Prospectus 2016
for 1st Time AHB Applicants ONLY
Please read this entire Prospectus then follow the instructions at the end to apply.
Thank you for your interest in the Atlantic Harmony Brigade, an event for avid and able quartet men. Please carefully read the following description of the 11th annual Atlantic Harmony Brigade event for the dates, costs, expectations, criteria for participation, activities, etc. After reading it, if it still sounds like something you’d like to do, and it’s something you feel confident you can do, please submit an application online. Please read this entire prospectus carefully and then follow the instructions to apply.
About the Brigade Program
If you are passionate about quartetting, if you can learn music accurately and quickly, if you have quartet experience, and you yearn for informal quartetting with a network of solid, like-minded, and accomplished guys, the Atlantic Harmony Brigade (AHB) may be for you. Hundreds of men throughout the Barbershop Harmony Society and from several countries have enjoyed these unique Brigade rallies. In the Mid-Atlantic District, the AHB has been an annual event since 2006, and it has been attended by over 300 well-prepared participants from over 18 states and four countries. We are proud to have earned the support of the BHS and our District for this quartet-oriented program.
What the Event Looks Like
This is an invitational weekend event of non-stop quartetting and quartet partner switching. Participants sing in hundreds of possible quartet combinations. Up to 124 men will arrive in Delaware in August, solidly prepared, knowing their part on twelve great championship level songs. They’ll be ready, willing, and able to spend the entire weekend formally and informally quartetting. There are two rounds of good-natured, adjudicated quartet competitions, with randomly selected quartet members and randomly selected songs out of the 12 provided. There are procedures in place to check each man to make sure he knows all the songs – cold. The Rally participants also present a show open to the public. This year the headline quartet and judging panel will be Route 1, current M-AD District Champs. . The AHB sings as a chorus and there are numerous opportunities for pick up quartets to perform on the show, after an audition process.
If you have ever attended Harmony University, Harmony College East, or an International or District Convention where you have stayed up well beyond your bedtime singing with other guys just for the fun of it, then you will be able to relate to the Brigade experience. The difference is—instead of trying to figure out what you all know, or what three of you know and one of you tries to “woodshed” your way through—you will have 12 great songs in common, and you will have a whole weekend to do it!
The basic information is as follows:
1) The event takes place in Wilmington, DE from 4:00 PM on Friday, August 19, 2016, to Sunday breakfast, August 21. Sunday morning’s breakfast is part of the package and will send you off with a glow!
2) The cost of the event is $299 and includes a double occupancy room (Friday night and Saturday night), meals (Friday and Saturday dinner, Saturday and Sunday breakfast, contest participation, all learning materials, and all registration fees. Financial assistance and grants may be available for some hardship cases. All requests are discreet and confidential. Contact Membership VP Jim Hvidding at [email protected] if you feel you might need assistance.
3) Everyone wishing to participate in the event must submit an application and a $139 deposit. The application process is on-line only. Participation is limited to 124 qualified men equally distributed among the four voice parts (31 men on each) on a “first to apply and qualify, first invited” basis, tiered as follows:
o AHB Members and last year’s successful guests are given priority early acceptance if their application and registration fee is received no later than February 15, 2016. Men who attend for the second consecutive year are considered to be “candidates” for membership.
o First time applicants are referred to as “guests” and should be sponsored by an AHB Member. Those who apply with the support of a sponsoring Member will be given advanced application review between February 1 and February 28.
o Unsponsored Guests (1st year applicants without an AHB member sponsor) are also encourage to submit an application. If accepted, they will be assigned to a willing “Board Designated Sponsor”. These applications will be reviewed last, after February 28.
All applications should be completed right away to get the benefit of an early review. The final deadline for all applications is March 1, 2016. Learning materials will be made available on-line for all approved invitees on or about April 1. That gives everyone 20 weeks to master all 12 songs.
If the application is approved, the applicant will receive additional event information, fully interpreted high-grade learning mp3’s for his voice part, and the legal music for the 12 songs that will be sung at the event. Deposits will be returned to those applicants who are not approved for attendance or who are “wait listed.”
4) All participants will be required to learn their part on all 12 songs, cold. Everyone is required to have his music and the interpretation completely memorized and be 100% fully-prepared upon arrival at the event. They must be able to sing all the songs in a quartet. THIS IS THE BINDING ETHIC OF THE BRIGADE.
5) In reviewing the applications, the invitation committee will be looking ideally for individuals with district (or solid level division, novice, or comparable) quartet experience, successful experience or membership in other Brigades, special musical and performance experience, and/or a sponsor’s reference to support the individual’s ability to thoroughly learn 12 medium to challenging songs.
The Deal
As you can see, the Brigade is not for everyone. This is an event for ambitious, highly motivated, reasonably experienced quartetters. While the Brigade is not for beginners, you don’t need to be an International Champion either. The object of the brigade is to provide an exciting venue and a large network of strongly committed singers and also a fertile ground for the development of high-level quartetting.
Typical schedule of activities (subject to change)
Friday
11am – 3pm Community Singouts
4:00 Registration at Hotel. Checking of parts for Stage pass starts, open singing
5:00 - 6:15 Dinner, orientation, and quartet draw
7:30 Quartet (first round) contest
10:00 to ? Open singing, part checking, etc.
Saturday
8:00 am
9:00-9:45 Master's class and/or coaching
10:00 Business meeting. Wild Card quartet announced. Announce audition songs. Guests and candidates introduced.
11:00 Open singing, checking
12:00 pm Lunch on your own (list to be provided), open singing
2:00 Show Rehearsal
3:00 Quartet Finals (Winning Quartet offered a spot on the show)
4:15 Even more open singing
5:00 Dinner, relax, dress for show. Show dress is Black pants, black shoes and socks, white long sleeved shirt, colorful solid-color tie.
7:10 Chorus call
7:30 The Big Show open to the public. (AHB chorus, QT winner, parade of quartets, Guest Quartet)
10:00 Afterglow (visitors must purchase a ticket, $10) Cash bar available.
10:30 - ?? Still more open singing, ‘shop ‘til you drop!
Sunday
12 am to ? ‘Shop ‘til you drop!
8:00 am Breakfast, the Guy, Tramp awards given.
9:00 Incredibly, still more open singing! Break down and stow risers (please help), and goodbye!
On Being Prepared
The fun, fraternity, rewards, and success of the Harmony Brigade depend on all its participants being completely prepared. The fun that you and all of the quartet partners you’ll sing with throughout the weekend have will stem from YOU subscribing to an ethic that says, "Coming unprepared is NOT an option." If it is determined at the event that a participant is not properly prepared, he will be disqualified from participating in the quartet contest and may be required to stand down from other Brigade activities. In this case, fees are nonrefundable. Participants who are not prepared are NOT invited back to future rallies.
How to apply
Use the online Guest Application for 1st time attendees. See the button below.
Then immediately pay your $139 deposit per the instructions given later (payable online by Paypal or Credit Card or you can mail a check.)
Finally, if you know someone else who might be interested in the Brigade, send him to our website. Thank you for your interest, time, and dedication. Questions can be directed to the AHB via the website.
Jim Hvidding Doug Brown
Membership Vice President President, AHB
About the Brigade Program
If you are passionate about quartetting, if you can learn music accurately and quickly, if you have quartet experience, and you yearn for informal quartetting with a network of solid, like-minded, and accomplished guys, the Atlantic Harmony Brigade (AHB) may be for you. Hundreds of men throughout the Barbershop Harmony Society and from several countries have enjoyed these unique Brigade rallies. In the Mid-Atlantic District, the AHB has been an annual event since 2006, and it has been attended by over 300 well-prepared participants from over 18 states and four countries. We are proud to have earned the support of the BHS and our District for this quartet-oriented program.
What the Event Looks Like
This is an invitational weekend event of non-stop quartetting and quartet partner switching. Participants sing in hundreds of possible quartet combinations. Up to 124 men will arrive in Delaware in August, solidly prepared, knowing their part on twelve great championship level songs. They’ll be ready, willing, and able to spend the entire weekend formally and informally quartetting. There are two rounds of good-natured, adjudicated quartet competitions, with randomly selected quartet members and randomly selected songs out of the 12 provided. There are procedures in place to check each man to make sure he knows all the songs – cold. The Rally participants also present a show open to the public. This year the headline quartet and judging panel will be Route 1, current M-AD District Champs. . The AHB sings as a chorus and there are numerous opportunities for pick up quartets to perform on the show, after an audition process.
If you have ever attended Harmony University, Harmony College East, or an International or District Convention where you have stayed up well beyond your bedtime singing with other guys just for the fun of it, then you will be able to relate to the Brigade experience. The difference is—instead of trying to figure out what you all know, or what three of you know and one of you tries to “woodshed” your way through—you will have 12 great songs in common, and you will have a whole weekend to do it!
The basic information is as follows:
1) The event takes place in Wilmington, DE from 4:00 PM on Friday, August 19, 2016, to Sunday breakfast, August 21. Sunday morning’s breakfast is part of the package and will send you off with a glow!
2) The cost of the event is $299 and includes a double occupancy room (Friday night and Saturday night), meals (Friday and Saturday dinner, Saturday and Sunday breakfast, contest participation, all learning materials, and all registration fees. Financial assistance and grants may be available for some hardship cases. All requests are discreet and confidential. Contact Membership VP Jim Hvidding at [email protected] if you feel you might need assistance.
3) Everyone wishing to participate in the event must submit an application and a $139 deposit. The application process is on-line only. Participation is limited to 124 qualified men equally distributed among the four voice parts (31 men on each) on a “first to apply and qualify, first invited” basis, tiered as follows:
o AHB Members and last year’s successful guests are given priority early acceptance if their application and registration fee is received no later than February 15, 2016. Men who attend for the second consecutive year are considered to be “candidates” for membership.
o First time applicants are referred to as “guests” and should be sponsored by an AHB Member. Those who apply with the support of a sponsoring Member will be given advanced application review between February 1 and February 28.
o Unsponsored Guests (1st year applicants without an AHB member sponsor) are also encourage to submit an application. If accepted, they will be assigned to a willing “Board Designated Sponsor”. These applications will be reviewed last, after February 28.
All applications should be completed right away to get the benefit of an early review. The final deadline for all applications is March 1, 2016. Learning materials will be made available on-line for all approved invitees on or about April 1. That gives everyone 20 weeks to master all 12 songs.
If the application is approved, the applicant will receive additional event information, fully interpreted high-grade learning mp3’s for his voice part, and the legal music for the 12 songs that will be sung at the event. Deposits will be returned to those applicants who are not approved for attendance or who are “wait listed.”
4) All participants will be required to learn their part on all 12 songs, cold. Everyone is required to have his music and the interpretation completely memorized and be 100% fully-prepared upon arrival at the event. They must be able to sing all the songs in a quartet. THIS IS THE BINDING ETHIC OF THE BRIGADE.
5) In reviewing the applications, the invitation committee will be looking ideally for individuals with district (or solid level division, novice, or comparable) quartet experience, successful experience or membership in other Brigades, special musical and performance experience, and/or a sponsor’s reference to support the individual’s ability to thoroughly learn 12 medium to challenging songs.
The Deal
As you can see, the Brigade is not for everyone. This is an event for ambitious, highly motivated, reasonably experienced quartetters. While the Brigade is not for beginners, you don’t need to be an International Champion either. The object of the brigade is to provide an exciting venue and a large network of strongly committed singers and also a fertile ground for the development of high-level quartetting.
Typical schedule of activities (subject to change)
Friday
11am – 3pm Community Singouts
4:00 Registration at Hotel. Checking of parts for Stage pass starts, open singing
5:00 - 6:15 Dinner, orientation, and quartet draw
7:30 Quartet (first round) contest
10:00 to ? Open singing, part checking, etc.
Saturday
8:00 am
9:00-9:45 Master's class and/or coaching
10:00 Business meeting. Wild Card quartet announced. Announce audition songs. Guests and candidates introduced.
11:00 Open singing, checking
12:00 pm Lunch on your own (list to be provided), open singing
2:00 Show Rehearsal
3:00 Quartet Finals (Winning Quartet offered a spot on the show)
4:15 Even more open singing
5:00 Dinner, relax, dress for show. Show dress is Black pants, black shoes and socks, white long sleeved shirt, colorful solid-color tie.
7:10 Chorus call
7:30 The Big Show open to the public. (AHB chorus, QT winner, parade of quartets, Guest Quartet)
10:00 Afterglow (visitors must purchase a ticket, $10) Cash bar available.
10:30 - ?? Still more open singing, ‘shop ‘til you drop!
Sunday
12 am to ? ‘Shop ‘til you drop!
8:00 am Breakfast, the Guy, Tramp awards given.
9:00 Incredibly, still more open singing! Break down and stow risers (please help), and goodbye!
On Being Prepared
The fun, fraternity, rewards, and success of the Harmony Brigade depend on all its participants being completely prepared. The fun that you and all of the quartet partners you’ll sing with throughout the weekend have will stem from YOU subscribing to an ethic that says, "Coming unprepared is NOT an option." If it is determined at the event that a participant is not properly prepared, he will be disqualified from participating in the quartet contest and may be required to stand down from other Brigade activities. In this case, fees are nonrefundable. Participants who are not prepared are NOT invited back to future rallies.
How to apply
Use the online Guest Application for 1st time attendees. See the button below.
Then immediately pay your $139 deposit per the instructions given later (payable online by Paypal or Credit Card or you can mail a check.)
Finally, if you know someone else who might be interested in the Brigade, send him to our website. Thank you for your interest, time, and dedication. Questions can be directed to the AHB via the website.
Jim Hvidding Doug Brown
Membership Vice President President, AHB