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The following list of basic Barbershop questions were originally published on the Society's website. Please take a moment to read the entire article. A. Four-part, a cappella (unaccompanied), close-harmony singing. The melody is carried in the second voice, called the lead. The tenor harmonizes above the melody; the bass sings the lowest notes; and the baritone fills in the missing notes to complete the chord, sometimes above and sometimes below the melody. A. Barbershop is a uniquely American music style/art form, created at the turn of the century by ear harmonizers, or “woodshedders,” who sang without benefit of printed arrangements. It is largely the old songs because the kinds of melodies that are best adapted to the style are those written in the heyday of Tin Pan Alley, from 1890 to 1920. Most Vaudeville shows had a barbershop quartet, although the singers did not use that name. A. Yes, it was. The barbershop was a gathering place for men of the community, and while they waited their turn they would often harmonize a current popular song. The first use of the term "barbershop" was in a song written in 1911 that declared: "Mr. Jefferson Lord, play that barbershop chord." A. The Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America. It was founded April 11, 1938, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by O.C. Cash and Rupert Hall. The lengthy name was the tongue-in-cheek creation of Cash, designed to poke fun at the alphabet soup of FDR’s many New Deal agencies. A. SPEBSQSA headquarters is located at Harmony Hall, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Today there are more than 825 chapters across North America. With more than 32,000 members, the Society is the world’s largest all-male singing organization. In addition, there are more than 4,500 affiliates in eight foreign countries: England, Sweden, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Germany and Ireland. A. No. Today choruses numbering from 20 to more than 120 men sing barbershop harmony. And it is from these choruses that quartets are formed. Each chapter in the Society has a chorus, and there are nearly 2,000 registered quartets in SPEBSQSA. A. The BIG APPLE CHORUS is the Manhattan, New York chapter of the Barbershop Society. We rehearse at 111 E. 33rd in the auditorium (3rd Floor) of Norman Thomas High School. Our meetings begin at 7:00 p.m. on Mondays (holiday schedules differ) and continue until 10:00 p.m. Guests, families and friends are always welcome to listen (and SOMETIMES participate!!!). A. There are several, including contests, education, music publishing, Young Men In Harmony (youth outreach), charity and grants, museum and library.

• Contests are held each year in the Society’s 16 districts to select chorus and quartet representatives to the international contest held each summer. Through its contest system, SPEBSQSA preserves the barbershop style. Judging is in three categories: music, singing and presentation. There is a rigorous training and certification program for all Society judges.
• SPEBSQSA conducts Chapter Operations Training Seminars (COTS) in each of its 16 districts to educate chapter and district administrators. Harmony College is a week of training in all aspects of the barbershop style, chorus directing, quartet singing, vocal technique, arranging, show production, music theory, and more. Harmony College is held each August at Missouri Western State College, in St. Joseph, Missouri. The Society produces many educational videos and publishes books and manuals.
• SPEBSQSA has published more than 900 printed arrangements of barbershop music. Learning tapes are also produced for many of the arrangements to facilitate learning.
• Young Men In Harmony programs bring barbershop harmony to colleges, high schools and middle schools. In co-sponsorship with MBNA America, the Society conducts an annual Collegiate Barbershop Quartet Contest, with the finals held at the international convention. Harmony Explosion Camps are held each summer for high school students and teachers. These programs are endorsed by the MENC: The National Association for Music Education and the American Choral Directors Association. Headquarters staff members make presentations to these groups annually, and conduct seminars and workshops for music educators.
• The Society’s official charity is Harmony Foundation Harmony Foundation, the Society’s official charity, guides all fund raising for the Society’s benefit. It also oversees grant education and services for Society chapters and districts, helping them gain the financial means to support worthwhile projects in their communities.
• Contributions to the Foundation annual fund supports special Society projects, including Directors College scholarships, Harmony Explosion Camps and the Heritage Hall Museum of Barbershop Harmony. An endowment program helps ensure the future of the uniquely American art form of barbershop harmony.
• The Heritage Hall Museum of Barbershop Harmony is housed in Harmony Hall, SPEBSQSA headquarters in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The museum was opened in 1968 to collect, preserve and share the rich and varied heritage of barbershop and the Society. Through the years it has grown into an integrated resource, offering archives and collections, exhibits and research services.
• The Old Songs Library is believed to be the world’s largest independent collection of sheet music, second only to the Library of Congress. It houses more than 750,000 sheets of music and more than 112,000 titles. In addition, it maintains a collection of more than 1,000 unpublished barbershop arrangements.

A. Yes, two, in fact: Sweet Adelines International (30,000 members) and Harmony Inc. (2,700 members). Additionally, there are women’s groups in England and Holland.