From the Heart of a Chorus Director 💜🎶

As someone deeply devoted to the growth, joy, and artistry of barbershop harmony, I cannot overstate how much I appreciate this candid, clever, and oh-so-accurate guide by Anthony Bartholomew. 🌟 Whether you’re preparing for your very first international experience or you’re a seasoned singer who still gets butterflies before the lights go up, this piece captures the spirit of contest week with wit, wisdom, and heart.

Barbershop isn’t just about notes and chords—it’s about connection, commitment, and community. It’s about showing up for one another, celebrating our shared love of music, and growing not only as performers but as people. That’s why I believe every member of our chorus—and really, every barbershopper—should read this.

Anthony’s guide is a reminder of the magic that happens when preparation meets presence, when laughter meets legacy, and when ordinary moments become extraordinary memories. 🌈✨ His words are a gentle nudge (or sometimes a lovingly firm push!) to embrace all that convention offers—from backstage bonding to the breathtaking blend of tags at midnight.

So drink your water, wear your comfy shoes, cheer loud, and soak it all in. You belong here. We all belong here. And if you’re reading this, know that your voice matters—not just on stage, but in the hearts of those around you.

With gratitude and harmony,
Kira Wagner
Director, Harmony Hills Chorus 🎵💖
Love, Grow, Repeat.

How to Do International and I Suppose Other Conventions

By Anthony Bartholomew

OK FRIENDS, A RECENT POST REMINDED ME THAT I NEEDED TO REFRESH MY GUIDE FOR NEW BARBERSHOPPERS. ENJOY THIS PERFECT GUIDE WITH NO ERRORS AND ALL OBJECTIVE FACTS! 😊

• Drink water.

Start now! A big water bottle with inspirational phrases at each 10 ml tick mark is great (You know the one: “You can do it!” “Just a little more!” “What are you, a camel? That’s not nearly enough. Freaking camel.”). However, you can’t “cram” water. Just drink a bunch all week and the week before. You have to pee though or you’ll die (this is a real thing called acute water intoxication, and it killed a woman who participated in a Hold Your Wee for a Wii radio contest in 2007).

• More on peeing:

Try to wait until intermission. Don’t leave after Great Quartet X but before Some Quartet Y. For the competitor, there is nothing like getting on that stage to the raucous applause of an audience full of fans you didn’t even know you had. Be a fan, stay a little longer. Besides, Some Quartet Y always works a little harder to do something unique to entertain you and you will be annoyed you missed it when all of their mothers are talking about how awesome they did in the lobby. Also, there is invariably New Quartet Z that makes it to the 20 and you’ll have missed their first two bangers like a goober and you can’t rewind real life and you can only rewind the live stream if you know computers.

• While you’re at it, go to the early sessions.

A quartet or chorus singing at 10am who may not get another chance this week worked really hard and paid a lot of money to be here and show off their new suits/shoes/songs. You don’t owe anyone anything, but go watch them anyway. Cheer loudly, preferably on a bubble to preserve your morning voice.

• Dress a little nicer on Saturday night.

It’s kind of the culmination of the whole week and a big-ass party. But not like business casual. Just like you’re going to a party and you want to be a regular party human but not the party human who brings a guitar to the party. But make sure your shoes are comfortable. You know what I mean, don’t be suspicious. And don’t bring a guitar! Barbershop is a cappella for now.

• Go to the AIC show.

Buy the cheapest ticket if you have to (it’s not included in your registration). There are no bad seats and they will rock your socks off. Oh no but a 3-hour show is long! No it’s not, it will fly by and you’ll have no idea where the night went but that’s special relativity baby. Every AIC show I’ve missed I get told that it was the best one yet. Every one I’ve attended proves them right.

• If you see a tag circle and want to try a tag, give them a chance to do it a couple times before asking if you can give sub in. Then, yield the part back. If they say no, that’s ok. Find three other people and sing the tag better and higher and louder. Ringier. Stronger. Vulnerabler. Emotionaler. Oh, and let the chord settle before asking, don’t be this goober at the end of this video: https://youtu.be/T3gJ5M3GsS0

• Pull up the convention program and try to plan out a bunch of stuff, but also plan to get derailed because you felt like talking and meeting and tagging on your way to the 34th Anniversary MBNA CBQC Champs Gold Medal Hour. Don’t schedule sleep, sleep is for freaking sleepers. Yuck. Grow up.

• Speaking of scheduling: https://whosup.live/bhs25 is free and incredible and getting better every year.

• Meet barbershoppers. Add them on Facebook. Delete them three years later when you forget where you met them and they post something morally ambiguous.

• Don’t say You Bet! after a ballad. Don’t say it after an uptune. Don’t say it. I joke about this a lot but the real reason is this makes it about you, when it should be about the performer and the cottage small or county down or whatever they’re singing about. If you want to say You Bet! go arrange a song about betting and qualify for international. May I suggest The Gambler by Kenny Rogers? You bet I can. Aw crap now I’m doing it.

• Everyone there is a little important in the barbershop world. Only a couple there are important in the real world. Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself to anyone and everyone, and tell them where you recognize them from and how they’ve impacted you and chat them up a bit. Ask for a tag. If they are rude, write them off as a goober and then make fun of them in an anonymous thread here. But pay attention to their body language and social cues, if able. If they look like they’re on their way to something or in a deep conversation or in the middle of a tag or only have the mental energy to talk for a little bit, then they are not rude and it is you whom is the goober. Make fun of yourself in an anonymous thread here.

• The judges got it right. There are objective and subjective guardrails in place set up by really smart people that make this the best singing judging system in the world. Am I biased as a judge? Absolutely. But am I standard deviation? Not a chance. So sit back and enjoy the statistical ties between quartets 1-5 and 18-39.

• Everyone competing worked very hard to get here. 60th place in the whole world is still really, really good. No one is bad. Be a good sport and don’t get overheard punching down. Similarly, don’t punch up either; saying you heard an out-of-tune chord from a top 5 quartet helps no one and makes you sound like a snooty goober. Way to go, you picked out the one imperfection of a group who is about to take home the gold medal. We’re all a bunch of amateurs.

• Go buy a shirt from someone somewhere. Put a pin on your lanyard. Buy a lanyard.

• Competing for the first time? It will feel incredible (and fast). A majority of barbershoppers have not had this experience. Get to your rehearsals on time. Soak up the loudest applause you’ve ever received. Wear your chorus shirt that expires next year because the lyric on the back was too specific to this year’s contest set.

• The come-down from the high of the week is a real, scientific, and painful thing happening to your brain akin to that of drug withdrawal. Post on a thread someone will inevitably create here to know you’re not alone. If you’re able, take the Monday off work. Get some rest, drink some water, go outside. It’s not just in your head. Well it technically is, but not in the diminishing way someone might tell you. It gets better in a couple days but in the meantime, it’s real, and it hurts.

• Take it all in! If you mess one of these things up because you’re full of endorphins and can’t help yourself, then that’s great. Don’t let goobers like me tell you how to enjoy yourself. I’m just a guy who thinks about barbershop every day. Have fun. There are no rules, it’s just barbershop. Yes, we are all obsessed. Go and be a barbershopper.

Good luck!! We’re counting on you. ❤️