Barbershop Harmony Society
[English]
The Barbershop Harmony Society was originally named Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America (SPEBSQSA). This was the first of several organizations that were created to support the art form of barbershop music. Started in 1938 by Owen C. Cash, the group quickly became popular with singers across the United States. Currently, with over 30,000 singers across the globe, it is the world's largest all-male singing organization. The organization holds international and district level contests for choruses and quartets every year to promote barbershop music and their traditions. The local chapters are active in their local communities and sing for churches, schools, and hospitals. The local chapters are usually required to hold an annual show which highlights their chorus and individual quartets.
The Barbershop Harmony Society maintains the world's largest privately held collection of sheet music (the Old Songs Library), containing over 125,000 songs from the early part of the 20th century and Tin Pan Alley. The Library of Congress is the only organization with a larger sheet music collection. They also maintain the Heritage Hall Museum of Barbershop Harmony with a repository for barbershop memorabilia and historical documents tracing the roots of the barbershop style. Their website is http://www.barbershop.org/.
See Also
[Abbreviation] SPEBSQSA[Abbreviation] SAI
[English] barbershop music
[English] barbershop quartet
[English] Sweet Adelines International
[English] Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc.
[English] Harmony, Inc.
Share
Tweet
Last Updated: 2016-05-14 01:32:25