Mixed Barbershop Harmony Association MIXED MESSAGE Volume 3, Issue 1 June 2025

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Hello again, Mixed Barbershop singers!

It’s been a wonderful few months since our last newsletter, and I continue to be inspired by the passion and creativity I see from our MBHA community. From new quartets forming to choruses dusting off old charts and getting back into rehearsal rooms, the energy is unmistakable — we’re truly on the upswing!

We’re hard at work finalizing MBHA’s Strategic Plan. This roadmap will help guide our organization into a new era—one that supports growth, encourages inclusion, and keeps the joy of barbershop at its heart. Expect more educational offerings, more coaching access, and more opportunities to showcase your ensembles in meaningful ways.

A big congratulations to all of the MBHA ensembles who have competed in spring contests so far—we’ve seen incredible performances, heartfelt artistry, and amazing progress across the board. And to those still preparing for upcoming competitions, we’re cheering you on! Your dedication and love for Mixed Barbershop continues to make us proud.

I’m also happy to announce that nominations for the 2025–2026 MBHA Board of Directors are now open! We’re looking for enthusiastic volunteers who are passionate about mixed barbershop and eager to help shape the future of our community. Whether you’re a seasoned leader or someone looking to get more involved, we’d love to hear from you.

If you’ve been thinking about getting more involved, now’s the time—we welcome your voice, your ideas, and your energy. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with suggestions or questions about how you can participate more fully in the MBHA community.

And finally, please save the date: Sunday, August 17 at 4 p.m. Eastern/1 p.m. Pacific for our Annual General Membership Meeting. Zoom link will go out at a later date.

As always, you can contact me directly at president@mixedbarbershop.org.

In harmony,
Janine Roberts
President, MBHA

HARMONY FEST WEST: One more chance to experience a great convention!

The Harmony Fest West contest entry process is NOW OPEN! Enter your ensemble today by contacting harmonyfestwest@harmonyinc.org.

Purchase your passes/tickets here

Hotel booking is now open! Reservations can be made here

Tempe Trail: The Path to Harmony Fest West

Legend tells of a festival in the far west, a place where all barbershop singers can come together in harmony. In this storied place, singers of all affiliations are welcome to take the stage, learn from the oracles of the hobby, and sing a tag together under the Arizona moon.
We invite you to join us July 10-13 in Tempe Arizona for Harmony, Inc.’s inaugural Harmony Fest West! Come for the contests, come for the education, or come just to support Harmony, Inc.’s expansion project! The journey will be worth it!

Important Deadlines

June 10
Last day to enter the contest

June 11
Draw for Order of Appearance
Last day to book hotel room at group rate

July 1
Last day to purchase AEPs
Last day to order Big Screen Ad's
For more information, or to register visit our Harmony Fest West website!

PAST PREZ: World Mixed Contests are coming!

Now that my term as President has passed, my role as Past President becomes one of supporting the President and participating in some Board activities. This article will address some of those activities.

World Mixed Barbershop

The World Mixed Barbershop Contest is hosted by BinG! (Barbershop in Germany) in the spring of even-numbered years. Past contests featured competitors from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Australia as well as Germany.

MBHA played an important role in the development of the first World Mixed contest. That first year, only mixed quartets were involved, but in subsequent years mixed choruses were added. Competitors from each country (not organization) were nominated and and then invited to participate.

The rules stipulate that up to 3 quartet and 3 chorus competitors are invited by country (thus, Canada and the United States are represented separately). Due to the pandemic, there were no contests in 2020, 2022, and 2024. The good news is the BinG! Board of Directors has announced there will be another World Mixed in March 2026 in Germany.

Nominations are now open for mixed choruses and mixed quartets from Canada and the U.S. based on results from contests held in 2025 at BHS District conventions and HI Area/International conventions. So to all MBHA quartets and choruses, get your entry in to either a BHS District this spring or fall who will accept your entry for score and evaluation, or to an HI Area contest this spring, to receive a score from certified judges. Following your participation in the contest, simply send a copy of your contestant scoring summary to me at btowner@mixedbarbershop.org and I will record your score for potential nomination. The cutoff date has not been set yet, but it is expected it will be November. After that date those nominees who are being invited will receive information from BinG!

Board Nominations

Each year at our annual meeting in August, we elect individuals to join the MBHA Board. As Past President, one of my functions is to chair the nominating committee. If you are interested in joining a great group of people who are committed to moving MBHA ahead in the years to come, you can contact me and I will pass this along to the committee. Be prepared to receive information from the nominating committee in future weeks.

Enjoy singing with your friends and family,

In Harmony,

Barry Towner
Immediate Past President

WINNERS!

"GUYS!!!! We won the thing!!!" exults Way She Goes quartet following their highest-scoring set at Harmony, Inc. Area 3 convention last month. Their score qualified them for an invitation to the HI International Convention and Contests in Pennsylvania in November.

The quartet continues, "Big thanks to Area 3 Harmony, Inc. for hosting us in the Mixed Barbershop Harmony Association contest, and the tremendous audience who gave us so much love. See y'all in Hershey!"

Congratulations to Way She Goes!

Strategic Plan Progress

We are currently pursuing two projects in our strategic plan:

We are seeking an closer relationship with Harmony, Inc. to faciliatate sharing educational materials between our two allied organizations.

Director Bill Colosimo will be teaching a class on Mixed Barbershop Harmony at the Mid-Atlantic District’s Harmony College East this month. We will use material from this class to create a short “elevator speech” about MBHA.

Coming Attractions: We plan to research on the possibility of MBHA insurance for our members and ensembles in the US and Canada.

Sincerely,
Dick Powell
Board Member at Large

FROM THE EDITORS' DESK

By Dick & Roxanne Powell, Editors

Hello, everyone! We hope you enjoyed catching up with the news in MBHA. We'd love to feature ALL of YOU in future issues of Mixed Message. Why not drop us a line and send us a photo the next time you perform in your community, assist in a service project, or visit someplace interesting you'd like to share with the rest of us.

In our next issue (Deadline August 18) we plan to feature some of the spring/summer activities of our members, including the doings at Harmony, Inc. Area conventions and BHS spring conventions. If you attend one, we'd be very interested in hearing about your experience.

What would YOU like to read about in our next issue?