ANNOUNCEMENTS

October 22, 2021 — The Far Western District is proud to announce an exciting event in corporation with the Southern California Vocal Association, the Association of International Champions, and Harmony Foundation International.

On Thursday and Friday, October 28 and 29, five International Champion quartets will visit 15 schools in Southern California to perform, conduct clinics, and share our treasured barbershop harmony with hundreds of youth in our area. This extraordinary partnership enables us to continue our 20-year legacy of Youth in Harmony festivals and programming that has included programs like the High School Youth Festival held by the Masters of Harmony, and Richard Lund’s Northern California Youth Camp.

The stage is set for this unprecedented youth outreach initiative, and your Far Western District has pledged $5,000 in a matching funds campaign to supplement the funding provided by Harmony Foundation through the AIC Youth Outreach program. We urge you to join us by contributing to help us build our legacy to the next generation of barbershoppers. We’ll match every dollar contributed, up to $5,000.

Join us, and invest in this very special youth event!

Far Western District $5,000 AIC Match Challenge

DONATE HERE and your gift will be matched by the FWD!

October 8, 2021 — 2022 Midwinter/International contest qualification update

QUALIFICATION FOR 2022 INTERNATIONAL SENIORS QUARTET CONTEST

Three paths to enter the International Seniors Quartet Contest at the 2022 Midwinter Convention

With fewer in-person contests being staged this Fall, opportunities to qualify for the 2022 International Seniors Quartet Contest have been limited. To provide widest possible access, quartets may qualify by any of three methods:

Quartets that scored 72% or higher at the Jacksonville Midwinter in 2020 will get an automatic invitation
Quartets may participate in their 2021 Fall District in-person qualification contest
Quartets may submit a 2-song video submission. This can be a new recording (doesn’t have to be in front of an audience) or it can be from any performance in 2020 or 2021, including the Jacksonville Midwinter (if from Jacksonville, the performances will be reassessed by a different panel of judges and the scores may be different)

Get full details at www.barbershop.org/2022-seniors-qualification Act now: the first deadline (quartet entry online), runs from September 24– October 15, with completed videos submitted by October 29.

QUALIFICATION FOR 2022 INTERNATIONAL CHORUS CONTEST

WHO QUALIFIES AUTOMATICALLY?

Invitations to the 2022 International Chorus Contest are automatically extended to all choruses who had previously qualified for 2021 Cleveland, regardless of whether they had accepted the invitation.

HOW ELSE CAN CHORUSES QUALIFY FOR CHARLOTTE 2022?

The long interruption to regular rehearsals caused by the pandemic resulted in choruses taking some time to return to their normal performing level. For this reason, the qualification score for the 2022 International Chorus Contest has been lowered to 78. This means that additional choruses to be invited include:

All choruses that competed in the Fall of 2019 and were their district rep or were offered a wild card but declined the invitation, as these choruses all scored at 78 or higher.
Any choruses that scored 78 or higher at International 2019 or at their Fall 2019 contest.
Any choruses that score 78 or higher at a Fall 2021 contest (if their district has one). Any Fall 2021 contests that happen will be to qualify choruses only based on scoring 78 or higher. The highest scoring chorus will not automatically receive an invitation as district representative.
Any chorus from an Alliance organization that qualifies to represent that organization through the existing process.
Any chorus that submits a video of a contest set that is scored at 78 or higher. The chorus must register for video qualification by December 1, 2021 but the video will not need to be submitted until the spring of 2022 at a date to be determined.
Any chorus that scored 78 or higher at a Spring 2022 contest with at least a double panel of BHS judges. The chorus must register for a live spring contest qualification by December 1, 2021.

Exceptions:

The deadline to accept an invitation into the Chorus Finals based on prior scores is December 1, 2021, the same as the deadline to register for video or live Spring 2022 qualification.
The normal rules regarding replacement of an International Chorus Competitor will not apply for 2022. (See II.F.2 International Chorus Contests, Replacement.)
All other rules apply as written in the C&J Handbook.

HOW WILL CHORUSES BE NOTIFIED?

Look for additional communications from the Barbershop Harmony Society via email.

Get full details at www.barbershop.org/2022-qualification-process

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Kevin Keller - Virtual Midwinter Keynote MUST WATCH

Blair Brown - Virtual Midwinter Keynote MUST WATCH

How to use ZOOM - Free Video Conferencing & Virtual Meetings

Video conferencing, virtual meetings, virtual classrooms are on the rise and Zoom is a desktop-based app that makes having virtual meetings a lot easier.