FOREFRONT 2016 International Quartet Champions Music City Morning News All the News That s Fit to Ring! Weekend Wrap-up 2016 Daily Bulletin NASHVILLE The 78th Annual Barbershop Harmony Society s International Convention A Better World. Singing. Championship Weekend AMBASSADORS OF HARMONY 2016 International Chorus Champions Photos By Tony Nichols
Photos by Tony Nichols
MegaSING Gospel Sing Photos by Chris Wethered, Tony Nichols, and David Belden
Photos Music City Morning News Staff By David Belden, Managing Editor Sam English, Barbara Belden, Ron Hesketh, Sam English, Ford Fuller, Bud Chumley, Jerry Daiker, Tony Nichols, Katie Krotje, Chris Wethered Tony Nichols, Chris Wethered
The Week In Review By Ford Fuller, Daily Bulletin Reporter From the first hello, to the last good-bye, Barbershoppers, family, friends, groupies and community came together some 7,000-strong for a week filled with song, and indeed left Nashville and the world a better place, singing! For some, the week began Sunday night with Barberroo, A Really Awesome Barbershop Show emceed by Lunch Break that featured international medal quartets Lemon Squeezy, Stockholm Syndrome, Ringmasters, Blindside, and 2015 International Champs Instant Classic, plus Australia (BHAC) Chorus Champions Vocal Evolution and of course host Music City Chorus. For most others, the convention started with Tuesday s Harmony Foundation International Youth Barbershop Quartet Contest (YBQC), won by Pratt Street Power (MAD), a 90-day wonder quartet of music education collegians, mostly self-taught but with lastminute help from several renowned coaches, who bested 29 other quartets for the gold. With the youth contest open for the first time to high and middle school quartets, this year s contest was breath-taking, to say the least! And so it went for the entire convention that on Friday crowned Ambassadors of Harmony (CSD) 2016 International Chorus Champions, and on Saturday Forefront (CAR) 2016 International Quartet Champions. If you missed Nashville, you missed another in a recent string of fabulous International Conventions! Among the many highlights were: Tag Zones everywhere, led by experienced TagMasters, and a special Youth Tag Room; International release of two brand-new Songbooks with Learning Tracks: Nashville Barbershop Style and Yuletide Favorites Vol. II; Over 100 outstanding Harmony University classes all week long, neatly sandwiched among the competitions; The Wednesday night Dixieland All Stars jazz band Nashville Style with a dozen Barbershoppers playing to a packed house at the Renaissance Bridge Bar; Quartet and Chorus master classes galore, along with many open rehearsals, windows on how the international competitors do it; The Gospel Sing, returning after a one-year hiatus, led by the Fairfield Four and the Benson Family Singers, with packed pews approaching 500; The World Harmony Jamboree, in support of Barbershop Harmony, again with a full house, featuring Barbershop groups from all over the world, including Double Date (2016 Int l Mixed Quartet Champs), Reckless (BABS Quartet), Take Four (BinG! Quartet), Speed of Sound (SAI 2016 Quartet Champs), Vocal Evolution (BHA Chorus Champs), and more; The most awesome Association of International Champions (AIC) Show you will ever see, Pitch Perfected: An Evening of Vocal Harmony, repeated this year on two successive evenings to accommodate near-sellout crowds; The Public Relations Officers and Bulleting Editors (PROBE) annual meeting, the Society s organizational umbrella for all internal and external communications; Sold-out Sing with the Champs, moved successfully to Friday night, raising funds for Harmony Foundation International, featuring Gold Medal Quartets: The Ritz (1992), Power Play (2003), Vocal Spectrum (2006), Crossroads (2010), Storm Front (2011), Ringmasters (2013), Masterpiece (2014) and Instant Classic (2015); An afternoon of A Better World Singing performances on the outdoor stage, including the hot Mega Sing, all in Walk of Fame Park; The Saturday Night Spectacular, emceed by ACDA Executive Director Dr. Tim Sharp and A Cappella Godfather Deke Sharon, featuring a string of top-notch entertainment, including Great Northern Union, Heavy Medal Chorus (BinG!), the middleschool Wildcat Harmonizers, The Fairfield Four and Crossroads, and showcasing newly-crowned 2016 International Barbershop Youth Quartet champs, Pratt Street Power; Ceremonies celebrating anniversaries of International Quartet Champions The Ritz (25 th ) and The Auto Towners (50 th ); Naming of legendary gospel quartet The Fairfield Four as BHS Honorary Life Members; Recognition of BHS Hall of Fame Class of 2016 inductees: John Douglas Miller, who with his wife Sharon have become lead donors and active advocates for the Harmony Foundation; and The Four Renegades, International Quartet Champions (1965), truly among the greatest of BHS quartet champions; Another terrific Webcast team and production crew led by hosts Debbie Cleveland, Alex Morris and Matt Gifford who reported on all the competition events for worldwide viewing via the Internet; Introduction of Barbers-Hop, a Belgium pale ale brewed especially for the Convention by Nashville s own Rock Bottom Brewery; Guided Tours of the Society s Nashville Headquarters; A constant stream of Twitter-Tagging messages and photos, providing up-to-the-second audience feedback and reactions to anything and everything happening during convention; Tagging. Singing. Hanging Out with our Harmony Brothers and Sisters. And much, much more! Yes, the 2016 Nashville International Convention was all about reaching out to our communities all over the world, getting people everywhere singing, and keeping the whole world singing. We left our mark on Nashville, leaving it and the world a better place. Singing! Nashville 2016. A Better World. Singing.