In This Issue

• Join In The Fun - Chapter Shows
• Recruit at your Holiday Show
• Barbershop at Carnegie Hall?
• Put Your Quartet in the Spotlight at the 50th Annual SoCal Novice Contest, January 28, 2012
• NorCal Novice - Feb 25
• WE WANT YOU To Join the HARMONY PLATOON
• Spring Convention - March 8-11, 2012
• Division Conventions
• Chapter Leader Monthly To Do
• Calendar and Important Links

Join In The Fun - Chapter Shows

A barbershop chapter near you may have a really terrific show soon. Below are the shows currently listed in the FWD calendar over the next six weeks.

The complete district Calendar is at FWD Calendar. If your chapter show is listed, but without any details, go to Submit Show Details to provide the requested information.

Date	City	Show Description
Dec 9, 2011	Brea, CA	Brea show G.I. Christmas Blues with Gaslight Chorus, Four Fifteen Quartet    Website    E-Mail    Flyer Join our nostalgic tribute to the men and women, then and now, who protect our freedom. Filled with hope and anticipation, don't miss it!
Dec 10, 2011	Las Vegas, NV	Las Vegas show
Dec 10, 2011	Brea, CA	Brea show G.I. Christmas Blues with Gaslight Chorus, Four Fifteen Quartet    Website    E-Mail    Flyer Join our nostalgic tribute to the men and women, then and now, who protect our freedom. Filled with hope and anticipation, don't miss it!
Dec 10, 2011		Santa Rosa show
Dec 10, 2011		Sante Fe Springs show
Dec 10, 2011		Canada Del Oro
Dec 10, 2011	Mesa, AZ	Greater Phoenix show A Holiday Celebration with Spirit of Phoenix Chorus    Website    E-Mail
Dec 10, 2011	Whittier, CA	Santa Fe Springs shows
Dec 11, 2011	San Diego, CA	La Jolla show
Dec 18, 2011	Oceanside, CA	Palomar Pacific show

Recruit at your Holiday Show

When your chorus goes into the lobby to greet your audience after your show, instead of just saying "thank you", say "Thank you for coming. So where do you do your singing?"

Most men will likely say "in the shower" or "with the radio". (They've probably been told they can't sing, so they don't sing in front of people.)

Then you can respond with "That's why I sing with these guys. We're an ensemble and not soloists. We all sing together for that unit sound and we have a lot of fun doing it. Do you have a card with your phone number? I'll call you so we can talk a little more later."

If your show patron says he sings in church, plays, or Karaoke then you can reply with "That's great. You should visit one of our meetings and really see what fun is. Do you have a card so I can call you with more information?"

The object is to get their phone numbers so you may call them. If they don't have a card, ask for a phone number and be prepared to jot down a name and number. A live follow-up phone call is imperative. E-Mail or texting or handing out cards and flyers is less effective. It's a one-on-one sell.

That's just the first step. When a guest comes to your chapter meeting you need to make him feel welcome. Introduce him to other members and be prepared to be his riser buddy.

At break time get him into a quartet and teach him a tag, first in fifth wheel mode, then let him carry his part by himself. He'll learn he can do it and you can learn what you have in him musically. He'll hear the BBS four-part chords ringing in his ear and he created it. Immediate success is the hook.

All people need to sing and we hold the answer to allow that to happen.

Jack Peters
FWD Membership Chairman

Barbershop at Carnegie Hall?

Note from Richard Lund
DVP Northeast Division
Director, Youth Harmony Camp

All,

John Krizek has alerted me to an amazing event coming up soon that I wanted to share with you.

On Monday, December 26, 2011 at 8pm, the 165-voice No Borders Youth Chorus (organized for a one-time only performance) will be performing at Carnegie Hall with special guests Prestige (2011 International Collegiate Quartet Champions), Tim Waurick, Sean Devine and other guests. The concert serves as a benefit concert for Japan disaster relief and will also feature an award winning youth orchestra from Japan.

For more information and to donate to this worthy event, please go to: http://barbershopatcarnegie.com/page/donate

Here's more in an email from Joe Cerutti, director of the chorus, to John Krizek, FWD YIH chair:

John,

The FWD has 13 singers attending the Carnegie event from CA, NV, and UT ranging in age from 17-29. Here's who I could see at a very quick glance, I may have missed a few.

Jamie Bedford Taylor Price Spencer Gentry David Rakita Carson Knuth Adrian Arteaga Deran Conkling

Emzy Borroughs David Poll Austin Eliante Nick Pizzo Kyle Blomgren Jordan Haedtler

Again, my spreadsheet of all the participants is not organized by district so it's a little hard to see, but it looks like all but one of them have stated that they are members of the BHS.

They seem to represent 5 schools: the University of Nevada, Buckingham Charter Magnet High School, University of Southern California, BYU, and the University of Puget Sound;

6 FWD Chapters: Voices in Harmony, American River Chorus, Redding Riverside Chorus, Westminster, Brea, and Masters of Harmony;

and 3 Youth Choruses: the Really Big Quartet Youth Chorus, Pacific Standard Youth Chorus, and the Silver Staters Youth Chorus.

... but that's just a rough glance through the spread sheet, there may be a few more.

As you may have seen in the original email, we are in need of financial support so that, once the kids pay their way to NYC, they do not have to pay for anything additional. Any support that the FWD can offer so that we can better support the singers would be greatly appreciated. Donations can be directed to http://barbershopatcarnegie.com/page/donate and free tickets can be a acquired at http://barbershopatcarnegie.com/page/usa-japan-goodwill-concert-ticket-requests

Many thanks!

Joe Cerutti
Music Director, Alexandria Harmonizers
Music Director, Pride of Baltimore
Certified MUS Judge, BHS
Society Board Member 2012-2014

Put Your Quartet in the Spotlight at the 50th Annual SoCal Novice Contest, January 28, 2012

The 50th Annual Southern California Novice Quartet Contest will be held in Orange on Saturday, January 28, 2011. The event will start at 7:00 pm at the Village Theatre, 1140 N. Tustin Street, Orange, CA 92868. This year's contest, sponsored by the Orange Quartet Chapter, carries forward the tradition established by the Westminster Chapter.

All barbershoppers are encouraged to consider participating in the contest! Singers of all experience levels, and from anywhere, are welcome! It is not uncommon to see veteran quartetters participating to help support new singers. Quartets can also use the contest to prepare for later competitions, or perhaps try a new singer combination or material. Feel free to use take advantage of the opportunity however you see fit.

Scoring will follow standard Society methods and quartets will receive an evaluation to help members see their strong points and opportunities for improvement. As in years past, a handicapping system will be used based on quartet members' past experience in competition.

Competing quartets do not need to be Society-registered, though all four members should be current SPEBSQSA members. The entry fee is $25 for each competing quartet. Entries must be submitted no later than January 1, 2012. Make your plans now so that the holidays don't catch you napping!

For those who show up to watch, it's a great way to see and support the talents of your fellow barbershoppers! Audience tickets are available for general seating sections priced at $10 and $15 for adults, half price for children under 12. Competitors do not need to purchase audience tickets for themselves.

Please visit the Orange Chapter Website at orange.harmonize.com for quartet rules and registration, and audience ticket purchases. Inquiries can also be made to orangequartets@gmail.com or (714) 442-8500.

Regards

Mark Sheldon
(714) 865-5799
Orange Quartet Chapter PR

NorCal Novice - Feb 25

OK, all you NorCal singers. If you aren't in a quartet yet, now's the time to get started and Ripon, CA, is the place to be on Feb 25.

What	NorCal Novice Contest
When	Saturday, February 25, 2012, 4pm
Where	Calvary Reformed Church 724 Second St Ripon, CA
Why	Because it's fun, it's central to a lot of chapters, you can compete or be in the audience eating popcorn, and you'll get to see the up and coming quartets before they become the champs.
How	Just sign up next month when we publish the full details, but for now reserve the time on your calendar and start rehearsing.
What Else	Pizza and singing around at the afterglow for even more fun.

WE WANT YOU To Join the HARMONY PLATOON

It's a quality pre-contest quartet activity March 8-9, 2012 at the Spring Convention.

Most of you have heard about the High Sierra Harmony Brigade that took place in Reno last August. Participants, perhaps to a man, will tell you it was one of the best barbershop experiences of their life. Many of you may like to try this but do not have the ability (some of the arrangements are very difficult), time (it is one additional weekend to your packed schedule), or money ($200 plus travel) to do so. Or maybe you plan to attend High Sierra Harmony Brigade but don't want to wait till next August for all that fun. Well, my friends, the Harmony Platoon might be for you, at a cost of only $20!

In a pilot event at Spring FWD Convention in Ontario, forty (40) men will engage in a quality 24-hour pre-contest quartet singing opportunity called the Harmony Platoon. It will culminate with a quartet contest on Friday afternoon. Two months prior to the Platoon event, each participant will receive sheet music and learning tracks to four songs of moderate to easy difficulty, taken from the Society's Music Premiere Series. They will commit to learning their part cold and be "quartet ready" on all four songs by the start of the Platoon. To quote the motto of our "big brother," the Harmony Brigade, "Coming unprepared is not an option!" Quartet members and their song for the Platoon contest will be assigned at random at the start of the event.

This will be challenging enough to be fun for experienced quartet men and an excellent opportunity for quality singers without quartet experience who believe they have what it takes to sing in a quartet.

Deadline to submit registration is December 16. Get in your registration right away, however, as we expect the roster to fill up quickly. We are limiting the number participating to 10 each of tenor, lead, baritone, and bass singers. Learning tracks will come out around the first of the year.

Fill out the registration form or contact me with questions. You know you'll love it.

Bill Kane
FWD Quartet Activity Chairman
BillKaneVip@msn.com
480-421-6413

P.S. In addition to the Platoon, we are working on a quartet program that will be available to singers of all levels called the Quartet Boot Camp. It will be offered on a local level in your chapter or a cluster of local chapters. Watch for more details.

Spring Convention- March 8-11, 2012

Mark your calendar now so you won't miss this convention. You can't miss out on all of this:

• International Quartet Prelims where you'll hear the very best quartets in our district
• Southeast Division Contests for Chorus and Quartets
• Southwest Division Contests for Chorus and Quartets
• Classes on many different topics on Friday afternoon
• The new Quartet Platoon event from Thursday afternoon through Friday afternoon and their show Friday afternoon where you can be their audience
• Lots of hallway, stairwell, restaurant, lobby, and electrical closet quartetting
• Socializing with the many friends you know across our district

The convention website will be updated regularly as the details firm up.

Division Conventions

They'll be here before you know it. Mark your calendars.

Apr 13- Apr 14	Northwest Division Convention , Woodside, CA Host: Palo Alto-Mountain View Peninsulaires
Apr 20- Apr 21	Arizona Division Convention , Phoenix, AZ Moon Valley High School    Host: Tucson Barbershop Experience Email
May 18- May 19	Northeast Convention , Sacramento, CA Host: Sacramento Capitolaires

Chapter Leader Monthly To Do