Long shot, but I don't know where else to ask. I love traditional Christmas songs/carols and I've always preferred small ensembles to full choirs, but I've never been able to find a marriage of the two beyond 2 or 3 songs on YouTube. I thought that perhaps some of my fellow lovers-of-barbershop might be able to point me in the right direction.

Hey everyone! I am looking for the arrangement of The Sweetheart Tree as performed by Marquis and the Golden Staters. The only arrangers I can find online are by Bob O’Connell and Alan Gaspar, neither of which seem to be what im looking for. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

So, I have been a fan of watching barbershop quartets ever since I stumbled upon the BHS youtube channel a few years back. I have always wanted to sing in a quartet as well, but it was only recently that I managed to find three other people who were interested in trying out singing in a quartet. As such, I finally started to look for sheet music to have a crack at singing, but I got remarkably overwhelmed by all the different options, and didn't want to purchase anything that wasn't going to be right for us. So, I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to what songs to have a look at.

We are all studying a Bachelor of Music Theatre, and so are experienced in singing in harmony, but not a capella and not with only one person on a part. I'm not sure exactly what difficulty level song we should be looking for, as while we are strong singers, I'm not so foolish as to suggest that singing in the barbershop style for the first time won't still be very challenging. Also, not a requirement, but it would be a fun bonus to sing a song from a musical of some kind (doesn't have to be a contemporary musical, could be golden age or even before).

Thanks so much for any help or suggestions!

This is my first year in my chorus and we're having an end of year banquet to hang out and also show appreciation to spouses/partners for the support they give us since the chorus does take time away from them. I've volunteered to take care of organizing the entertainment, which is supposed to be self-supplied, but I'm having a really hard time with members remembering stuff they did in the past that everyone enjoyed.

So far, I've come up with a couple of tags to teach everyone (a thank you one and a "we're glad you're here" one) to sing to aforementioned spouses/partners and I've thought about having people poll their families on what their favorite songs are and potentially organizing quartets to come up at intervals and sing those songs, but outside of that I'm drawing a blank. Anyone have an idea that might fit the bill?

TIA!

I've just dropped X and am getting started on BlueSky. I've found one fellow barbernshopper so far, but is there anyone else on there?

Anyone else on here get more of a charge from singing and/or performing than watching others do it? I've gone to part of one contest (it was like an hour or so away) and watched the quartets. I liked that, especially the funny/entertaining ones, but I wouldn't travel further than that to watch it. It seems like so much of BHS is about contests and choruses that compete. Am I alone in this?

I had the best time this past weekend at HI's IC&C. I was there as a first-timer and a spectator and was blown away by so much talent and skill! Huge congratulations to Roulette, the 2024 Champion Quartet and Northern Blend, the 2024 Champion Chorus! Fun trivia fact, Katie Taylor, baritone for Roulette, made barbershop history (or at the very least HI history, but someone said she was the first ever). Not only did she direct the champion chorus as well as win the quartet contest, but she has also now won international in four different quartets, singing bass, baritone, tenor, AND lead! (Plus, as a side note, she was incredibly kind and encouraging to my extremely novice and extremely nervous quartet, Big Treble, when we sang at the afterglow. :) )

I can't wait until our area contest in June--it will be my first time on an HI contest stage, and my first time ever in a quartet. Lots of work to be done between now and then, but this weekend was inspiring as hell.

Was anyone else there this weekend?

Listening to some old performances and comparing them to songs from this year, I can’t tell much difference. I’ve been a passive barbershop fan but dont understand the intricacies of the judging system.

Could anyone help enlighten me on what has caused them, and other groups (first take, midtown, etc) to improve?

Why do tenors only go to C5? With people using falsetto, many can go much higher comfortably. Or is the purpose so lead doesn't get too high?

I’ve been watching the Sweet Adeline’s International contest and wondering why is there mostly covers for pop songs and a lot of musical theater references , but very little original songwriting, except for occasional parodies and skits.

The winning chorus made their entire package from Les Mis and I mean, while they are very accomplished technically, it’s already been done by Broadway, Hollywood, with professional singers, dancers, and musicians, as well as every community theater by semi professionals and amateurs.

What does the community think? Is it against the genre rules to expect original content and some songwriting happening in the barbershop world, does it have to be limited to re-arrangement of popular songs from other genres

10. 2537 Motor City Blend

11. 2552 Lace City

12. 2616 Spirit of the Gulf

13. 2622 San Diego

14. 2719 Westcoast Harmony

15. 2739 Christchurch City

16. 2850 Harborlites

17. 2855 Skyline

18. 2973 Song of Atlanta

19. 3018 North Metro

Making the top 10. Woohoo!! My teacher is their musical director. I'm so proud and really happy for her and the ladies! The work they've put in was ferocious. We'll deserved!

Tenacious Q sang How to Build a Quartet and it was scored 72, with a 62 in mus, 84 in per and 71 in sng. Like what happened. I'm assuming the song was not contestable but still.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g06TtkPhRms&ab_channel=TheNewfangledFour

I used to be fine singing well for long stretches. In recent years when I walk or sing, I immediately get a sorish ache/strain and what I believe is a "Globus" sensation, which is uncomfortable and feels like something in your throat, sore dryness.

Doctor says nothing looks abnormal, but the thing is, they are looking for critical things I guess and not this sort of constant non life threatening kind of thing and simply don't seem to give a shit at all.

Drinking water doesn't ease it. Sometimes eating will for a short time.

I don't have much hope talking about this here. Sounds medical right? But never know... Some singers here may have some advice.

The announcement from First Take, including a bonus tag feature Stuart! https://www.facebook.com/share/v/jZvkW5BPdcQCQ8RR/

Hi everyone! I have a bit of an issue here. I’m currently an opera major at UCLA, and so is every other good singer I know who is into barbershop… which means we’re all extremely busy with school.

Even if we could find time to form a quartet and such, the FWD conferences always happen during weekdays, and skipping that many classes is just not feasible for our degree. Realistically, we have to prioritize our voice studies. In addition, Westminster is about 2 hours away by bus.

This has been really frustrating for me, as I have been a barbershop enthusiast for a while and just can’t seem to find good opportunities to start competing at a higher level.

On the positive side, I am starting a barbershop club at UCLA, which has been a huge passion project of mine!

However, that won’t scratch my itch of competitive barbershop. I’m so lost on how to get into it.

A couple of weeks ago I accidentally joined my school's barbershop choir and I LOVE it so far!!

Beforehand, I knew next to nothing about singing, and have never properly sang before. The director person assigned me to singing bass, and I would like some advice on how to get better at it in general. It's really fun, and my group is pretty small, so there's only one other bass, so it would be nice to be able assist him a bit more with singing bass bits.

If there's any recommended apps or tutorials, or just simple practice advice, I could really use it.

Thank you for any help in advance! :D

Hello! I've been recording for a few days now doing different tracks, and for tenor I've always wondered if head voice is preferred or falsetto