Here’s the chance to add/subtract or discuss the list on page 13 of the May/June 2010 issue of The Harmonizer. Apologies if you came to this site earlier and didn’t find this post as mentioned in the magazine. I just came back from vacation to find that the printer had managed to mail the issue nearly a week earlier than scheduled — I thought I was going to have a few more days to put this post online!

If you don’t agree with this list, take it up with me — I take full responsibility for it ….

… unless you do like the list, in which case I emphasize that while the words are mine, the concepts didn’t exactly spontaneously pop into my head. Here in Nashville, especially in the last 18 months, we’ve been talking about issues like these A LOT. I’m sure if I checked back into my meeting notes, I’d see some version of most of the below concepts. But I generated this based on little more than a personal brainstorming session and sent it around the office for feedback.

Hate it: MY FAULT. Like it: THANK THE STAFF. Clear?

So how does this list jibe with your experience? Some successful chapters prominently feature traits not listed below, but the idea is to identify traits that pretty much ALWAYS seem to be present in growing, thriving chapters.

Would you add anything? Remove something? Modify something? Your feedback is appreciated!

Read the rest of this entry »

Guest nights. Handing out flyers. Performing for the local community. All good ways to promote your chapter and barbershop in hopes of garnering interest and possibly gaining a few new members.

Well – is it working? What do you have to show for it? Hopefully these methods are successful as they require a good amount of effort, but maybe you’re hoping for a bit more; more gigs, more people at guest nights, more phone calls asking your chorus to sing at an event, and ultimately, more registered Barbershoppers.

Bob Fichter (from the Midwest Vocal Express), with the help of Montana Jack, has written an article titled, “Social Media for Barbershop Quartets and Choruses” – it explains how to reach more people and target the younger generations. For those who are intimidated by the Internet – have no fear! Bob gives step-by-step instructions – fool proof!

If you’ve used Facebook for the purpose of recruiting new members, advertising a show/meeting, or anything barbershop-related, tell us about your experience. What works best and what doesn’t – let’s hear it!

In reply to an earlier post on this blog, Tom Goldie shared some interesting suggestions regarding copyright laws and how the Society had get music into members’ hands more easily. With his permission, quoted below are Tom’s ideas (in quotes) and responses from Julie Grower, who manages the Music Library and Licensing for the Society.

Tom brings up some interesting possibilities. What do you think?

Julie begins:

Tom,

Thank you so much for taking up an issue which I know many barbershoppers feel strongly about. Your ideas are very positive and forward-looking. We always appreciate hearing about the issues that mean the most to members. I will attempt to address some of the comments below as best I can.

I believe a great place to start would be in copyright issues. An immediate change would be to allow society members the rights to record and post songs to which the Society holds copyright as long as its for non-commercial purposes. This would allow for many more performances to link to on YouTube, and for a lot more “free” distribution of high-quality .mp3s.

Read the rest of this entry »

God bless the realists, the folks who tell it like it is—who call a spade a spade, who never stick their head in the sand, and who know they aren’t doing anyone any favors in varnishing the truth. The Barbershop Harmony Society needs all the reality it can get. If the preceeding words describe you, this post isn’t directed at you.

On second thought, this post may be ESPECIALLY for you.

What I say next will probably brand me as a blind Pollyanna skipping to the precipice, but oh well:

STOP BEING SO NEGATIVE! YOU’RE ONLY MAKING THINGS WORSE!

Realism is vital, but it is severely overrated. If that last sentence made you cringe, I’ll point out that science is on my side for this one.

It turns out, a large portion of self-described realists are also pessimists. And because they are pessimists, they will not have access to the thoughts and actions that will lead their chapters and our Society to better days. Want proof? Want examples? Keep reading. Read the rest of this entry »

In an upcoming issue of the magazine, we’re going to be running an article on how some chapters and quartets are using Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, etc. to get new fans, new members, new audiences and build new relationships. I know of a few examples of barbershoppers who are using Facebook to sell more tickets and locate potential members. I would sure like to know some more.

• Do you know any success stories? (Yours or another group?)
• Do you you have any expertise on how to use social networking effectively in a barbershop or other singing environment?
• Do you have any questions that you want answered in an article like this?

Please share what you know or what you want to know right here!

(Note: Feel free to provide links in your response (if you know they’re clean), but know that comments that contain multiple links will usually go into moderation before they can be posted. If you comment doesn’t show up immediately, that’s probably why.)

“Some people try to find things in this game that don’t exist, but football is only two things – blocking and tackling.“

— Vince Lombardi, ESPN’s Coach of the Century

Thanks everyone who responded to our Commanders Intent post last month. We discussed how an army commander ensures his forces cannot lose sight of the core objective and then we asked you to fill in the blank, “If a chapter does nothing else, it must _____.” So many insightful answers! If you haven’t read them, click on the above link and please do so.

As promised, we looked at everyone’s comments and discussed them at our Sept. 16 meeting. We’re not done processing and reacting to everything we learned from your participation, but I’ll say this: We didn’t see anything in your feedback that surprised us, and that was great news. I hope the following explains why.

While it might be wise to stick with the military motif for this post, please indulge me in switching to a related analogy: winning football teams and winning chapters. (To be clear, staff doesn’t define winning chapters by competitive scores but by whether a chapter is a exciting and fulfilling place that’s attracting more and more men. High-level performance and a healthy chapter culture often go together, but it’s very common to find one without the other.) However, successful chapters of all types are strong on similar key fundamentals. One goal of the commander’s intent post was to determine whether we’ve identified the same key principles as you have. 80+ insightful responses later, our strategic planning appears to be well in line with what you consider most important.

Now, a few words about arguably the best football coach of all time, and what fundamentals mean to strong barbershop chapters. Read the rest of this entry »

This is a VERY important post—so important that staff will be meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 16 to discuss your replies. It’s a little long, but worth it.

If you can fill in the above blank without hesitation, you probably misunderstood the question. Read on, your answer will require some pondering. Your answers could also help focus staff, Society, district and chapter efforts for years to come. We look forward to some thoughtful discussion! Read the rest of this entry »

I received the following email a while back from a member, who appears to be concerned about whether a chorus will inevitably decline if they keep the same musical leadership. Here’s his question and here’s my answer. When you’re done reading this, please comment on the following two questions:

• Was my answer correct?
• Was he asking the right question?

First, the question: Read the rest of this entry »

Guest post by Society Music Specialist Mike O’Neill, (also bass of Lunch Break, 2008 international semi-finalist):

Currently, we have 1,444 registered quartets in the Barbershop Harmony Society. That means, approximately 5,776 (it is probably less since several men are registered in more than one quartet) members of our Society sing in a registered quartet. Can you believe that fewer than 22% of our current membership is enjoying this incredibly important component of membership? I can’t either! As a matter of fact, I know it is more than that. We have hundreds of quartets in our organization who are not registered with the Society.

Many ask the question, “other than to compete, what do I get for being in a registered quartet?” Let’s help answer that. Read the rest of this entry »

Picture that happening to you. Suddenly, a small group of experienced barbershoppers want to start a new chapter in a neighboring city. SINKING GUT FEELING #1. “What will we ever do?”  This is a totally factual story (as best as my memory and our records might provide). You might be surprised by the result. Read the rest of this entry »

I know, I know, Aptify progress seems to be an oxymoron, a two word phrase where the words mean opposite things. But seriously, folks, some very dedicated people have been working diligently to bring progress to our database. Remember, it took many years before the old AMS was useful, and Aptify is already churning out many, many more bits of useful data. Most of our data fields are dependent on the local chapter and or member’s input. Garbage in, garbage out, but that’s what we have to work with. So here’s a short progress report: Read the rest of this entry »

Society Music Specialist Mike O’Neill, has submitted a short compilation of great tips for selling more tickets to your annual show:

Is your annual chapter show a sellout every year?  Is there someone in your chapter that is a wizard at selling 50-100 tickets without breaking a sweat? What are the tricks of the barbershop ticket selling trade?  Discuss some of your success stories and help others around the world of barbershop have successful tickets sales to their annual shows.

Below are two examples of proven methods from the Nashville, TN chapter:

Read the rest of this entry »

Recently I sent an email to all the men who joined the Society in the first quarter of 2008, asking for comments about their first year in barbershopping. The following is one of many replies. Read the rest of this entry »

So far registration numbers are ABOVE last year at this time but we can always use more help in getting the word out.  Please tell your chorus mates, local music teachers, friends in the Sweet Adelines and Harmony Incorporated organizations, or pretty much anyone that you meet that Harmony University is THE place to be July 26-August 2 this summer.  Let’s work together to make this year’s event the most fun and exciting HU yet!

 If you haven’t registered or decided on your final schedule yet here are few class titles you should consider.  Read the rest of this entry »

Here are the raw facts:
Last year, January 1, 2008 to April 15, 2008 we recruited 473 new members into the Society

This year, January 1, 2009 to April 15, 2009 we recruited 647 new members.

Everyone say Hazzah! Read the rest of this entry »

In the blog article “Are our 20 percent most devoted members unwittingly the barrier to growth?” one of the comments (#19 from Keith Eckhardt) says:

My chapter has recently added a youth chorus as a second chorus. They have their own director and meet on a different night from our adult chorus. Several of the youth are also members of the adult chorus. The youth chose to join us this way to get instant Non-profit protection, liability coverage, an experienced treasurer to handle their money, and a youth team to act as consultants when they need help.

In a year we will have a problem with the current C&J rule that only one chorus from a chapter can compete in the same contest. I would like to see this changed.

Isn’t it time for us to give choruses the freedom to compete in the contest that best fits them? The only real change I would want is to allow a youth chorus to compete in the regular contest along with the regular chorus in their chapter. I would expect each chorus to submit their average ages such that the youth chorus would average below 25-30 and the regular chorus be above 40.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mike O’Neill, Society Music Specialist for Chorus Director Development, recently sent an email to the Director’s Listserve asking the following:

Does your chapter, or are you aware of a chapter, that is really
great with the fraternal side of barbershop? Read the rest of this entry »

Current membership rules (Society Statement of Policy, Rule 2. Membership, section e)) require that permission be granted by one chapter to allow the “transfer” of one of their members to another chapter. This is problematic on several fronts.

Read the rest of this entry »

The awesome, exciting barbershop documentary that we can’t stop talking about–you got a problem with that?–is showing this week at the Nashville Film Festival. Here’s some love from The Tennessean and from Nashville Scene.

Has your chapter signed up to get American Harmony showing in your hometown? Click here to fix that!

On a guest night in a past chapter, I was asked to take the guests downstairs and show the “Singing is Life” video. It had been a few years since I’d first seen it as a Society employee. As I watched the faces of the men in the room, I wondered whether we perhaps should have had some outside focus groups look at that script before we committed it to celluloid. Read the rest of this entry »

A request has been made that each of the 57 songs from the Heritage of Harmony Songbook should have learning tracks made for them. This project will likely cost any where from $6000-9000 of unbudgeted spending and take almost a year to complete. Before we react one way or another based on one member’s request, here are several questions: Read the rest of this entry »

In a word, “No,” not from the Membership side. But let’s clarify some things: To compete in a Society Chorus Contest (Divison/District/International), you MUST be a member of the chapter in which you are competing. Read the rest of this entry »

I was judging at an LOL divisional contest a couple of weeks ago and was fortunate to both score as well as evaluate a chorus that had not competed in about ten years.  These guys were excited to be there for a number of reasons: Read the rest of this entry »

Either one works for me. There’s a lot of truth to the notion that many men don’t want to join a chorus that sings at a less than high level. But read this post by Todd Ramirez, until recently of the Boise Chordsmen. (He recently moved to the Salt Lake City area). Todd is an experienced singer, but he forgot to assess the musical prowess of his chapter in the following email I got a while back. You won’t wonder why: Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever ordered a piece of music as digital download? You can actually print off the copies (legally) from your computer right there. It is awesome!

It is also expensive. Each time I have done it I’ve paid $3.95/copy…and I have to use my own paper. When I purchase published arrangements from the Society I pay $1.65 per copy but have to wait up to two weeks sometimes for the music to arrive to my mail box.

So what are your thoughts? Would you utilize such a service?