Talk:Barbershop Harmony Society

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Untitled[edit]

I'd like to see SAI and HI get their own articles, with links under an "Affiliated organizations" header. The history of those two, and especially the detail of the split, strike me as out of the scope of an article about the Society. Now we just need to find some representative SAI and HI members to write them . . . Ventura 18:24, 2004 Sep 3 (UTC)

This is wikipedia. Anyone can write them. But you're right, the info doesn't belong here. I'll remove.LeadSongDog 22:06, 23 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

"SPEBSQSA was the official name, while the Barbershop Harmony Society was an officially recognized and sanctioned alternative name" Is this correct? I thought the name (BHS) was new, and everyone I know referred to SPEBSQSA as 'the Society'... Rrex 14:00, 2006 Jul 20 (UTC)

It's correct. Don't know if I can find sources right now. At one point, maybe as long as ten years ago, the Society was officially discouraging members from using SPEBSQSA externally and recommending that people use "Barbershop Harmony Society." Dpbsmith (talk) 13:58, 20 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]
OK, here it is. cb_00100.pdf, the RULES AND REGULATIONS HANDBOOK (With all revisions through April 2, 2006)"
First off, it says:
The name of this organization shall be "Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Incorporated," also known as "SPEBSQSA, Inc." and the "Barbershop Harmony Society."
That is, as of today, it still is officially "Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Incorporated," with "SPEBSQSA, Inc." and "Barbershop Harmony Society" being alternate names.
P. 26, however, says:
The Society is legally known as "The Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc." or "SPEBSQSA, Inc." It is urged that attempts at pronouncing the initials of the Society and the corruption of "Spebs" not be used by Society members and that outsiders, particularly on the various news media, be encouraged to refrain from this practice as well. When, in all forms of publicity, a short name for referring to the Society is desirable, after we have been identified as The Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc., the term "Barbershop Harmony Society" may be used as the official short name or nickname of the Society. It is not intended to take the place of our legal name.
It then makes the even strong statement:
The Society desires for the Barbershop Harmony Society logo to be used widely by members, chapters, and districts.
The emblem (old logo) of the Society, separate from the logo denominated as the Barbershop Harmony Society logo, is an important part of the history and heritage of the Society. Members, chapters, and districts are encouraged to use the Barbershop Harmony Society logo as frequently as possible, to help establish the new brand for the Society, but continued use of the emblem is permissible in any manner that was in existence as of January 28, 2005. Members, chapters, and districts are prohibited, after that date, from creating a new design, graphic, or logo using the traditional emblem or the initials SPEBSQSA without first obtaining permission from the Society Board.
Maybe you can make better sense out of all of that than I can. It sounds to me as if the name hasn't changed, but the logo (and the "brand") have! Dpbsmith (talk) 00:15, 17 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Not unique[edit]

This section matches nearly word-for-word with the article for SPEBSQSA. It should either be reworded, merged, or removed. Trekkie4christ 04:51, 22 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Regional organisation[edit]

The regional organisation (districts) all have articles, which are stubs for the most part. According to WP:ORG, these would not be notable. SOme of the articles contain mentions of chapter member organisations which have won prizes at national level or beyond, but there appears to be little in the article which asserts the importance of the district themselves (as opposed to its members). Membership information has been merged in this article, and the regional articles have been prodded. Ohconfucius 07:15, 16 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

List of notable choruses cut down in size[edit]

The list was getting way too long. For now, I have removed all those not claiming a current or past medal (top 5) I saw. Personaly, I think the restriction should be just past champions and those with current medals. Jon 22:02, 27 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Removed the following from the choruses listed as non-BHS:LeadSongDog 22:04, 23 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

* Cambridge Chord Company, twice European champion barbershop chorus and British Association of Barbershop Singers gold medalists, "Choir of the World" International Eisteddfod 2004, based in England

On further thought, the lists are captured elsewhere anyhow, so I provided a link and excised the following (boy, did this hurt to do!)
  • The Louisville Thoroughbreds [1], Seven-time International Chorus Champions
  • The New Tradition Chorus [2], based out of Northbrook, IL. They are the 2001 International Chorus Champion and current 5th place bronze medalist. Won a record eight consecutive silver medals.
  • The Ambassadors of Harmony[3], based in St Charles, MO, 2004 International Chorus Champions. In 2007, they lost the tiebreaker for first with the Westminster Chorus, winning the silver medal.
  • Toronto Northern Lights [4], Five-time International Silver Medalist (2001-2005) Chorus from Toronto, Ontario, and 3rd Place Bronze Medalist (2006).
  • Midwest Vocal Express, perennial international top 10 chorus, based in the Milwaukee, WI area. Known for innovative and creative performances, directed for years by Russ Foris, and currently directed by Chris Peterson. Fifth-Place Bronze Medalists in 2002, 2003 and 2006.
  • The Singing Buckeyes [5], based in Columbus, Ohio, are eleven-time Johnny Appleseed District (Ohio, the western part of Pennsylvania and most of West Virginia) Chorus Champions. They have competed many times at the international level, achieving Third Place Bronze Medal. The chapter hosts the Buckeye Invitational each August.
  • The Alliance Chorus, from Central Ohio, competing from the Johnny Appleseed District (JAD). The Alliance has placed fourth (2003), fifth (2004), sixth (2005), and seventh (2006) at the International Barbershop Harmony Society Competitions, and have been the Johnny Appleseed District Champions since 2002.

and

  • Acoustix, 1990 International Quartet Champions
  • Bluegrass Student Union, 1978 International Quartet Champions
  • The Gas House Gang, 1993 International Quartet Champions (from St. Louis, Missouri)
  • Four Voices, 2002 International Quartet Champions
  • FRED, 1999 International Quartet Champions, Comedy Quartet
  • Gotcha!, 2004 International Quartet Champions
  • Michigan Jake, 2001 International Quartet Champions
  • Platinum, 2000 International Quartet Champions
  • Power Play, 2003 International Quartet Champions
  • Realtime, 2005 International Quartet Champions
  • Metropolis, International Medalist Quartet (2002-2006), 1998 Grand National A Cappella Champions (Harmony Sweepstakes), Popular Comedy Quartet

LeadSongDog 00:47, 15 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The list of quartets is getting long again. This list has everyone, so the list in this article should just be for the most notable. --Lasunncty (talk) 21:37, 8 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Every quartet champion is notable, otherwise they wouldn't all have their own articles. How do you propose determining grades of notability, in order to limit the length of this embedded list? Ibadibam (talk) 23:14, 8 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Maybe just the superlatives (first, most, etc). Winning alone should not be sufficient since then you'd have to include all of them. --Lasunncty (talk) 07:04, 13 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Ok, so here's some possible criteria:
  • At least one appearance in major media (Buffalo Bills, Suntones, maybe Max Q for American Harmony)
  • At least five published recordings (Acoustix, Bluegrass Student Union, Gas House Gang, etc.)
  • Highest score (Platinum?)
  • Most contest appearances (FRED?)
  • Members outside the United States (Realtime, Ringmasters, Musical Island Boys)
Thoughts? Ibadibam (talk) 20:20, 13 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Those sound good to me. I notice LeadSongDog has added a few facts to some of the quartets, so that is a start. --Lasunncty (talk) 02:21, 14 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Reliable source citations for the added facts would be helpful, especially if the source is not in the quartet's article. —ADavidB 09:20, 14 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I believe that each statement is supported in the qtets' articles, but yes, they should be individually cited. I'm often precluded from accessing the wayback machine, but that may be necessary for some of the sources on websites which have disappeared since they were first cited in those articles. I should really start by marking {{dead link}}s there. (Aside: do we not have a bot crawler vetting that links remain live?) LeadSongDog come howl! 16:41, 14 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Map of Districts out of sync with text description[edit]

The map has the eastern portion of AR in Dixie District but the text doesn't. The map also doesn't have any part of AR in Central States, but the text does. These need to be reconcilized. Jon 21:28, 10 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I used information from the Society's Chapter Locator to compile the list. I used the locations of the rehearsal halls to say which states were in which Districts. I agree that the map does not totally correspond with this information. --Lasunncty 16:45, 27 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Old Songs Library[edit]

Someone care to start a section? Seems like it's worthy of it, if not it's own article.LeadSongDog 01:40, 7 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Racial exclusion[edit]

Although SPEBSQSA and SAI's racial exclusivity in their very early days may be embarrassing to these organizations today, and although these organizations have long since put it behind them, it is nevertheless an historical fact which should not be whitewashed. In 1941, the Grand Central Redcaps, a black quartet, won an important non-SPEBSQSA barbershopping contest in New York, attempted to enter a SPEBSQSA contest, and were refused by O. C. Cash himself, an event which made New York Times headlines at the time. Dpbsmith (talk) 21:23, 2 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I agree that this history should not be hidden, though question its placement in the intro to the article. How about putting the content in a "History" section of the article just below the intro? —Adavidb 12:51, 4 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
That seems a more appropriate place for it. It should also be contextual: compare other US organizations' policies at the time Lions Club, Kiwanis, Boy Scouts of America, USAF, Ivy League, FBI. —Preceding unsigned comment added by LeadSongDog (talk • contribs) 13:37, 4 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
One example:

- Historylink.orgLeadSongDog (talk) 06:08, 10 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Original name: SPPBSQSUS?[edit]

I have come across a reference in some old (1962) chapter literature to an interesting tidbit of Society history. -- The Society was originally incorporated in 1938 under the name "the Society for the Preservation and Propagation of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in the United States". The name was changed to SPEBSQSA, some time later. So I looked it up and this is corroborated on page 101 of the "Four Parts, No Waiting" book. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Geipel (talk • contribs) 02:09, 30 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Membership?[edit]

The listed membership figure is for 2007. Anyone have anything more current? Dpbsmith (talk) 10:54, 30 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Just under 24,000 members as of Sep. 30, 2112. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.95.251.104 (talk) 02:50, 25 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Do you have a reference for that number? The website says "just under 25000" but doesn't have a date. I'll go with that for now. --Lasunncty (talk) 11:18, 25 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I am currently serving as the President of the Far Western District of the Barbershop Harmony Society, and we receive monthly reports from HQ with current membership numbers. As of Feb 28, 2014, the total membership of the BHS is a little under 23,000. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.94.20.255 (talk) 18:29, 8 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]
I know this is a late reply, but we need published sources. The best source I've found is the 2015 Annual Report, which puts the membership at 22,000. Although it's rather odd they should report such a round number without qualification. It's not "over 22,000" or "around" 22,000", but precisely "22,000 members". Ibadibam (talk) 23:11, 8 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified[edit]

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Singing Valentines merge[edit]

Regarding the proposed merge of Singing Valentines article content, I'd suggest it would be better incorporated into the Barbershop music article, rather than one society's article, as such fundraising is done by all three of the genre's major organizations. —ADavidB 04:58, 15 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

  • Comment – Why should it be merged at all? The original merge proposal, to singing telegram, was based on the similarity of the two topics. No rationale has been put forth for the current proposal. Ibadibam (talk) 23:19, 20 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

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50 year member dies McDONNELL, James R., Dr.[edit]

Is this importand enough to merit inclusion? 7&6=thirteen (☎) 18:34, 9 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Having a 50-year-plus membership in this or other hobbies and dying probably does not meet Wikipedia standards for a list, unless the person also met other notability standards. —ADavidB 17:21, 10 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]
You are probably right. Cheers. 7&6=thirteen (☎) 17:36, 10 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Lawsuit[edit]

It’s very peculiar to me that the high profile lawsuit between the society and the foundation does not rate a mention in this Wikipedia article. I think the lawsuit is still active, yes?

https://casetext.com/case/society-for-the-preservation-and-encouragement-of-barber-shop-quartet-singing-in-america-inc-v-plaag

107.185.134.170 (talk) 20:58, 7 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

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