The Barbershop Harmony Society is the world’s largest singing Society, with 20,000 members across North America. Affiliated men’s and women’s organizations in more than a dozen countries bring the total number of active singers to more than 80,000 worldwide. Through active programs in music education, publishing, performance, and outreach, the Society preserves and extends the reach of a uniquely American close harmony musical art form whose roots lie in African-American improvisation and European harmony traditions. Founded in 1938 as the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc. (SPEBSQSA), the Society now expends $1.3 million annually in support of community and school programs that bring the fellowship, fulfillment, and excitement of vocal music to a new generation of singers.
