The Barbershop Harmony Society is embracing big changes

On the stage of the Grand Ole Opry House this week, the keepers of barbershop music — that unmistakable style of group singing that’s been ringing out in four-part harmony for more than a century — will come face to face with their future.

That sounds dramatic, but really, it’ll be a blast.

The Barbershop Harmony Society is holding its Midwinter Convention in Nashville this week. One of the biggest events on the schedule is the “Next Generation and Seniors Chorus Invitational,” a concert where two very distinct groups come together.

On one side, there are the “senior” quartets and choruses, comprised of lifelong barbershop singers — some of whom are older than 80-year-old society itself.

They’ll be joined by more than 1,000 middle and high school students from around the country. It’s a diverse crop of young men and women who’ve formed a variety of a cappella choruses at their schools.

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The society’s CEO, Marty Monson, smiles just thinking about it.

“There will be 80 or 90-year-old guys that are going to be hanging out, just having a ball, and intermingling with these young people,” he says.

“Guys” is a telling term, because for the first 80 years of the Barbershop Harmony Society’s existence, membership was only open to men.

But the organization — which adopted Nashville as its base in 2007 — has spent the last few years thinking long and hard about the future of barbershop. Ultimately, they decided it was time for a change.

Last June, the society proclaimed that membership was now open to everyone, “people of every age, of every background, every gender identity, every race, every sexual orientation, every political opinion or spiritual belief.”

Their new vision, “Everyone In Harmony,” came after an 18-month process of research.

“Every person who loves to harmonize has a place in our family,” BHS President Skipp Kropp wrote in the announcement.

“We've never really articulated that in the past, and now we're saying, 'This is really the world we live in,'" Monson says. “We may have our differences ... but when you get together to ring a beautiful chord or sing a song, all of those (differences) kind of go away. You experience that joy of creating harmony.”

'A special day for most of us'

Since June, the society says several hundred women have become members (though they declined to provide an exact number).

One of the first women to join was Caki Gray, a local resident who calls herself “a barbershopper pretty much since birth.” She grew up singing harmony with her father and four siblings.

And here’s the twist you didn’t see coming: Gray has been the society’s Director of Membership for the last decade.

“It was a weird distinction to make for 10 years of working here,” she says. “That I could do everything to help you facilitate singing and being in a chorus and quartet, but I couldn't be a part of what you were doing, as well. So in June, that was really a special day for most of us, to be able to say, 'Now I'm a fully fledged member.’”

It’s important to note, however, that women have had their own barbershop organization for 73 years — The Sweet Adelines (Gray is a longtime member). In fact, it’s even bigger than the Barbershop Harmony Society, with roughly 22,000 members to their 20,000.

From the moment “Everyone in Harmony” was revealed, the society made it clear that they didn’t wish for anyone to leave their previous organization to join them, but they encouraged the idea of multiple memberships. They also wanted to give their 700 chapters and 1,200 registered quartets the option to preserve the “single-gender singing experience” within their group.

“It's not to jettison away from the all-male experience, because I'm an outcome of that,” says Monson, who’s been a member for more than 30 years. “I see significant value in getting together with the guys of all ages, and having a great time singing great chords. There's a unique sound to that, just like there's a unique sound to all women singing together.”

Acknowledging their roots

As part of moving forward, the society has also re-examined its past, including one ugly chapter.

On the ground floor of the organization’s Nashville headquarters — an area called “Harmony Hall” — you’ll see four new plaques displayed prominently on the wall.

They’re for the four members of the Grand Central Red Caps, a barbershop quartet that won a spot to compete in the society’s 1941 International Contest. But upon discovering the members were black, the society denied entry to the group. At last year’s International Convention, Monson and Cropp presented posthumous memberships to the Red Caps, and the thousands in attendance gave the gesture a standing ovation.

“You look at a picture of the Barbershop Harmony Society, and we're primarily a white, middle-class organization,” Monson says. “But our roots come out of that Southern gospel, black community harmonizing. For us, it's about (having) a way to acknowledge that.”

Thursday night at the Opry House, the society is presenting the “Heritage of Harmony” concert, which will explore and celebrate barbershop’s African-American origins. Performers include Nashville’s legendary Fisk Jubilee Singers and The Fairfield Four, as well as HALO Quartet, who were recently the inaugural recipients of the “Red Caps Scholarship” to the organization’s Harmony University.

Monson sees this week as a celebratory “kick-off” to a momentous year for the society, and all of barbershop music.

“We're going to see a lot of creativity come out, because people with a fresh set of eyes, a fresh look into all of this for the future, are going come in. They're going to learn about the past and they're going to find ways to evolve, just like any other art form in the world.”

“I think there's a lot of really exciting things to come,” he adds. “We're ready to make a splash."

Contact Dave Paulson at dnpaulson@tennessean.com or on Twitter at @ItsDavePaulson

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If you go

The Barbershop Harmony Society's Midwinter Convention includes several concerts and events open to the public. For event and ticket info, visit barbershop.org/events/midwinter-convention.