2024 Southwest Pride Chorus
60th Annual Show
The Great Barbershop Bake-Off
22 and 23 March 2024
SCHEDULE
--------------------------------------------- 2024 Annual Barbershop Show! (60th Annual Chorus Show) "The Great Barbershop Bake-Off" --------------------------------------------- Friday 22 March 2024 Show starts at 7:30pm and Saturday 23 March 2024 A MATINEE at 2:00pm (FIRST TIME EVER MATINEE!!!) McMahon Auditorium - Lawton, OK -------------------------------------------------------------------- Tickets are available at Scott's House of Flowers in Lawton, from Chorus members, McMahon Auditorium, or SWOKARTS.COM. Processing fees may be added for credit/debit cards. Adult Tickets are $20 at the Door or in advance. Children tickets are $5 at the Door or in advance. Children are ages 18 and under. --------------------------------------------- (Contact us if you are interested in supporting the local Barbershop Chapter by placing a business advertisement in the show program.) --------------------------------------------- Upcoming Performances More events to be announced! - |
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Open Invitation
Any guy or youth (of any age) interested in singing with us can attend any of our regular weekly meetings. Here are directions to our meetings: http://tinyurl.com/SWPMeetingplace. We are always glad to have new people join us in song. Please feel free to attend any of our meetings. If you'd like to be added to our annual show mailing list, or get more information about us and our meetings, feel free to Contact Us at webmaster@swpridechorus.com!
Weekly Chapter Meetings
Our regular meetings are in Lawton at the First Presbyterian Church (see first Google map below for Lawton OK First Presbyterian Church at 13th and B Avenue) each Monday of the month except for Monday government holidays.
All regular meetings begin at 7:30 pm. [In preparation for the annual show, meetings in January through the show date are Mondays AND Thursdays at 7pm.]
All regular meetings begin at 7:30 pm. [In preparation for the annual show, meetings in January through the show date are Mondays AND Thursdays at 7pm.]
History of the Lawton-Duncan Southwest Pride Chorus
The Lawton Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society was organized in 1963 and chartered in 1965. The Duncan Chapter was chartered in 1973. In 1982 the two chapters merged to form the Southwest Pride Chorus. We are laymen from all walks of life who love to sing the old harmony songs. We work hard but we have fun while we are working. We sing for various groups around the area and sometimes compete in the Northwest Division and Southwestern District level of the Barbershop Harmony Society. Any man interested in "busting a chord" with us can attend our regular meetings.
The Southwest Pride Chorus was the Small Chorus Champion in 2008 competition in the Barbershop Harmony Society Southwestern District Northwest Division.
The Southwest Pride Chorus was the Small Chorus Champion in 2008 competition in the Barbershop Harmony Society Southwestern District Northwest Division.
What is the Barbershop Harmony Society?
The Barbershop Harmony Society was formerly called the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing of America or SPEBSQSA. The Barbershop Harmony Society is devoted to promoting, preserving, and enjoying a special form of harmony known as barbershop. But what makes a particular song or arrangement "barbershop-able"? What's the difference between barbershop and doo-wap, jazz, madrigal, and other acapella music? Technically speaking, barbershop harmony is a style of unaccompanied singing with three voices harmonizing to the melody. The Lead usually sings the melody, with the Tenor harmonizing above the lead. The Bass sings the lowest harmonizing notes and the Baritone provides in-between notes, either above or below the lead to make chords (specifically, dominant-type or "barbershop" sevenths) that give barbershop its distinctive, "full" sound. A characteristic of the tuned barbershop chord is the creation of the overtone sound of the chord's root note one octave above the four voices. This overtone is the barbershop "Fifth" voice.
History of the Barbershop Harmony Society
While traveling to Kansas City on business, Tulsa tax attorney O. C. Cash, happened to meet fellow Tulsan Rupert Hall in the lobby of the Muehlebach Hotel. The men fell to talking and discovered they shared a mutual love of vocal harmony. Together they bemoaned the decline of that all-American institution, the barbershop quartet, and decided to stem that decline. Signing their names as "Rupert Hall, Royal Keeper of the Minor Keys" and "O. C. Cash, Third Temporary Assistant Vice Chairman" of the "Society for the Preservation and Propagation of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in the United States", the two invited their friends to a songfest on the roof garden of the Tulsa Club on April 11, 1938. Twenty-six men attended that first meeting and returned the following week with more friends. About 150 men attended the third meeting, and the grand sounds of harmony they raised on the rooftop created quite a stir. A traffic jam formed outside the hotel.
While police tried to straighten out the problem, a reporter of the local newspaper heard the singing, sensed a great story, and joined the meeting. O. C. Cash bluffed his way through the interview, saying his organization was national in scope with branches in St. Louis, Kansas City and elsewhere. He simply neglected to mention that these "branches" were just a few scattered friends who enjoyed harmonizing, but knew nothing of Cash's new club. Cash's flair for publicity, combined with the unusual name (the ridiculous initials poked fun at the alphabet soup of New Deal programs), made an irresistible story for the news wire services, which spread it coast-to-coast. Cash's "branches" started receiving puzzling calls from men interested in joining the barbershop society. Soon, groups were meeting throughout North America to sing barbershop harmony. SPEBSQSA was born.
http://www.barbershop.org/
While police tried to straighten out the problem, a reporter of the local newspaper heard the singing, sensed a great story, and joined the meeting. O. C. Cash bluffed his way through the interview, saying his organization was national in scope with branches in St. Louis, Kansas City and elsewhere. He simply neglected to mention that these "branches" were just a few scattered friends who enjoyed harmonizing, but knew nothing of Cash's new club. Cash's flair for publicity, combined with the unusual name (the ridiculous initials poked fun at the alphabet soup of New Deal programs), made an irresistible story for the news wire services, which spread it coast-to-coast. Cash's "branches" started receiving puzzling calls from men interested in joining the barbershop society. Soon, groups were meeting throughout North America to sing barbershop harmony. SPEBSQSA was born.
http://www.barbershop.org/