance to perform, on stage, in front of a supportive audience. This is a great opportunity for competing quartets to hone their skills and has always been a great show to watch since it was first introduced at the Perth Convention in 2013. As an added bonus, our visiting feature Quartet from the USA, Crossroads may make a brief appearance.
The John Little Show is being held this year on the Wednesday at 7.30pm in the Auditorium at Sydney Boys High School which is located at 556 Cleveland St, Moore Park. This can be reached by public transport (Light Rail/Bus) or a short taxi ride depending on where you were starting from. Sydney Boys High can be entered from both Cleveland Street and Anzac Parade. The Youth A Cappella Festival led by Deke Sharon, "the father of contemporary a cappella" is also being held at Sydney Boys High on the Tuesday and Wednesday. You could go over to the School early and catch the Concert at the end of the Youth Festival running from 4.45pm to 6.00pm (ticket required, see below). This would leave you an hour and a half to grab some dinner at one of the numerous nearby restaurants before returning for the John Little at 7.30pm. Tickets to the Youth Festival Concert can be purchased at the door. All details of the Festival can be found at www.ysihau.com. Tickets are also available from Try Booking All registered Delegates to the Pan Pac Convention are eligible to attend the John Little Show. Non Delegates can enter by payment of a donation at the door. A Great way to start the Convention!
To travel from the Darling Harbour precinct, take the Light Rail from Convention Station adjacent to the ICCS to Central Station then take a 339, 374 or 376 bus. Overall travel time should not exceed 20 minutes and cost is around $5.
To travel from the City, make your way to Museum Station and take the 396 bus. Please note: All travel on Sydney public transport is ticketless and requires all travellers to have an Opal Card pre-loaded with sufficient funds to cover the cost of the trip. Opal cards can be obtained from most Newsagents and other selected retailers. |
Some of the best and most memorable times to be had during our Conventions is when mixing and singing with your fellow barbershoppers during the Afterglow gatherings following each day's activities.
Informal arrangements have been made with the Pyrmont Bridge Hotel (see Convention map in article 1) to be the gathering point after the Welcome Gala Dinner on Thursday and the Quartet Final on Friday. No dedicated area has been allocated but we are assured ample room will be available for us on the 1st floor Terrace. They have also offered to discount drinks to anyone wearing a Convention Name tag. On the Saturday evening, after the Showcase of Champions, a bar will be open in the foyer of the Darling Harbour Theatre. |
Most of the main Convention venues are within easy walking distance from one another. The following map shows the general Darling Harbour precinct. Please note, the walking distance and times indicated are from the International Convention Centre The only venue not covered in the above map is the Grand Hall at Sydney Boys High School which is where the John Little Quartet Show is being held on the Wednesday evening following the Youth A Cappella Festival on the Tuesday and Wednesday. (See the separate article on this show and venue.) USEFUL LINKS | |
For more information, see: | www.barbershopconvention.org.au |
The Massed Sing is always a feature at all Barbershop Conventions but none more so that at the Sydney Pan Pacs with the Massed Sing taking place right in the heart of Sydney in the Amphi Theatre at Martin Place at 12.30pm on the Friday. (See location map in previous article) A feature will be an appearance by the visiting feature quartet from the USA, Crossroads,
Each of the songs to be sung is listed below and will be directed by one of our very own Chorus Music Directors.
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For more information, see: | www.barbershopconvention.org.au |
Final arrangements are currently being made to facilitate webcast viewing of the major Convention Events as listed below : Live Viewing Quartet Contest - Session 1 A$10 Quartet Contest - Session 2 A$10 Quartet Contest - Session 3 A$10 All Quartet Contest Sessions A$20 Chorus Contest A$30 Showcase of Champions A$35 All of the above A$49 Delayed Viewing For Delegates only, available from 5 October A$29 Visit the Convention Website closer to the event time for details on how to view these webcasts |
If you are not singing with a Chorus we are looking for singers who would like to sing for the chorus sound check on Saturday morning. Would you like the chance to sing on the contest stage? Those who are not singers in a competing chorus are encouraged to gather at 8:25am Saturday in the Darling Harbour Theatre for the sound check before the chorus competition. One of the songs sung during the Massed Sing will be chosen. Please email Vicki Donnelly ve_donnelly@bigpond.com if you are able to assist advising your name & contact details.
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Please ensure that you have all read the the relevant Contest Rules and the Contestant Information for Choruses and Quartets distributed to your respective Convention Representatives. If you have not yet seen this information it can be viewed on the Convention Website. Evaluation schedules will be confirmed with contestants closer to the time with venue details. | |
For more information, see: | www.barbershopconvention.org.au |
SYDNEY A CAPPELLA FESTIVAL – OPEN TO ALL BHA MEMBERS The Sydney A Cappella Festival lead by Deke Sharon is open to everyone. There may be a misconception that it is a youth only event. This article is to confirm that the Festival is open to all BHA members - youth, adults, all chorus and quartet singers, music directors and and music teams. And of course, all BHA friends and supporters. During the two days, Tuesday and Wednesday of convention week, there are classes and workshops lead by Deke Sharon, the “father of contemporary a cappella”. The details are at the FESTIVAL WEBSITE. Festival Session Times Tuesday and Wednesday 9.30am – 12.30pm 1.30pm – 3.30pm You can come for a day or both days. Day tickets are available at www.trybooking.com/251208. Morning and afternoon session tickets are available at the door. Prices are very reasonable. Festival Concert - Wednesday pm Delegates should definitely plan to attend the Wednesday 4.45pm – 6.00pm. It promises to be an outstanding concert with a number of a cappella groups who have participated in the Festival. We also expect to have some special guests. BHA is sponsoring the Festival. Please make a commitment to participate for some time in the Festival, or to attend the Festival Concert. Where: Sydney Boys’ High School, Cleveland Street, Moore Park, Surry Hills, NSW 2010.
A taxi fare to/from the city is around $15. |
One of the many benefits of our Barbershop hobby is that when we travel, we are able to visit the rehearsals of our fellow Barbershop groups whilst travelling. I have been travelling throughout Europe and have found most groups are only too happy to host foreign visitors. It is not always easy to get to a rehearsal however, for various reasons. It is of course courtesy to request permission and like in Australia, a reply is not always prompt enough to take advantage of your travel window. Just as in Australia, groups have competition and performance priorities and may cancel a rehearsal as a result. I had received permission to join choruses in Rotterdam and East Ealing but without a car at that time and not being familiar with routes I was not able to attend. However, when all circumstances favourably aligned I was able to get to the rehearsal of Major Oaks Chorus in Nottingham led capably by MD Andy Salter. The joy at being able to sing alongside fellow ‘barbershoppers’ for at least part of the rehearsal was a wonderful experience. The camaraderie and hospitality was first class with a little gentle ribbing coming my way and of course returned in good humour. To know that my joy at being there was also shared by the men enjoying my presence and in conversation later at the pub. I believe I had not only opened my eyes to these opportunities but also the eyes of some of the men of Major Oak Chorus. A few expressed an interest in visiting a chorus in Australia so if you have some visitors please make them welcome! |
BHA Club of the Year Award, and Chorus Member of the Year Award With so much great work happening throughout our organisation we need to take every opportunity to recognise the clubs and individuals that are leading the way for Barbershop in Australia. In this spirit we encourage every club in BHA to participate via the BHA Club of the Year, and Chorus Member of the Year.
BHA Club of the Year We are justifiably proud of the efforts made by all clubs to promote the objectives of Barbershop within Australia. Designed to recognise those clubs at the forefront of these efforts, the BHA Club of the Year is an annual award, coordinated by the Vice President Membership and adjudicated by a special Committee of representatives appointed by the BHA Council.
The BHA Club of the Year Award is assessed against a wide range of criteria that speak to the impact clubs have for their members and communities, and the demonstrated excellence in the many functions that drive successful outcomes.
Full details on the process for nomination has been sent to each club, so if you think your club has lead from the front and supported Barbershop in Australia by those efforts, speak to your club committee about putting in a nomination.
Full details are available from the BHA Executive Officer, Jeannie Hattendorf (admin@barbershop.org.au), and nominations must be received by close of business on Friday 8th September, 2017.
Chorus Member of the Year
All Clubs appreciate having committed members who are willing to go the extra mile, and the "Chorus Member of the Year" is a timely opportunity for Clubs to show the tremendous gratitude that we have for those who tirelessly contribute to the success of every Club.
This important acknowledgement is designed to allow Clubs throughout BHA to take an opportunity to more publicly recognise a member for outstanding service and accomplishments as a member of your Club and as a member of Barbershop Harmony Australia. The criteria for the selection of their Chorus Member of the Year is up to each Club to determine.
We encourage every club to nominate their Chorus Member of the Year to enable each member to be acknowledged at the Welcome Dinner, where those present will be asked to stand up to accept the well-deserved recognition of their fellow barbershoppers.
This person’s name and a brief description of their efforts should be forwarded to the BHA Executive Officer, Jeannie Hattendorf (admin@barbershop.org.au), also by Friday 8th September, 2017.
BHA continues to review our overall recognition frameworks and we are looking to enhance this area in the next 12 months with further exciting initiatives that will be the subject of consultation with members later this year.
I look forward to seeing you in Sydney. Paul Adams Vice President - Membership |
The BHA National Council is pleased to announce an exciting addition to the BHA recognition framework that includes Chorus Member of the Year, Club of the Year and Life Membership. A new addition to our recognition framework The BHA Medal recognises an individual’s exemplary contribution to the advancement of barbershop in Australia. The award is made for sustained outstanding leadership, innovation, influence or initiative development, which has resulted in an exemplary, transparent and publicly evident advancement of BHA. It will be awarded to a current BHA member in good standing who has consistently “put in” for barbershop, to be recognised nationally for the sustained contribution the nominee has done for the organisation, chorus, quartet, community, friends or behind the scenes. In limited circumstances, individuals may also be considered for nomination whilst no longer an active member due to retirement on the basis of incapacity. The award is kindly sponsored by Derek Cosburn, who said “Since my first introduction to barbershop singing at Dreamworld in about 1981-2, I have been the recipient of a quite a few medals during the time I’ve been involved and I have, for a number of years, had the thought that I’d like to give back in some small way. I would like to help in the promotion of a medal that I’d hope would have some meaning to the recipient, and to all members within our society who may not attain one through singing, but deserve one because of other efforts.” Nomination for the BHA Medal must be made in writing and may come from individual BHA members, Regional or Club Committees. Nominations will be assessed by a subcommittee of BHA members appointed by the BHA Council, and when awarded the BHA Medal will be presented at the next available national convention. Full details have been emailed to all BHA members but are also available below. These nominations must be received by the BHA Executive Officer, Jeannie Hattendorf (admin@barbershop.org.au), by close of business on Friday 8th September, 2017. A Life Member may be nominated for the BHA Medal, as the criteria used to award the Life Membership are not the same used to award the BHA Medal. Life membership still remains BHA’s highest honour and award. The BHA Council wishes to thank Derek Cosburn for his contribution in proposing the concept and ongoing support in bringing the award to fruition. | |||
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We recently had a very successful membership drive with 20 fresh faces on day one converting to 10 people auditioning to join our chorus after the five week programme.
The first night was nearly overwhelming with as many new singers as regular members in attendance! This is a significantly better result than our efforts in prior years and I thought it appropriate to share some of the thinking and planning behind our programme this year which may be of benefit to other groups. Social media is potentially an attractive platform for advertising but it will miss a lot of folk who don’t use facebook and twitter etc. That doesn’t mean social media isn’t useful but based on the feedback from the new guys, we got more results from our advertising with the corflutes (road signs) we had printed. Regarding the corflutes, here’s a few tips we think got us bang for buck:
We have tried free programmes as recommended by the BHS Ready, Set, Sing! programme with limited success in prior years. I believe one of the reasons we get a different result in Australia from the USA is that a greater percentage of men attend church in the USA and sing at sporting games and are therefore more used to singing in public, whereas men singing publicly in Australia tends to be limited to shouting along to a band with a few drinks under the belt. We chose to make the first night free and then charged $40 for the remaining four weeks. The thinking behind this is that a typical Aussie will see an advertisement for free lessons or a free show and think ‘hmm it’s gotta be pretty ordinary for it to be free’. Charging money raises the ‘Perceived Value’ of what is being offered and seems to have attracted some better singers for us. We made the first night free as the first round of winnowing out those that were not likely to be capable of continuing and give people an opportunity to opt out if they decided it wasn’t for them. This is also important as dragging someone through a programme where they will clearly not be successful at the end doesn’t help anyone. Our musical director Dan Bennett chose an a cappella ballad in three parts and an upbeat polecat as the songs to be taught over the programme. Barbershop was mentioned only in passing to explain the different voice parts and to explain some of the awesome sound produced as the guys locked and rang some chords. Many of the experienced new singers had not heard this in their previous singing experience. We took the time to follow up with each new person each week to ensure the programme was meeting their expectations. We had some drop away after the first night but around 15 people continued with the chargeable part of the programme. This was a nice bit of chorus revenue which covered our advertising costs. In the fifth week we put on a show for family and friends. We fleshed it out to 60 minutes including performances by the chorus, three quartets and, of course, two songs with our new members. The audience seemed very appreciative of the great singing and also of seeing their loved ones perform. We ended up with around ten men auditioning to continue with the chorus. So far five have passed audition, some have been unsuccessful and more in progress. And yes, they know they’re joining a barbershop chorus! I hope this helps you get more people on the risers! Cheers Peter Enzerink Canberra Chordsmen | |||
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Sound Connection participated in the BHS International Convention in July. The convention took place in Las Vegas, across the Planet Hollywood, Paris and Bally’s casinos. The lead up to Convention was exciting enough as we had members coming from all over the USA and directly from Australia on the Monday and Tuesday. Many members had taken advantage of the school holidays and did some exploring prior to Convention, while the balance of the chorus arrived on the same flight, with the same connections. Well, that was the plan. The plane from Australia arrived late into LAX and everyone missed their connecting flights. Some were squeezed onto slightly later flights, some waited nearly 12 hours and some took the opportunity to hire a car and do a road trip! After all the excitement getting into Las Vegas we were looking forward to getting into town and relaxing until our performance. That never really happened. Las Vegas is complete madness and the buzz associated with an International Convention is huge. All of the stars from the world of barbershop are there, along with thousands of Joe Barbershoppers (like us) and there is always something on. When there’s nothing on, there are tags. And then the sun comes up and you need to get some sleep before the daily rehearsal session. In the end we didn’t put on the performance we hoped to. The whole week took most of us back to that feeling you had when you attended your first BHA National Convention. We walked on stage, the lights, the buzz and the thousands of faces were waiting for us. We blinked and it was over. Despite initially being a little disappointed that we didn’t do our best, the overall feeling was one of real gratitude for the opportunity and a burning desire to come back and taste that experience again. I’m sure that every single one of our members would recommend a trip to the International Convention for anybody that loves barbershop music, or indeed anyone that just loves music. Apart from everything else that happens at Convention, the consistent level of performance is something to be seen and heard. The passion, emotion and intensity in some of the performances has to be seen live. We would like to thank all of those that helped to get us to Las Vegas and we look forward to someday doing it again. We’d also like to thank our barbershop brothers Ian, Dan, Rob, Richard and Darin for singing with us on the risers in Las Vegas. David Reid – President
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The big news, if you haven’t heard it, is that Blindside, our 2016 BHA National Champion Quartet finished 3rd in the BHS International Youth Quartet contest and 22nd overall in the BHS International Open Quartet contest. The best results by a BHA quartet so far! A big shout out to The Blenders chorus who have supported Blindside over the years, and continue to do so. Our other Open quartet contestant at International, Lockout, also did a fine job, and they introduced two great new songs into the barbershop repertoire, which were highly regarded by everyone in the audience. Congratulations also to Sound Connection who competed for the first time on the international stage. As I said in my last report, I was honoured to be asked to compete with Sound Connection. As one of the top 30 choruses in the world they can be very proud, and it was a fantastic experience for everyone involved. We really have put Australian barbershop on the international map, and I am so proud to have been a part of this. Every single competitor we had at International was a tremendous ambassador for BHA. Closer to home, our Pan Pac Convention in Sydney in September is fast approaching. I encourage you all to attend. Not only will you be seeing and hearing the best quartets and choruses in Australia, but also New Zealand and Japan will be there. We’ve had enquiries from further abroad and we hope there will be a real “international” feel to Pan Pac. Make every effort to get there and be part of it. A short list of the events: John Little Show, Welcome Dinner, Quartet Semi-Final, Chorus Corral, Quartet Final, Chorus Contest, Showcase Concert, Church Service, BHA Forum, and Farewell Lunch. And of course, our International Champion headline quartet Crossroads! Harmony University then comes straight after Convention, and will be a superb three-day education event also not to be missed. As is our tradition, we will be presenting membership awards at the Welcome Dinner to the Convention. These include pins to 25-year members, the prestigious Club of the Year Award, Club Man of the Year Award (for each Club), and a new award called the BHA Medal (see article elsewhere in this newsletter). Keep Australia (and the whole world) singing! Ian Mulholland BHA President |
Chorus Corral (similar to the World Harmony Jamboree) is a chance for around 16 attending choruses to perform before the big contest in a friendly, informal atmosphere. The Chorral will be held on Friday 29 September 2017 starting at 2pm in the Pyrmont Theatre at the International Convention Centre. Choruses who wish to participate in this event should now send an Expression of Interest to the BHA President, Ian Mulholland at president@barbershop.org.au Preference will first be given to choruses who have not previously won a medal at BHA contest. There are places for 15 choruses to perform - 10 minute performance time slot. Get in quick! |
Registrations for the Pan Pacific Convention need to close well prior to the actual Convention dates to enable catering and logistics to be finalised. If you have not already registered there is only just over a week left so don't miss out. Registrations, which close on Wednesday 6 September 2017, can be made through the Convention website or by clicking directly on this link. |
There will be two chorus rehearsal rooms available for use by competing choruses on Thursday 28 and Friday 29 September.
Both rooms will be fully equiped with seven sets of four step risers and will be available for use from 8am to 5pm each day in 1 hour blocks of time (plus a 10 minute changeover time). It is expected these rooms will be in high demand and time allocations will need to be fairly distributed amongst the Australian, New Zealand and Japanese Choruses who want to make use of them. Each Chorus requesting the use of one of these rooms will be allocated a one hour session although it can't be assured that your requested time will be available. Every effort will be made to allocate a time as close as possible to your requested time. If a second session is desired, these will be allocated once all choruses, who have requested a time, have been allocated their first hour. Any times still available after the two rounds of allocations will be advertised on the Convention website and will be available on a first-come basis Cost for these rooms will be $100 per one hour slot payable directly to BHA. To apply for the use of one of these rehearsal rooms please email Dick Bushell on dickbushell804@gmail.com indicating your requirements and preference for times. PLEASE NOTE : We are aware that some choruses have already indicated their requirements but it would be appreciated if you would resubmit any requests made prior to this notification to make sure everyone covered. Applications will close on the 31 August with the final time allocations advised soon their after. |
Convention merchandise is now available for ordering from the Convention website. Head to the Merchandise tab of the Convention website and order away! Please note, to allow time for manufacturing, no further orders will be received after Wednesday 6 September 2017. Sydney Convention T-shirt - A$25.00 |
Congratulations to all quartets who have qualified through our Regional contests for the Pan Pac Convention in Sydney in September. To those who missed out, my sincere commiserations. I’m sure our expert judging panels have given all groups plenty of “food for thought” of what things to work on going forward so that you can enjoy your signing even more. It was a busy time for your scribe, being involved in three quartets and one chorus. I know there are other members who possibly sing in more groups, and I know how exhausting it can be sometimes – but it’s all great fun right? I am honoured to have been asked to sing as a guest with our champion chorus, Sound Connection, in next month’s International contest in Las Vegas. They have picked some challenging, but wonderful songs, and I’m sure they’ll do extremely well (despite my singing). I also extend every member’s best wishes to our two competing quartets, Blindside (competing in Youth and Open) and Lockout (competing in Open). We know you will do well, and come back full of new ideas and information to share. And then it won’t be long to our Pan Pac Convention in Sydney in September. Our delegate numbers are strong, and we thank you all for supporting the Convention, which can be a nervous time for your National Council hoping that the member numbers stack up and we don’t lose money. The Convention business these days is big bucks. You’ll be interested to know that we expect turn-over of around $300,000. Don’t forget to sign up for Harmony University straight after the Convention. The teaching faculty, including the members of Crossroads, are amongst the world’s finest. You will learn so much and have such a good time. How can you even consider missing it? Elsewhere in this newsletter there is a report on the feedback we received regarding the chorus category contests (currently done by size). There was quite a divergence of responses, so the Council will keep thinking about this issue before any action is taken. Your Secretary and I have been working on re-casting our Constitution to meet the requirements of the new Act. Soon we’ll have a draft out for members to review and eventually vote on. Keep Australia (and the whole world) singing! Ian Mulholland BHA President |
Make your Sydney Convention experience complete by participating in the A Cappella Festival conducted by BHA, for some time during the Tuesday and Wednesday of Convention week. There are classes and workshops all led by Deke Sharon, the “father of contemporary A Cappella”. The details are at the FESTIVAL WEBSITE. The Festival is open to everyone – youth, students, adults, singers in choirs and ensembles, music directors and music teachers. And of course all BHA members and friends. Each day, there are three sessions (10.00am – 12noon, 1.00pm – 3.00pm, 4.00pm – 6.00pm). Each session includes classes lead by Deke, as well as a chance for groups to receive feed back from Deke. He will also work with ensembles and choirs to help refine their sound. You can come for a day or both days. Day tickets are available at www.trybooking.com/251208. . Session tickets will be available at the door each day. Delegates should definitely plan to attend the Wednesday 4.00pm – 6.00pm session which happens just before the John Little Show, at the same venue – Sydney Boys High School. (There are lots of nearby venues for dinner before the John Little Show at 7.30pm). Please have a look at the FESTIVAL WEBSITE. Make a commitment now to join in the BHA sponsored Sydney A Cappella Festival for some time during Convention week. |
Entry for the Pan Pacific, BHA & BHNZ contests are now available online. We are introducing a new contest management system that requires all entries to be completed on-line by one representative member of each quartet or chorus. This will include nominating songs that are going to be sung, confirmation of the members of a quartet and, in the case of a chorus, those members who will be singing on stage. A link to the contest entry website can be found in the Convention website https://www.barbershopconvention.com.au under the 2017 Convention tab or by entering http://contests.barbershop.org.au directly into your browser. One very important matter that must be attended to before entries can be completed is that all singers listed in the quartet / chorus must be registered as convention delegates. (Chorus lists can be added to up until Sept 1st) BHA and BHNZ Quartets who have qualified, are eligible to enter the relevant contests as per qualification. Entry into a PanPac contest section, will automatically also enter you into the relevant BHA or BHNZ contest (eg entry in the Pan Pac Open Quartet will automatically include the BHA or BHNZ quartet competitions. There is a couple of steps you need to be aware of as you commence the entry process. You will need to set up a username and password on the contests website. This is separate from either the BHA or BHNZ websites or from the main part of the convention website. You will be asked for your surname, BH membership ID and the email address with which you are registered on either the BHA or BHNZ websites. You pick the username and password for use on the Contests website. In the case of BHA members, the BH membership ID is your BHA membership ID. For BHNZ members, it is the User ID for the BHNZ website + 100000. For those from outside New Zealand or Australia, it has been generated from the convention delegate list and has no other meaning. BHA members should know their BHA ID, but those from outside Australia are welcome to contact Linda Vinall (calinda@internode.on.net) or John Faris (jgf@avmed.org.nz) for their BH member ID. Please note that your surname, BH member ID and the email address registered with your BHA membership, BHNZ membership or, in the case of those from outside New Zealand or Australia, their main convention registration, must all match. Usernames cannot contain spaces. Passwords must be at least 8 characters in length and contain at least one upper case letter, one lower case letter and a digit. Once you have selected the submit button to request a login, you will be notified that you have been sent an email to allow you to complete the user account registration process. Click on the link in the email to do so. Once the account is established, return to the login screen and proceed with the entry process. The online system is designed so that anyone on any device or platform can complete the entry. You will be emailed a confirmation which will include printable documents. Whilst you are able to print them you do not need to send them onto the relevant CA. At the convention, the CA briefing you will countersign this paper work (provided by the CA’s). An automated receipt of entry is sent to designated CA's at the same time you receive your confirmation email.
Once the entries close, a draw will be completed and communicated on the website. Further details will be emailed to the individual who has submitted the entry on behalf of the quartet / chorus. Further help on the registration process is available on the Contests website under the About menu.
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For those of you who have been fortunate enough to see the Tokyo Barbers Chorus perform previously, you will need no reminder on what a fantastic and entertaining bunch of guys they are. For those of you who have not yet had this pleasure, you are in for a treat because they are coming to Sydney to participate in the 2017 Pan Pac Convention. Aside from being the most delightful guys you could ever hope to meet, their performances are always unique and enjoyable. Don't miss out on meeting and seeing this terrific Chorus. |
Late in April, a paper regarding Chorus Size and Contest Scores was distributed to all members. Discussion centred around small, medium and large chorus awards or alternatively grade based awards. Responses were received until June 3. Attached is a copy of the original paper, also a summary of members' responses. While there was support for a grade-based system, there was also significant support for maintaining the status quo. The BHA National Council will continue to consider this issue and will take no action this year to change the current system. | |||
Attachment: |
Late in April, a paper regarding Chorus Size and Contest Scores was distributed to all members. Discussion centred around small, medium and large chorus awards or alternatively grade based awards. Responses were received until June 3. Attached is a summary of members' responses. While there was support for a grade-based system, there was also significant support for maintaining the status quo. The BHA National Council will continue to consider this issue and will take no action this year to change the current system. | |||
Attachment: |
For more information, see: | sydneyonbusiness.com.au/ |
Our panel of BHA and BHNZ judges have finished reviewing all the entries for the Pan-Pacific Medal Design Contest and the results are in! After much deliberation we can announce that the recipient of two VIP registrations to the 2017 Pan-Pacific contest in Sydney is Avery Vaughn! Avery's design will now go through some final tweaking before it is sent off to the medal producers to become a part of Barbershop Harmony Australia and Barbershop Harmony New Zealand history. Congratulations Avery! |
As we enter our “season” of regional contests, it’s a busy time for Australian barbershoppers. There will be Regional contests held in Sunshine, Central, Victorian, Eastern and Western Regions, held as qualifying contests for our National contest in September to be held at the Pan Pacific Convention in Sydney. A big vote of thanks to our judges and CA’s, and of course Chairman of Judges Alex Morris, for making this all happen so seamlessly. I had the honour to be a judge at the recent Central Region contest in Adelaide. The preparation and performance of the quartets and choruses was impressive! All groups were eager to receive feedback from judges, and successful workshops were also held, making it a fabulous weekend of barbershop for all involved. My view is that the whole build up to contest encourages your group to work harder, with some focus, and that’s a good thing. You can be motivated to rehearse and you have a goal. Successful people and teams have goals. They make practical and achievable plans to reach their goals. A great example of this happened last year when my chorus, Vocal Evolution, was planning its contest songs for Newcastle. We had chosen our songs earlier in the year and even performed them at International. Then, 3 weeks out from Newcastle we finally got word that the copyright permission for our up-tune had not been granted. It was a major setback and a crisis. Instead of complaining and whingeing about this (which we were probably entitled to do), we just accepted it and got straight into planning an alternative. We didn’t have another contest up-tune in our repertoire that we could just slot in. So our Music Team got mobilised. Lots of emails began flying about and lots of ideas. What could we do? A key point was that every comment was positive. Within 24 hours a plan had evolved. We’d use an up tempo song that we had been working on and make it a parody about copyright. It came together in about 2 days. Everyone contributed, some ideas were cast aside, no egos were involved, and we had our new contest song. We had the music ready to send to the guys on Friday and by Monday’s rehearsal everyone showed up knowing it. It was a triumph of planning, effort and coordination. This is a great example of how to positively approach a contest. That experience has drawn our chorus even closer together than we were. We all shared that adversity and we all stood up to it, and made a plan to conquer it. Next time your contest score is lower than you think it should have been, just think about making a plan to ensure that next time it will be higher. Get advice from the judges and execute a good plan. We’re all here to help you. If your group doesn’t go to contest I think you are missing out on a lot. Sure, you may not be able to afford or undertake the travel to National contest, but you can go along to your Regional contest and get just as much out of it. You can set some goals, learn some songs, learn more about barbershop, and share your love of our hobby with others in your Region. Give it a go! Our BHA Music VP, Andrew Howson, has assembled an impressive national education faculty (NEF), and it is Council’s plan to roll out educator visits to every Club and chorus during the next year. It won’t cost you anything except perhaps a billet of the coach for a night to so while they are visiting. Apart from that the NEF members are donating their time for free. Watch out for this new initiative, which has been a great success in the Sweet Adelines organisation. Youth members I’m sure are looking forward to the Deke Sharon workshops in Sydney in September with great anticipation. After all, Deke is world famous, and we’re so lucky to have him coming out to run two days of workshops in modern A Cappella singing. Deke is also a Life member of the Barbershop Harmony Society, so he knows barbershop too! BHA Secretary Trevor Rootes, and BHA Youth VP Kieran O’Dea are organising Deke’s visit, so if you have any questions please drop them a line. There is a huge amount of planning and effort going into the Pan Pacific Convention in Sydney, and I want to thank BHA Events VP Dan Millgate, and local organising coordinator Warren Lewis (and his team) for the fantastic effort they are putting in. When you see them in Sydney please make a special effort to thank them. Good luck in the coming contests to all, and I hope to see as many of you as possible in Sydney in September! Sing-cerely, Ian Mulholland President |
HarmonySite, the easiest to use chorus-management tool in the world, is going from strength to strength. Recent sign-ups include Toronto Northern Lights and A Cappella Showcase (current Harmony Inc champions), as well as dozens of BHS and SAI choruses in North America and the UK. The latest release is out, with dozens of improvements.
What is HarmonySite, you ask? It's a gorgeous, mobile-ready website for your chorus, plus a comprehensive chorus and member-management system, plus a full member communications suite (emails, mailing lists and SMS). Most of the choruses in BHA use HarmonySite already, and can attest to how easy it is to use, and how much it reduces the admin overhead within a typical club. BHA itself uses HarmonySite, for its website and member database, fully integrated with the HarmonySites of each club in the country. It even powers the convention website. BHA is keen to get every club in Australia using HarmonySite, to further reduce the workload of each club's admin team, and the admin team of BHA itself. For more information, visit www.harmonysite.com, or contact Mark Virtue on 0411 170517, or mark@harmonysite.com |
Tony Sykes from Sydney Harmony contributed to an online story about Barbershop Quartet Day which was published recently on the Australian news & opinion website The Big Smoke. It includes videos of quartets Signature and Ringmasters and Blindside gets a mention.
Here is the link: http://thebigsmoke.com.au/
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A reminder to all members that if you are purchasing items from the BHS Shop (music, clothing, audio, merchandise, books etc) you are entitled to a 25% discount off the retail price. Just enter the 2017 Affiliate Discount Code - 2017AFF25 - at checkout for your discount. See their full range at http://shop.barbershop.org/ |
Barbershop Harmony Australia (BHA) is starting up a new program to send skilled individuals to every club once a year to aid our choruses in developing their skills musically, vocally, in performance as well as offering organisational guidance and mentoring. We want to be able to touch base with our members and provide a forum to engage with BHA leadership. This group of individuals will be known as the Education Faculty and the visit will be of no cost to your club. Like any coach coming to visit, you will need to provide food, accommodation and transport for the duration of the visit. The Education Faculty Program has been run for many years, very successfully, by Sweet Adeline’s International. We want to take advantage of this great initiative and run this program as well. We look forward to giving our members more opportunity to engage with BHA leadership and provide easy access to more education. This program will also allow us to gather information from the membership that will provide us with much needed data to help the BHA Council devise outstanding events for the membership. Before we can get started on sending Education Faculty to our clubs, the council needs to develop the Education Faculty team. If you are interested in giving back to our organisation and think you have something to offer this team, we are now taking applications. Simply click on this link and fill out the online application form for the BHA Education Faculty. You will need to also email your Music Resume to music@barbershop.org.au. All applicants will need to meet the following criteria:
The deadline for receiving applications will be on the 31st March 2017. In Harmony, Andrew Howson Vice President, Music Barbershop Harmony Australia www.barbershop.org.au |
The 2017 Pan-Pacific Convention website is now open and ready to accept registrations for both the Convention and the Harmony University which will immediately follow the Convention.
This promises to be one of the most exciting Barbershop Conventions and Harmony Universities ever held in the region. Aside from the anticipated high level of performances and the rare fellowship opportunities it will provide, highlights will also include the amazing, just completed, performance venue and the exciting Darling Harbour precinct surrounding the centre. In addition to the Pan-Pac competition, both BHA and BHNZ will be concurrently holding their respective National Competitions including Australian and New Zealand open, seniors, mixed and youth barbershop choruses and quartets all sharing the same stage in a series of competitions promising to be the most inclusive convention ever. How about jumping online now and registering? Oh, and by the way, don't forget to check out the great accommodation on offer. Don't leave it to the last minute and find all the good locations booked out. | |
For more information, see: | www.barbershopconvention.com.au |
Dear Barbershoppers, I would like to remind everybody that a Memorial service for Linc Abbott is scheduled for this coming Saturday, March 18th at 2.30pm. Metropolitan Funeral, 224 Newnham Road, Mt Gravatt. The family has asked that the gathered barbershoppers sing 2 x 2 sets of songs during the service with three of the songs being Linc's arrangements of: "I Still Call Australia Home", "The Irish Blessing" and "My Country" and the fourth one of Linc's favourite polecats "Shine On Me" Thank you to all who have provided material for the audio visual presentation to play during the memorial. If there are any more contributions of video footage or scanned photo/clippings, as time is running out, please send to my email as soon as possible and I will forward it on. Kind Regards, Steve Griffin |
This contest is now closed. A big thank you to all entrants in the Design a Medal contest, and congratulations to AVERY VAUGHN, the winner of a free VIP double registration to the 2017 Pan-Pacific contest and convention in Sydney, 28 September 2017 to 1 October 2017. |
This contest is now closed.
A big thank you to all entrants in the Design a Medal contest, and congratulations to AVERY VAUGHN, the winner of a free VIP double registration to the 2017 Pan-Pacific contest and convention in Sydney, 28 September 2017 to 1 October 2017. |
Recently the BHA National Council (the “Council”) met for its annual face to face meeting, this time in Adelaide, so that the facilities for the 2018 Convention could be inspected. All Councillors attended and a wide ranging discussion was had. Key points are listed below.
The Council encourages comments and input from members on any of the topics discussed, or even not discussed. Please contact the Secretary with your input. The meeting began with a Strategy Discussion, with a number of questions considered: WHAT is Barbershop Harmony Australia?
HOW can we most effectively promote BHA? Strong clubs with strong musical leadership underpin our organisation and are the conduit for:
BHA National Council Guiding Principles:
The key outcome from all of this is that the Club is our most important conduit to new members and communication with members. Our chorus music directors are incredibly important, not only in guiding our music, but attracting and retaining members.
We then discussed initiatives in the various portfolios. The Secretary noted that he mostly receives communications from Clubs and members regarding renewal of membership and re-registration of quartets etc. There seems to be a lack of understanding of the process involved (although the forms are all on the BHA website). One possible cause could be the annual turn-over of Club Secretaries, with the incoming person not familiar with the process, and not receiving guidance from the outgoing Secretary. Quartets too, do not seem to understand the need to re-register each year. Members, Clubs and quartets who do not re-register are not covered for insurance or performing rights, and are not eligible to participate in BHA affairs, including contests. Re-registering with BHA every year is essential. The other issue we considered were the dates of the membership year. Currently these are 1 October to 30 September, but most Clubs operate on an annual basis, so a calendar year would make more sense. Under Membership we considered communication issues that seem to continue. Despite Council’s best efforts, via this newsletter, it seems many of our members do not bother to read it. It potentially leads to a misunderstanding of what your Council does for you. While we occasionally undertake surveys of members to get feedback, we now also plan to undertake a process whereby each Councillor will contact three or four Clubs to discuss your issues and your ideas. That will roll out sometime in the next month or two. We also want to help Clubs with access to contemporary repertoire, assist those Clubs who feel they have inadequate structures and processes for promoting membership, and we want to encourage clubs to help each other more. Marketing is all about communication, with Clubs and with the public. Some of you will have noticed the new format for our bi-monthly newsletter, In Harmony. Apparently the format has not suited everyone, but we do feel it has been well received by the majority of members. Addressing member communications and noting that many members still do not appear to read In Harmony, it was decided that:
We are also getting very active on social media, but a number of “unofficial” Facebook pages have sprung up, all representing BHA, and these need to be amalgamated into the one page. We will also undertake an upgrade of our BHA website to make it more user-friendly. HarmonySite continues to be an excellent platform for our Clubs, especially since it shares information with the BHA website, therefore minimising Club secretarial work in maintaining membership records. BHA continues to support and recommend HarmonySite to Clubs. Another marketing issue discussed was building our archive and promoting our brand through media such as YouTube. BHS is now doing this very successfully. Many of our early Conventions were recorded on video, so these will be digitised and displayed on BHA’s own YouTube channel. Finally, our external communications need to have pertinent messages that describe who we are and what we do. The Council brainstormed some ideas on this, including: “fun, changing men’s singing culture, inclusiveness, men’s health benefits, contemporary music, inspiring music, benefits of barbershop in every school, Australia’s most recognizable music/vocal organisation, it’s cool to be a barbershopper”. If you have any ideas to add, please send them through! In the Events portfolio, we are very squarely focussed on the forthcoming Pan Pac Convention and Harmony University in Sydney in September. The Convention will be preceded by two days of workshops with Deke Sharon, the “father” of modern a cappella singing. These workshops will be open and free to all BHA Youth members. BHA full members can purchase tickets for the two days for $50. The Council considered and approved the Convention program and budget. Key points are: Dates: Thursday 28 September to Sunday 1 October 2017 Venue: International Convention Centre Sydney (ICCS) Registration Cost: Early Bird (by 31 May 2017) $360 delegate, $340 partner Full (after 31 May 2017) $420 delegate, $400 partner No Youth discount because of the free Deke Sharon workshops There are many hotels in the Darling Harbour district of Sydney and a list of these can be found here www.darlingharbour.com/stay/. The “headquarters” hotel will be the Oaks Goldsborough. Our Welcome Gala event is included in registration, and will be held at the fabulous Doltone House, a short 10 minute walk from the ICCS. At this stage only delegates and partner delegates will be able to attend the Welcome Gala. There may be separate ticketing available later, but that will depend on delegate numbers. Our Harmony University will be held at the Naamaroo Conference Centre in Lan Cove, close to the city. Details are: Dates: Sunday 1 to Wednesday 4 October 2017 Venue: Naamaroo Conference Centre, Lane Cove Registration Cost: $340 per person After Sydney, our next Conventions will be Adelaide (2018) and Hobart (2019). The next Pan Pac will be in Auckland in 2020. The Council continues to be concerned about the Regional Contest weekends being held. Some involve an educational component but others do not. Providing the judges for these events is a major item in our annual budget, and these educators have agreed to be available for educational workshops. It is clearly the best use of member’s funds if an educational event is attached. A review of the current regional structure is planned to determine if it is the most sensible and efficient way to run these events, and the local affairs of BHA in the regions. In the Contest area, we voted to bring us into accord with the other world Affiliates by changing the rule for mixed quartets from a two and two (“2 + 2”) male/female mix to a three and one (“3 + 1”) male/female mix. This will allow our BHNZ contestants to join in the Pan Pac mixed quartet contest. We will review this rule for National contests in 2018 and 2019 after the Pan Pac contest. Rules of mixed choruses (i.e. 60/40) will still apply. Our triennial judge training school will take place in Sydney from Sunday 24 to Tuesday 26 September. This school re-trains and certifies our existing judges as well as new candidates who have been in training programs for a year or more. Participation is by invitation only. Contact the Chairman of Judges for more information. We continue to have great aspirations in the Music education portfolio. Last year we offered some scholarships to Harmony College, and these will continue. We will re-brand our college as Harmony University, and offer five (5) scholarships (worth $340 each) to members to attend. We are also offering five (5) Harmony University scholarships (worth $340 each) to school music teachers who undertake to use barbershop music as part of their school learning program. Application forms will soon be available on the BHA website. A new initiative to be brought in this year will be the establishment of a National Education faculty (NEF), who will undertake annual visits to Clubs. These coaches will be trained to support clubs with coaching, management structure matters, etc., and will report back to Council on Club status so that further assistance can be planned if necessary. Our aim is that every Club will receive an annual visit at no cost except for the provision of local transport and billet accommodation. This is a similar program to that run by the Sweet Adelines. The Deke Sharon workshops will undoubtedly be the highlight of the Youth Development program this year. Many of you will have heard of Deke. He is regarded as the leader of modern a cappella music, but he is also an honorary life member of the Barbershop Harmony Society. The workshops will run in Sydney on Tuesday 26 and Wednesday 27 September. Entry and participation will be free to all Youth members as part of their Convention registration. BHA members >25 years old can attend and observe with a day ticket for $30, or a two day ticket for $50. It will be an event not to be missed! We are also looking at other opportunities to promote barbershop singing in schools with attendance at the annual Australian Society of Music Educators conference in July planned. We are also planning to contact every school in the Sydney area to promote the Deke Sharon workshops and barbershop in general. Over the next year or two, we hope to roll that school contact out to every school in Australia. But we need help with this. If you have some time (you don’t have to be a Youth member) to help us compile lists of music teachers, please contact the VP Youth Development. As far as Finances and Treasury goes, we are now back on our feet after our “near death” experience following the Perth Convention. We certainly hope that never happens again, and that Eastern states members will support a Convention in Perth from time to time, just as our Western state members continually support conventions in the Eastern states. We have approved significant budgets for music education, youth development, marketing, membership and contest and judging. At this stage the Council considers these programs are an efficient and beneficial use of members’ funds replacing the previous regional subsidies that were paid. Running Conventions is a significant financial risk to BHA and members’ support is necessary if these are to continue to be viable. So a very successful annual face to face meeting was held. If you have any questions please contact the Secretary who will direct the question to the appropriate Council member. Sing-cerely, Ian Mulholland President |
The Sydney 2017 Pan-Pac Convention is to be held in the International Convention Centre, Darling Harbour from Wednesday 27 September 2017 to Sunday lunchtime 1 October 2017. This will be immediately followed by Harmony University at Naamaroo Conference Centre, Lane Cove from Sunday afternoon 1 October 2017 to Wednesday 4 October 2017. This promises to be one of the most exciting Barbershop Conventions and Harmony Universities ever held in the region. Aside from the anticipated high level of performances and the rare fellowship opportunities it will provide, highlights will also include the amazing, just completed, performance venue and the exciting Darling Harbour precinct surrounding the centre.
In addition to the Pan-Pac competition, both BHA and BHNZ will be concurrently holding their respective National Competitions including Australian and New Zealand open, seniors, mixed and youth barbershop choruses and quartets all sharing the one stage in a series of integrated competitions promising to be the most inclusive convention ever. The Harmony University at the nearby Sydney suburb of Lane Cove (a short drive of around 30 minutes from the Convention Centre) will offer a once in a lifetime opportunity to get up close and personal with a faculty of top Barbershop educators . The Convention website and registration information will be up and running within the next few weeks. Definitely a Convention and Harmony University not to be missed! |
MR BARBERSHOP HARMONY AUSTRALIA, Linc Abbott, passed away on Monday, February 27, 2017. Many long standing barbershoppers called Linc this name because of the massive contribution he made to the introduction, expansion and development of the barbershop harmony movement during the first 25 years of barbershop harmony here in Australia.
Linc came to Australia with his family in 1972 and brought significant experience in barbershop harmony obtained in Maine, USA where he began as a chorus member and quickly became the musical director of the DOWNEASTERS CHORUS located in Yarmouth, Maine. When Linc came to the Gold Coast, Queensland he quickly organized a barbershop quartet named DREAMWORLD QUARTET and it became very popular roaming and entertaining the crowds at the DREAM WORLD Amusement Park on the Gold Coast. The popularity of this quartet led to his organizing the BANANA BLENDERS BARBERSHOP CHORUS which he directed for many years and led in entertaining audiences throughout Australia and to numerous medal performances. About 1995 Linc moved to Musical Director of the RIVER CITY CLIPPERS BARBERSHOP CHORUS and lifted them to medal contention. Linc was made a LIFE MEMBER by each of these choruses for his significant musical leadership to good barbershop harmony and fellowship. Linc freely coached many of the developing choruses during the period 1990-2008 period. He was the Dean of the first weekend Harmony College held in Bathurst, NSW in 1987. He was Associate Dean at the first Australian Harmony College held on the Sunshine Coast in April 1994 (Mel Knight of SPEBSQSA was the Dean). He was a prodigious arranger of popular songs in the four part barbershop harmony style many of which such as ADVANCE AUSTRALIA FAIR, I STILL CALL AUSTRALIA HOME, WALTZING MATILDA, and MY COUNTRY we all sing regularly. He was made a LIFE MEMBER of the Association of Men Barbershop Singers/Barbershop Harmony Australia in 1998 in recognition of his massive contribution to the introduction and development of barbershop harmony in Australia. Yes, Linc Abbott was a major mover and shaker of good barbershop harmony during most of his life. We will all miss his great musical direction and remember in harmony his deep bass voice always encouraging us to blend, balance and enjoy barbershop harmony at its best. Dr Melvin (Mell) McMichael Past President AAMBS/BHA LIFE MEMBER AAMBS/BHA |
On Friday afternoon 24 February 2017, over sixty barbershoppers from throughout the Eastern Region wended their various ways to the Myuna Bay Sports and Recreation Complex on the shores of the beautiful Lake Macquarie, 90 minutes drive north of Sydney. They were all heading, with great anticipation, to the 2017 BHA Eastern Region Harmony College organised by the ER Council. This workshop was the latest in a long series of similar annual events which first started way back in the early nineties.
The sixty plus delegates were drawn from almost every Chorus in the Region including; Soundwaves, Novatones, Hills Harmony, Sydney Harmony, Penrith Harmony and Canberra Chordsmen. Special Mention should also go to Sydney based youth chorus, Vox Canvas who attended with virtually all their members and to our newest Chorus, South Lakes Harmony, who attended with their entire membership of eight enthusiastic "non-youth" barbershoppers including long time MC extrordinairre Bob Fritz who showed us that he still had it by expertly MC'ing the Showcase on Saturday Night. The faculty comprised highly experienced and personable Kiwi educator, Jill Rogers together with the guys from medal winning quartet, Cataylst including the very talented Rob Sequeira (who had the unique experience of coaching his dad, Malcolm who was one of the delegates) , the dynamic Jonathan Bligh, David Reid, one of the most unassuming (not!) and talented basses around and, lastly, but not least, the inimitable Richard Reeve. The program ran from Friday evening through to midday Sunday with a great mix of work and fun. The late night (read early morning) afterglow sessions were, as always, a feature and continued to develop the fantastic camararderie existing amongst the eight choruses represented. The highlight was the Saturday night showcase where we had the opportunity to perform in front of our peers as well as a paying audience at the Wangi Wangi RSL Club. The show included a very creditable performance by the combined singers, masterfully conducted by Rob Sequeira, performing the new song we had all learnt from scratch during the weekend "The way we were". Special mention must go to the guys from Soundwaves and Novatones who provided most of the manpower and organisation and, in particular, Stuart Adey and his wife Beth who provided virtually all the catering for the weekend enabling the overall cost to be kept extremely low. Well done and thank you Stuart and Beth. Eastern Region President, Brian Bleakley, confirmed during his wrap up, that we would be back again around the same time next year. I'm in!. Dick Bushell |
QUARTET MEMBERSWith regional contests approaching, all quartets intending to compete will need to be registered or re-registered with BHA.
At the moment, only 22 quartets are registered across our six regions.
For each quartet, a representative should complete the Quartet Registration or Quartet Re-Registration Form. It is available at https://www.barbershop.org.
Once complete, the form may be forwarded to our admin officer at admin@barbershop.org.au
Can you please make this important reminder to the quartets within your club
Trevor Rootes - BHA Secretary |
Welcome to 2017, a new year of barbershop fun and expectation. The big event, of course, will be our hosting of the Pan Pac Convention in Sydney in September, and the opportunity to meet up with our Pacific brothers from New Zealand, Japan and elsewhere. There’s also a harmony college running straight afterwards, and with the quality of the faculty we’re bringing you, it’s not to be missed.
Amongst that faculty will be the Crossroads quartet, 2009 International Quartet Champions. Comprising Fred Farrell (tenor), Mike Slamka (lead), Brandon Guyton (baritone), and Jim Henry (bass), Crossroads are one of barbershop’s most famous quartets, with countless appearances on TV in America and a worldwide following. Their three CD’s are permanently on my “play list”. In addition, we will be host to some very distinguished judges in Kevin Keller and Rob Mance. Kevin is a past Chairman of Judges for BHS, so there’s nothing he doesn’t know about it. He wrote the book! Many of you will have sung Kevin’s marvellous arrangements, so it will be a real thrill to work with, and be coached by Kevin. Rob Mance is the music director of Central Standard, a chorus that has risen from nowhere five years ago to finish second at International last year. Rob will hopefully share with us the secrets behind that success, and then we’ll have no excuse! And there’s more to come than this! During April and May most Regions will be holding their annual regional contests and workshops. These are qualifying events for the National contest (to be held at the Pan Pac Convention), so don’t miss them. All groups (choruses and quartets) must be registered with BHA and all these members must be financial. I have been advised that some of our members have not yet renewed their memberships for this year. Many quartets, and even a few choruses, have not re-registered. In one case I have been reliably informed that they “will renew in time for contest”. I’m sorry, that’s just not fair. Those of you who have renewed are carrying the costs for these members (in terms of insurance policies and APRA performing right’s licences). BHA has fixed costs that must be shared by everyone, not members who choose to come and go as they please. This is exactly why two years ago the BHA Council introduced a re-joining fee for any member who suspends their membership for more than six months. It is not fair that paid up members have to carry these members for free. Of course there is a counter argument that the re-joining fee deters members who might have drifted away from re-joining. That may be so, but I think everybody can understand the principle here - everyone should pay to run BHA, and that’s fair. As we start a new year I would like to take the opportunity of welcoming our new Councillors, Kieran O’Dea (VP Youth Development) and Daniel Beckitt (VP Marketing & Development). Your BHA National Council for 2017 is: President: Ian Mulholland Secretary: Trevor Rootes Treasurer: Trevor Bruger VP Events: Dan Millgate VP Marketing & Development: Daniel Beckitt VP Membership: Paul Adams VP Music: Andrew Howson VP Youth Development: Kieran O’Dea Chairman of Judges: Alex Morris Last year I told you of Vocal Evolution’s new show, “Funhouse” to be staged at the Perth Fringe Festival this February. Well it has been an outstanding success. I believe we have put barbershop on the “mainstream” entertainment map in Perth. I know that The Festival Statesmen are doing a new show “Pretty Boys” at the Adelaide Fringe Festival (after a spectacularly successful show last year). So why don’t you try it? Not only is putting on something a little different from a “standard” barbershop show great fun, but it’s a real learning experience for members as well. I highly recommend it! Sing-cerely, Ian Mulholland President |
Over the last two or three years, it has become the responsibility of each club to update its details in the BHA database. This has cut administrative costs.
At the beginning of the new year, each club is asked to please take the time to update its contact details, office bearers, member email, address, phone number, emergency details, etc. Many clubs, for example, will have recently conducted an AGM. Updating Club, Chorus and Member Details Please take the following steps:
If you do not know how to update these details, please contact Mark Virtue (details above). Thank you for your assistance in completing this task. Trevor Rootes - BHA Secretary |
Novatones are searching for a new MD. Ian Miller, Novatones MD since 2009 has decided to call it a day and step back after 26 years of directing and another 20 years of quartet singing prior to that. Ian also spent time as a Singing category judge, 4 years as VP Music for BHA, act as Dean of National Harmony colleges and become certified as a Director (BHS) through Director’s College in the USA. He will be sadly missed by our chorus members as he has been an inspiration in attempting to get the best from each individual at each practice and performance. Like all MD’s his patience was tested on many occasions but we always seemed to finish each session with a laugh, a song or two, and a cuppa. As we all know it is not so easy to get the music out of those weary bones and Ian is already considering quarteting and maybe a bit of coaching in the future. One of our members, Cliff Hoskings, painted a portrait of Ian in a few of his many poses and this was presented to Ian and his wife Kay at the Novatones Christmas party on the Hunter river. We wish Ian and Kay all the best in life after Novatones and will be sure that the close bonds formed over the last 7 years will continue.
Brian Bleakley |
Welcome to the following new member 3505 Joel Bolitho High Altitude Harmony |
Click on this link to see registration details |
Expressions of interest are sought for the position of Music Director of the Miner Chords who are based in Ipswich, Queensland. contact David Green daveandsandyg@bigpond.com 0407831326 |
We are excited to bring the internationally renowned musical genius Deke Sharon to Sydney, Australia on Tuesday 26 & Wednesday 27 September 2017 for the Sydney A Cappella Festival.
"The Father of Contemporary A Cappella" - Entertainment Weekly "A one man a cappella revolution" - Boston Globe "Deke Sharon makes a cappella cool again" - NPR Deke Sharon is the musical director of Pitch Perfect 1, 2 & 3 and The Social Network. The world's most prolific a cappella arranger, with over 2000 songs to his credit, he has also produced television's The Sing Off worldwide (US, Holland, China, South Africa). Don’t miss this once in a lifetime chance to work with the man responsible for the current sound of modern a cappella – keep in touch at www.ysihau.com. Learn more about Deke at www.dekesharon.com. Go to The Guy Who Made Choir Cool Again | |
For more information, see: | www.ysihau.com |
Looking for a challenge?
A group of expatriates located on the Indonesian Island of Batam, a rapidly growing city of around 1.5 million people just 12 miles and an hour by modern fast ferry from Singapore, is looking for an MD. We are seeking a confident, energetic and competent musical director with a true spirit of adventure to create a chorus presence from scratch in a musical desert littered with talent and latent enthusiasm but devoid of inspiration and leadership. And if that’s not sufficient challenge, you also need to know that we cannot pay a salary! But, we will provide accommodation and as we develop a chorus presence we would expect to generate modest income from memberships and sponsorships. Be aware also that Batam is an ideal place from which to inexpensively explore the fascinating Indonesian archipelago and the countries of South-east Asia. You probably will be a self-funded retiree, single and preferably with some knowledge, experience of or interest in Asia and the cultures of South-east Asia. You probably will have a background in barbershop or male or mixed choruses but also have an interest in other genres like Doo Wop (with instrumental backing) and a cappella gospel. The challenge will be to develop male, female, mixed and children’s choruses and inspire and support the development of quartettes or other small break-out groups. Batam has a sizeable and growing expat community, a surprising number of whom are interested in music and singing. But the really rich opportunity lies in introducing choral singing to members of the Indonesian community. There is wonderful harmony singing among Indonesian ethnic groups like the Batak community of northern Sumatra but overall there is little tradition of choral or chorus music in Indonesia - yet there is a rich abundance of talent waiting to be awakened… It’s an opportunity for an aspiring and committed musical leader to create and launch something new and potentially very special. Email: doug@smilinghillbatam.com Tel – Doug +62 813 6470 3361 (mobile – cell) |
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Welcome to the following new members who have joined BHA over the past two months
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The recent Annual General Meeting of The Westcoast Barbershop Harmony Club marked the end of an era, with Bruce Okely no longer accepting nomination as its Music Director. Following the election of Kim Sebbage as our Music Director, nominated by Bruce, Life Member John Christie moved that, in recognition of Bruce’s long standing service to the club, he be awarded the position of Music Director Emeritus. This motion was carried unanimously and with acclamation.
Bruce Okely opened the eyes and ears of Australian men to the enjoyment and satisfaction gained through singing four-part barbershop harmony. A talented singer and gifted music teacher, he formed Australia’s first men’s barbershop club, Perth’s Men in Harmony in 1985, becoming its inaugural Music Director. In his 13 years with the club, Men in Harmony won a gold and two silver medals at national conventions. At the national level, he was the AAMBS Founder, its inaugural Secretary 1985-1991 and is now a BHA Life Member. In 1998, Bruce left Men in Harmony to form a new club, with singers known as the Westcoast Chordsmen. The majority of this chorus were former members of Men in Harmony, many a little older than those who continued with Men in Harmony. For 19 years, the membership of the Westcoast Chordsmen has ranged from the low 30s to the high 40s, but as a predominantly seniors aged group, chose not to compete as a chorus in barbershop or other competitions. During his 32 years in barbershop, Bruce has arranged many songs for singing in four-part barbershop harmony, arrangements which have now become a permanent part of the Australian barbershop repertoire. The position of Music Director Emeritus, a mark of distinguished service awarded on retirement, recognises Bruce Okely’s outstanding service to the club and allows him to continue to exercise some of the roles and duties of a Music Director. Pender Pedler |
Merry Christmas to All
2016 has been a good year for BHA, and we should all be proud of our individual and collective barbershop achievements. Whether that means you sang in a quartet for the first time, learned your notes and words of a new song in record time, or contributed to your Club in a significant way, it doesn’t matter. The goal is to continually find something to do better than you have before, and to have pride in that effort.
The Annual General Meeting has just been and gone, and the Motions carried were 7, and 9, while Motion 8 was defeated. The National Council continues to take all views into account when making decisions, but will always defer to the wishes of the majority of members. The AGM Results have been sent to Clubs and lodged on the BHA website (Click Downloads/Tab) here, while the Minutes will follow in due course from the Secretary. As promised, the Secretary has compiled the Minutes from the BHA Forum held in Newcastle, and interested members can view these on the BHA website (Click Downloads/Minutes tab) or by clicking here. (It should be noted that the two documents linked above are available to Members only and you will need to be logged into the members area of the BHA website to view them) The introduction of a new Incorporated Associations Act in Western Australia (the home base corporately for BHA) will require a re-write of our Constitution to bring it in line with the new Act. Members will be asked to vote on that at a Special General meeting to be held about mid-2017. Next year will be an exciting year with a Pan Pac Convention in Sydney, and the opportunity for camaraderie with our Pacific brothers from New Zealand, Japan and elsewhere. Congratulations to two of our founding members, Bruce Okely and Andy Aberle, who have been honoured recently. An article about Andy appeared in the last newsletter, while there is an article about Bruce in this newsletter (click here). You may have heard of Vocal Evolution’s new show, “Funhouse” to be staged at the Perth Fringe Festival next February. Hope you like the photo below taken at rehearsal recently. As the festive season approaches, on behalf of the National Council, I wish you a Merry Christmas! May you have a bright and successful New Year. Sing-cerely, Ian Mulholland President |
The Webcast videos taken during the various performances at Newcastle have now been uploaded to YouTube and are available for viewing.
They can be viewed by either Clicking on the embedded link in the Webcast page of the Convention website https://www.barbershopconvention.com.au/Webcast and using the >> and << buttons as shown to navigate between the various videos. Alternatively, the separate YouTube addresses are listed below. Quartet Semi-Finals – Session 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPfxT9zJ-qs Quartet Semi-Finals – Session 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya8-9U4pI5E Quartet Finals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp7nKHzwmWI Chorus – Session 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpC8CpkyHxE Chorus – Session 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XzfxZyz55U Chorus – Session 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y-Fm0SYlho Chorus – Session 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBwbSlaQnUM Showcase – Session 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15QRdlOqqU4 Showcase – Session 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ7OBhKpoJI The following schedule may help you to locate a specific performance. |
2017 Regional Conventions Central Region – Saturday, 22 April 2017 Sunshine Region – Saturday, 22 April 2017 Victorian region – Saturday, 29 April 2017 Eastern Region – Saturday, 06 May 2017 Western Region – Saturday, 13 May 2017 Tasmanian Region – Saturday, 13 May 2017 (NB : could the organisers of each of these events please ensure full details are listed on the BHA Events Calendar) 2017 PanPacific Convention - Sydney - 27 September to 1 October 2017 BHA Schedule of Events Make sure you list all your public events on the BHA schedule of events located on the BHA website. https://www.barbershop.org.au/dbpage.php?pg=events You can do this either by getting your webmaster to tick the appropriate box on your own listing of the event on your Harmonysite website or by emailing Jeannie Hattendorff on admin@barbershop.org.au If you do this it will give more profile to your event and, even if we can't attend, let all our members know what your Chorus or quartet is up to. |
In July I was fortunate to be invited to attend category school at Belmont University, Nashville along with a small contingent of AGBJ members. Being the only Contest Administrator, I joined my BHS and Harmony Inc counterparts as we spent several long days (8:30am – 10pm) discussing and sharing our challenges and learning from each other about how contests are facilitated. I was invited to share with the class the AGBJ experience and to discuss the differences in how we operate and what roles CA’s have in Australia and New Zealand. We certainly do way more in the preparation and planning for a contest than the CA’s do in USA. I am grateful for the grant assistance that I received towards the cost of attending the school from BHA. Some of the learnings have already been enacted with the recent BHA and BHNZ contests and will be incorporated into the forth coming regional events. As with any barbershop gathering, there is lots of fun singing, fellowship and of course ice-cream.
Linda Vinall CA CSPhoto : front row L-R: Dan Millgate, Charlotte Murray, Alex Morris Second row: Matt Gifford, Linda Vinall, Richard Reeve, third row: Sarah Bradley, Andrew Carolan, Eddie Klimowicz, Michael Markham |
Well, didn’t we have a great time in Newcastle? What a great Convention! A huge vote of thanks to Keith Thornton, Trevor Rootes, Brian Bleakley and the team from Novatones and Eastern Region. And our visitors from the USA – Forefront – Drew, Kevin, Aaron and Brian, and our judges – Steve, Joe, Dusty and Tony – a nicer bunch of blokes you’ll never meet, not forgetting Henrietta and Michael from New Zealand, and Linda and Vicki from Australia!
Congratulations to all who competed. Your contribution to the festival atmosphere was greatly valued. We had four fun filled days of harmony at the highest level. And now, on with the show! Next year’s Convention is already creeping us on us with the special deal of being a PanPac, and featuring quartets and choruses from New Zealand, Japan, west coast USA etc. We’re really looking forward to being in the brand new Sydney Convention Centre at Darling Harbour, which should be a blast. Your Council continues to work behind the scenes for you. Every Councillor had a role in running the Convention, or assisting in some way, and we’re also working to make our organisation run smoother and more efficiently for every member’s benefit. A few Council decisions and actions of late, which you may be interested in were the approval of a Code of Ethics, a Policy on International Subsidies, application for Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status for BHA (still in progress), Life Membership Criteria, Champions Code of Conduct – “What Do We Expect of You?”, and modifications to Standing Orders concerning contests, to name a few. We held a well-attended BHA Forum in Newcastle, and the topics covered included: the cost of the welcome dinner and the quality of food served, associate members (i.e. females) being able to sing in mixed groups, the size criteria for chorus awards (currently 16 and less = small, 17-30 = medium, >30 = large), the excellence of the judges and evaluations, sharing ideas complied from Club of the Year entries and sharing these with all Clubs, marketing of barbershop (and BHA) to schools, coaching next year, leadership training for Clubs and MDs, the concept of a “festival” rather than a “convention”, availability of Council meeting minutes to members, music copyright and publishing issues, World Voice Day and World Barbershop Quartet Day, communication with members at large, and arrangement of a modern song to become a polecat. While the Council answered a lot of the questions at the Forum, we will follow-up some. In addition, in the next edition of In Harmony we will give a fuller account of the Forum, the topics discussed and the answers provided. Sing-cerely, Ian Mulholland President |
Many of you will know Andy. He was one of the founders of AAMBS (now BHA) and was Convention Chairman for the 1993 and 2003 Perth Conventions. Andy was also a talented show producer, and was a stalwart in that capacity for Men In Harmony for many years. Andy returned fire with a stirring rendition of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle poem, “Bendigo” which enthralled the crowd. In his speech Andy said that he only started barbershop singing when he retired from full-time work. He remembered the start of AAMBS back in 1985 and the book he wrote “The First Twenty Years of AAMBS, 1985-2005”. After the event Andy spent some time signing copies of his book for his adoring fans. Andy also gave recognition to his wife Gwen, who has always supported him in his barbershop activities. It was a wonderful afternoon, and while we will miss Andy singing with us on the risers, we’re sure he’ll still be coming to concerts and barbershop events in the future. We wish Andy well in his retirement from retirement.
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AUSACA is a well-established annual A Cappella event conducted in Melbourne by Vocal Australia.
In September, barbershop ensembles were successful in the finals with Festival Statesmen Chorus (mini) taking first prize in the League Division. They also won the award for the best contemporary song.
Individual awards for members of Festival Statesmen went to Jono Webb for best soloist, and Daniel Maley for best vocal percussion.
Topping off the success of barbershop in the finals was Hi-Jinx, the champion Sweet Adelines Adelines quartet, who won second prize. Hi-Jinx also received the award for the best barbershop song.
Also, congratulations to Blenders Chorus director Jono Albertini who took his mixed Griffith University group Serotonin to the finals of the University Division. |
Our youth members brought a great deal of energy, enthusiasm and quality to our recent Newcastle convention.
Overall, there were nine quartets and two choruses contesting in both the youth and open events. In addition to contests, youth joined the Combined Youth Chorus that performed at our Welcome Dinner and at the Youth Concert. No doubt this was the best combined chorus to date. Thanks to Jonathan Bligh, Jono Albertini and Lionel Pierson. Forefront also held a separate workshop with the chorus. Youth members also had the opportunity of working with David Holst a member of the Swedish quartet Trocadero, the 2015 international collegiate contest winners. Finally, the Youth Concert attracted a large crowd of delegates on the Friday morning. It was a great celebration. Trevor Rootes - BHA VP Youth Photo courtesy of Genik |
Delegates started converging on the NSW port city of Newcastle on Wednesday 28 September 2016 to attend the 14th National BHA Convention. This was the first annual Convention following the switch from biennial conventions after Melbourne last year. Newcastle is the second largest city in NSW and the eighth largest in Australia. It also has the distinction of being the first non-capital city to host a BHA Convention.
The competition kicked off on Wednesday with the BHA Youth Contests which were combined with the Young Singers In Harmony Contests. Both were keenly contested in their various Categories. The BHA Youth Quartet Contest was won by Skyline with the BHA Youth Chorus contest won by the Blenders Youth Chorus. The Young Singers in Harmony Ensemble Contest was also won by Skyline with the Chorus competition taken out for the second year in a row by the Baden Street Singers.
A full summary of the Youth winners and placegetters, together with their respective scores, can be found on the BHA Website under the Convention results tab Wednesday evening saw the John Little Quartet show give competing quartets the chance to perform in front of their peers. This undoubtedly helped them hone their skills for the competition the following day as well as providing a very enjoyable and relaxed show for an enthusiastic audience. The open quartet competitions got underway on Thursday in the fantastic Newcastle City Hall. Thirty four quartets competed in the various categories including Open-Semi Final , Seniors and Mixed following several last minute withdrawals due to illness. The Current BHA Quartet Gold Medallists, Lockout were unable to compete this year under new BHA Rules precluding the winning quartet from the previous year competing in the convention the year following their win. |
The symbolic Pitchpipe was recently passed on at the Newcastle Convention farewell luncheon by Novatones President, Brian Bleakley to Hills Harmony President, Dick Bushell who was representing the three Sydney Clubs, Sydney Harmony, Hills Harmony and Penrith Harmony who will be co-hosting the Convention in Sydney next year. "This is going to be a big Convention as it will not only be a PanPacific Convention but also the National Competition for both Australia and New Zealand" said Dick. "We have some big shoes to fill as the Newcastle team have done a fantastic job but with the resources of our three clubs led by Keith Thornton, the dynamic BHA VP for events, I am sure you are in for a great convention". |
The new Harmony Foundation Youth Barbershop Quartet Contest dominated day one of Nashville International Convention. The Quartet Contest was held in the Schermerhorn Symphony Centre, one of the most beautiful and acoustically perfect locations ever to host a BHS International event.
Pratt Street Power (MAD), 82.0% won gold from 29 contestants.
Our Australian quartets did well. Blindside 8th, 78.9%, Skyline 15th, 74.6%, and The Grand Angus 18th, with 73.6%
Congratulations to our youth for taking on the best on the international stage.
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The Baden Street Singers organised a full day of A Cappella Harmony workshops on Saturday, 6th of August from 10am to 4pm at the Shenton College campus; aimed at high school students (years 8 -12) who have an interest in singing. Alex Morris, Carole Macintyre, Bec Hewitt, The combination of whom is designed to deliver an engaging series of workshops.
The level of enthusiasm and commitment that the participants brought with them meant we achieved great things in a very short time - exploring the meaning behind the song an inspiring the kids into giving a powerful performance of "Titanium".
We (the Baden street singers) were so impressed that we decided to invite the kids to join forces again with us and perform "titanium" on stage with us in our upcoming concert on the 19th September. Already, 6 kids have grabbed the opportunity to do so.
We're very excited to have had a chance to work with alex, Carole and Bec, and feel confident about running more of these workshops in the future.
We're also grateful at the opportunity to strengthen our collaboration with these mentors over the next few weeks, in the lead-up to Newcastle.
Cheers.
Lionel Pierson
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The 2016 BHS International Contest was held in Music City, Nashville, TN - the home of the Barbershop Harmony Society. Over 8000 people walked through the doors of the Bridgestone Arena on the bustling Broadway for 5 days of brilliant entertainment. I once again, had the privilege of hosting the webcast alongside Debbie Cleveland and this year also joined by Matthew Gifford, of Music Island Boys fame.
BHA was proudly represented by not 1 but 3 quartets in the Youth Barbershop Quartet Contest (formally Collegiate Barbershop Quartet Contest) with The Grand Angus (Western Region, featuring Jeremy Conner from Alabama) placing 18th with 73.6, Skyline (Central Region) placing 15th with 74.6, and Blindside (Sunshine Region) placing 8th with 78.9. The Youth Barbershop Quartet Contest was won by newcomer, Pratt Street Power with a score of 82.0.
Our youth representatives along with our open quartet representatives, The Mellow Diners, joined forces to perform the Australian National Anthem at the opening of the second Quartet Quarter Finals session.
The quartet contest was the largest since the 2011 BHS International Quartet Contest in Louisville, KT, with 58 quartets crossing the stage in what was a long but incredibly entertaining day of competition. The Mellow Diners sang 58th and placed 33rd (the highest placing for an Australian quartet) with a score of 78.8. The contest was won by Forefront (Cardinal District) with a score of 93.3, who will be our guest quartet at the BHA National Convention in Newcastle later this year.
Vocal Evolution, who were joined by members of all competing quartets, took to the stage second (directly following Vocal Revolution) placing 27th with a score of 77.9 in what was one of the most exciting chorus contests to date. The chorus contest was won be the Ambassadors of Harmony with a score of 96.8.
Congratulations to Vocal FX from Wellington, New Zealand who placed equal 6th with a score of 89.6 with a truly unforgettable performance. This year, we saw the World Harmony Jamboree moved to Saturday afternoon, giving audience and performers a little more time to enjoy what this fabulous concert has to offer. Featured on the show, were Blindside, The Mellow Diners (in their final performance as a quartet) and Vocal Evolution.
Only one and a half weeks following the international contest, 10 members of the Australasian Guild of Barbershop Judges (with 7 from Australia) attended the 2016 BHS Category School. This school, held every 3 years, is a fantastic opportunity for judges to hone their skills and learn more about this wonderful art form through the lens of their category.
Those Presentation (PRS) judges in attendance had the opportunity to be part of history as the category was re-written and transitioned to the Performance (PER) category. BHA were able to support 5 of the 7 Australian attendees with a scholarship to assist in registration for this event. We are so excited for our judges to bring back a new breath of energy and education to our judging program! Directly following Category School was the 2016 BHS Harmony University. This incredible week of education is second to none and this year, it was fantastic to see both Dan Millgate and Richard Reeve from Australia as well as a number of attendees from New Zealand. I was very honoured to be on faculty at this years’ Harmony University, an experience that I will never forget.
Congratulations to all who represented BHA so brilliantly over the busy month of July. Personally, I cannot wait to see everyone in Newcastle! All the best with your preparations for what is set to be an exciting week in BHA history!
Alex Morris - BHA VP Contest & Judging |
Music Director - Miner Chords Applications are invited for the position of MD at The Miner Chords Ipswich, Queensland. .Email Howard Kennedy at whk@optusnet.com.au |
Educating Students and Teachers Alike with this Full Day of A Cappella SingingThe Baden Street Singers are organising a full day of A Cappella Harmony workshops on Saturday, 6th of August from 10 am to 4 pm at the Shenton College campus; aimed at high school students (years 8 -12) who have an interest in singing. Alex Morris
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