The Harmonizer: Between the lines

Brian Lynch - Professional Resume

2009-02-09T14:10:00.005-06:00

Brian Lynch

Professional profile

Experienced executive in non-profit organization with 17 years continuous advancement
Versatile generalist with broad range of strategic, analytical, communications, design, education, web, technical and publishing skills
Magazine editor and writer with keen sense of story-telling
PR / media professional with proven track record of placements in national media
Web developer of multi-layered sites which garner millions of page views annually
Skilled public speaker and teacher at ease with both small groups and audiences of thousands

Highlights of professional experience and accomplishments

PUBLICATIONS AND GENERAL WRITING

Editor (2004-2006) of The Harmonizer, flagship magazine of the Barbershop Harmony Society, circulation 32,000. Complete production responsibility, including copy editing, page layout, graphics, photography and digital imaging, covers, pre-press, mailing list management, advertising placement and billing, strategic direction.
As editorial board member and managing editor of magazine (1994-2004), increased page count and editorial diversity over entire run. Innovated coverage of events, performers, controversial topics, features orientation. Conceived and managed comprehensive design makeover by professional firm, infusing a tired old brand with new energy, color and vitality.
Writer and editor of dozens of management and music instruction manuals, increasing ease of publication and distribution by web site. Wrote proclamations, proposals, general management material.

PUBLIC RELATIONS & MEDIA

Primary spokesman and media contact for national organization, with experience in hundreds of media interviews, press contacts and placements in major media.
Major Broadcast Television Productions: Script consultant and production liaison for three PBS music specials (Keep America Singing, More Keep America Singing, and Can’t Stop Singing), each receiving multiple airings in more than 200 markets.
PR Campaigns: Planned, trained and implemented local PR support campaigns that helped local men’s barbershop chapters collaborate with women’s chapters of Sweet Adelines to capitalize on PBS programming. Gathered hundreds of additional media impressions placed by local units.
Event Public Relations: Deployed media campaigns promoting international conventions that brought unique stories to broadcast audiences numbering in the millions. Media placements on all major networks, including: ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, CBS News Overnight, Good Morning America, Today Show, CNN, CNN Headline News, NPR All Things Considered, NPR Morning Edition, NPR All Songs Considered. Pioneered use of broadcast fax, targeted media and online press room and downloadable media to improve and increase coverage.
Media planning: Developed events to generate additional media coverage, including a “World’s Largest Chorus” events staged for Good Morning America (1994) and Guinness World Records with Ron Reagan, Jr. (1996)
Media planning: Handled all media relations for publicly awarding Honorary Life Membership to Dick Van Dyke, including media events, special appearances at Disneyland, interview and feature story in The Harmonizer.
Print media relations: Authored comprehensive press kits, backgrounders, media advisories focusing on compelling personal stories which generated generous local coverage and home run national stories in major newspapers including Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Miami Herald, Deseret Daily News, Salt Lake Tribune, Indianapolis Star, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, etc.
Opinion / advocacy writing: As part of Minnesota State Senate staff, wrote weekly newspaper columns for six senators reporting on legislative activity. Quarterly “My Turn” columnist for Kenosha News; subsequently invited to become monthly “Sunday Morning With…” columnist.

WEB / TECHNICAL

Web sites: Developed original website into a portfolio of five sites encompassing thousands of pages and 1.5 million annual page views.
Strategic analysis and product research: Negotiated Requests for Proposals for software platforms for web content management system (CMS) (Stellent, 2000) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform (Aptify, 2006). Purchased, trained and implemented systems forming the data backbone of the organization. Created user training materials, web-based instructional videos, and operational procedures.
Business process analysis: Coordinated audit and migration of business processes to new Aptify CRM platform. Lead developer and interface between company and consultant teams. Perform ongoing daily database administration (DBA) duties, including custom views, reports, troubleshooting and extending web capabilities.
Webcasting: As content liaison for live webcast of international barbershop contest, helped grow event to more than 3,000 paying customers around the world.

MARKETING ANALYSIS AND MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

Market research and analysis: Serving on the Marketing Task Force, conducted comprehensive market research project on current and potential members of SPEBSQSA, to determine awareness and disposition of the brand, the hobby and its relevance as a leisure activity. Participated in focus group design, online moderated focus group chats, telephone interviews, data collation and analysis.
Marketing planning: Using research basis, participated in a complete membership marketing plan adopted by the Society, including updating brand name and image, outreach programming and coalition-building.
Membership development and promotion: As part of four-man team, designed and launched Operation Harold Hill, a member-get-member campaign that yielded a 1.5% membership growth, reversing a 20-year decline
Product development and promotion: Authored manuals and numerous training materials for Singing Valentines program, expanding reach from several dozen to more than 500 participating chapters. Developed SingingValentines.com website, which delivered more than 75,000 referrals in 2008.
Advertising: Creative director, art director, and production artist for numerous ads, radio spots, promotional materials and brochures. Creative / art director working with graphic artists for more complex projects, with emphasis on clearly communicated design briefs and use specifications.
Logo design: Designed numerous visuals for various internal programs, events and products. Participate in brand analysis and recommendations for updating BHS brand emblem.
Video marketing: Co-author / producer of award-winning promotional DVD, “Singing Is Life,” a direct-marketing tool showcasing barbershop harmony to potential members. Distribution of more than 20,000 units, tens of thousands of online views. Authored “A Walk Through Harmony Hall” and “Harmony Explosion” promotional videos.

Education, recognition and affiliations

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Arts, English
University of Dallas, Irving, Texas

AWARDS

Public Relations Teacher of the Year, Barbershop Harmony Society, 2002
APEX Award, video script,
“Singing Is Life”, 2003

AFFILIATIONS

American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), 1997-present
Society of Non-Profit Association Publishers (SNAP), 2002-present
Barbershop Harmony Society (SPEBSQSA), 1989-present

Community and other activities

Treasurer, Brompton Community Partnership (PTO)
Madrigal Feaste coach and performer
Homeless shelter volunteer, INNS
Kenosha News columnist (monthly)

Technologies

LAYOUT

PageMaker
InDesign
PhotoShop
Illustrator

DATABASE

SQL Server 2000
Crystal Reports

WEB

FrontPage
CSS
Some .NET

SPECIALIZED

Aptify
Stellent

OFFICE

Word
Excel
PowerPoint
Outlook
Acrobat

2007 Denver Photo Albums

2007-07-28T07:08:00.000-05:00

Lorin May shoots 'em... Dan Proctor posts them to Fotki.com ... and you can use them free of charge.

JS Online: A brand-new pattern

2007-06-18T08:57:00.000-05:00

JS Online: A brand-new pattern: Machine shop now crafts needles

How to talk to the press | fortuitous

2007-06-17T07:50:00.000-05:00

How to talk to the press | fortuitous: "How to talk to the press
A short guide to what works and what doesn't when talking to reporters"

Dark Side of the Moon A Cappella

2006-04-21T16:29:00.000-05:00

My wife sometimes asks: "Did that song really need to be barbershopped?" Often the answer is "No--but they did it anyway."

On the other hand, I think The Dark Side Of The Moon A Cappella absolutely HAD to be done -- and it sounds great.

Related items: Dub Side of the Moon by the Easy Star AllStars and Pickin' on Pink Floyd: A Bluegrass Tribute

Ben Ayling on early quartets

2006-03-31T12:06:00.000-06:00

International Journal of Research in Choral Singing published Ben Ayling's research into early champion quartets.

Abstract: " The barbershop quartet has been a part of American music history since the late nineteenth century. Since that time, music sung by the barbershop quartet has been embraced by many as being American music in much the same way as jazz. The Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America (SPEBSQSA) was formed in 1938. That organization has awarded championship status annually to its best quartets. This paper presents a brief history of the barbershop quartet along with discussion of some major influences upon the style. Results of a survey of surviving members of the first 25 SPEBSQSA championship quartets are then examined. Of the first 25 championship quartets, all members of the first nine quartets are deceased. Surviving members (N=43) of the remaining 16 championship quartets were surveyed with respect to their musical backgrounds, self-perceptions of music reading ability, and the sight-singing methods employed by these singers both before and long after winning top SPEBSQSA honors. Responses (N=32) indicated that singers viewed their personal music reading abilities as improved by their involvement with barbershop singing, yet approximately 50% of respondents indicated that rote learning of parts (whether in the immediate company of another or via audiotape) was their major learning style"

Deep link to full paper .

From the edge of the world to your town

2006-03-06T16:51:00.000-06:00

Post office has entered the magazine in the mail stream. Look for it in mailboxes beginning this week.

Steady, ready hands - Lorin returns to Harmonizer

2006-03-03T09:25:00.000-06:00

Lorin May has agreed to serve as editor of The Harmonizer commencing with the March 2006 issue.

[ wait for cheering to subside... ]

Lorin had previously helmed the magazine from January 2000 through July 2004, when he was laid off in a massive reudction in staff. In his previous tenure as editor, Lorin imbued the magazine with a stronger feature orientation, high quality color layouts, and top-flight personal reporting and feature writing.

I'll be moving to a new asignment overseeing the implemenation of a business management platform for the Society, encompassing our membership records, merchandising, events purchasing, educaton tracking, and more. It is huge; it's going to enable our business units (chapters, quartets, districts and SIGS such as AHSOW and PROBE) a greater level of service and self-management than ever before; and I'm lucky to be involved.

I'm also lucky to have run The Harmonizer for the past ten issues. I leave it with some regrets for unfinished aims, and hope to return to it some day.

To Lorin
Il miglior fabbro
("The Better Craftsman," poet T.S. Eliot's dedication of "The Waste Land" to Ezra Pound.)

--Brian Lynch
editor-in-exile

Five rules of thumb

2006-02-24T22:38:00.000-06:00

5ives is, as the name suggests, lists of five things. Hilarious!

The stupider your ringtone, the longer it will take you to answer your phone.
The twin miracles of childbirth and pet ownership render you unable to share one photo of anything.
If your vanity license plate makes any reference to the make of your vehicle, the people you work with despise you.
Ph.D.s who ask to be called “Doctor” should be prepared to refer to every college graduate as “Bachelor.”
If you own more than one Enya record you might as well buy all of them and make a little fort.

I'll cop to 2.5 of these.

Bang. Zoom.

2006-02-24T22:25:00.000-06:00

Done. Last minute catch on a few ads that should process faster at the printer thanks to a better pre-press approach than before.

Little elves are even now scurrying about the Banta plants in Kansas City and Greenfield, Ohio. Even being a geek, I still marvel that a pile of bits moving across the Web somehow directs ink onto paper, paper into mail trucks, and thousands of postal carriers across the continent to the homes of our memebrs to share their thoughts about barbershop harmony. I've never seen our printing plan in Ohio; I probably never will.

Every day my kids tell me about their school days. I in turn tell them about my day at work. They were pretty much identical this week:

Made some pictures
Wrote some stories
Worked on spelling

Making magazines is child's play.

If only stories sprang whole from the brow of Zeus

2006-02-19T12:19:00.000-06:00

.. I wouldn't find myself wrangling with them to present a lively, informative magazine.

Feature stories can be the easiest and hardest part of the magazine. Sometimes they are in fact delivered ready to print. Sometimes they are commissioned with one intention, and the author complies... but then the editor (capriciously?) changes his mind on the direction of the piece, and needs to undertake a massive revision.

Which leads to Sunday mornings at the office, squeezing in some quiet time after church to wrap it up.

That said, it's looking good -- the Barbershop Makeover concept holds up pretty well, and might make a good ongoing feature.

What happens between issues?

2006-01-09T08:50:00.000-06:00

While the rest of the world reads, savors, digests, and grows from each issue of The Harmonizer, the cobbler's elves are busy putting together the next issue. Notably in the sixty days between issues (less during the frenetic catchup of the past fall), the whole process begins anew for the next two issues. The editorial staff plans next issue, solicits specific items from authors. Letters to the editor are read, treasured, framed, occasionally published. Advertisers are billed, thanked, solicited for new placements.

But that's only Harmonizer work. Our staff of one half a FTE also works on web content, press, internal communications, data processing issues, general strategic communications.... it's staggering.

Which is why blog postings have fallen off: not much Harmonizer news right now.

The book's in the mail

2005-12-29T15:16:00.000-06:00

Dropped in the mail Friday 12/23/2005 ... already receiving responses from readers. That's three issues delivered in three consecutive months. We're catching up!

Playaz

2005-12-29T08:39:00.000-06:00

Last year we moved the magazine masthead to the back of the book, in a new Member Service page. This opens up the front of the book substantially, and puts all the directory information in one location.

Hidden amongst Board, affiliates, staff and more, you'll find the magazine masthead, listing the staff.

Editorial team

Brian Lynch, editor
That means I lead the effort of setting direction, issue themes, and soliciting authors. I do most of the layouts, built on a design grid we commissioned in 1999. (It's about as far as I can take it with my own skills, and the grid itself is getting little creaky, so we're looking into some design and production changes in 2006.) At the end, I handle pre-press, printing and mailing. Ultimately, if it's right, we all did it; if it's wrong, I did it.

Julie Siepler, contributing editor
Julie is media relations manager, so she already has a full-time job. She's also a "whatever it takes" kind of trouper, so she spares some time to do some layouts, write some copy, and proofread with a keen eye. Disclaimer: if an error persists to the printed page, it's because it was introduced after Julie corrected it.

Lorin May, contributing editor
Editor from January 2000 through July 2004, Lorin did more to transform the magazine than anyone in twenty years. Laid off in the 2004 staff reduction, Lorin has relocated to Utah, where he's working a variety of freelance gigs. Look for his signature work in the July 2005 convention coverage, November 2005 champs profiles, and here and there in future issues

Todd Wilson, Michael Kadow, editorial assistance
As Director of Marketing, Todd has general oversight over the publishing areas, and is part of the Harmonizer editorial team, with particular emphasis on advertorials for conventions, Harmony College, and merchandising. Mike is our marketing department coordinator and assists with circulation, advertising and editorial.

Jacksonville Singing Valentines

2005-12-22T09:24:00.000-06:00

Jacksonville Singing Valentines

A glimpse of the future! All barbershop groups are teaming up in Jacksonville, Fla. to provide "single source" shopping for customers:

Singing Valentines to be delivered by a male quartet will be fullfilled by the Jacksonville Big Orange or The Metropolitans Barbershop Harmony Society chapters.

Those to be delivered by a Female quartet will be fullfilled by the Jacksonville Harmony Sweet Adelines chapter

Mixed Quartets will be fullfilled by a combination of members from both the Ladies and Mens groups.

Midwinter webcast brings you four awesome shows for 25 bucks

2005-12-14T15:40:00.000-06:00

You’d have to travel from Bangor to Baja to hear all five medalist quartets – but we’ll bring them straight to your living room next month. For as little as $25 for the whole magilla!

Yep—we’re going to webcast the entire works from the 2006 Midwinter Convention, and your all-events pass will only cost $25 if ordered in advance.

Feast your ears on this:

Friday, January 20, 2006, the Association of International Seniors Quartet Champions performs, featuring The Most Happy Fellows. Then in the evening, have the opportunity to hear the third through fifth place medalists from Salt Lake City (Metropolis, Riptide and OC Times) perform in concert.
The next afternoon, January 21, there’s the excitement of the Senior Quartet Contest, and then in the evening the chance to hear the gold and silver medalists from Salt Lake City (Realtime and Max Q) and the AISQC Chorus entertain you in a show setting!
The webcast will be available for $25 if purchased by Monday, January 9. After that, the price will be $30 both sessions. An audio-only stream will be available at no charge.
PLUS! Saturday night will feature a special, high-quality video stream, so you will be able to preview the Indy webcast quality! Great for a Mid-winter party on your TV set!

Advance sales will determine whether the webcast takes place. If there is insufficient participation by January 9, 2006 and it appears that production costs will exceed the income, the webcast will not be broadcast. Sign up now, and spread the word. Your credit card will not be billed until we are sure that the webcast will take place!

What a great Christmas gift! You can give the gift of barbershop, and enjoy it too!
To subscribe, go to www.barbershop.org/webcast

How many times do I have to tell you to SAVE?

2005-12-13T15:58:00.000-06:00

It finally happened. The inevitable. What they always tell you is going to happen if you don't backup your files.

Crash. Files corrupted. Need to roll back four days. At deadline.

Listen to them when they tell you to back up your files. Believe them. Olav Martin Kvern observes:

The more complex a file, the more important this is. It's Murphy's Law in reverse that if you have a recent backup, it's unlikely anything will go wrong. Adam's law states that the odds of damaging a file are evenly distributed across all backed-up copies of the file, so if there is a 10% chance of one file blowing up, the odds drop to 1% if there are ten copies of the file!

To plug or not to plug

2005-12-08T10:56:00.000-06:00

Sometimes The Harmonizer highlights new CD releases, shows, events, even quartets changing personnel. (Speaking of which, what's wrong with this site?)

When does mention in the magazine constitute a plug? For example, blogging and publishing a link to Max Q's new CD will certainly help it. Why didn't The Harmonizer plug Realtime's excellent CD when it was released?

Answer: when it's news. For the Children appears to be a first in the barbershop-for-kids category. That makes it news. When The Ritz released the first "enhanced CD" format, that was news. When the contest recordings come out, that's news.

When envelopes stuffed with twenties and marked "Lynch Kids College Fund" land on my chair... that's news.

Some good things never end

2005-12-07T16:14:00.000-06:00

...such as this issue. Great content, but cannot get it out the door to save my lives. My creepy sleep schedule is giving me a few extra hours each day, but oddly enough, there seem to be a few extra hours of other business claiming them rapidly.

Hope to circulate my draft Thursday, and wrap it on Friday, but that's about four days later than I'd hoped.

This business of having holidays is highly overrated. They just put me behind.

November links: Tag contest gives every writer a shot at fame

2005-12-05T11:13:00.000-06:00

Tag contest gives every writer a shot at fame -- www.barbershop.org/tagcontest

Show off your chops to the world – including publication in The Harmonizer, on the web, and at the international convention.

Antique Phonograph Music Program alt. w/ Thomas Edison's Attic Playlists and Archives

2005-12-05T05:24:00.000-06:00

Antique Phonograph Music Program :

Live every Tuesday evening, 7pm to 8pm (Eastern).

"78s and cylinders are played on actual period reproducing devices."

Playlists and Archives for Thomas Edison's Attic

2005-12-05T05:22:00.000-06:00

Playlists and Archives for Thomas Edison's Attic: "Playlists and Archives for Thomas Edison's Attic

Nintendo themes, a cappella (a choir performance of classic nintendo songs) - video

2005-12-03T06:29:00.000-06:00

If we really want to be relevant, we need to do the music the younger people grew up on. Not The Beatles (now forty years in the can), not '70s pop (still twenty years before they were born)...

Nope, we need NINTENDO music. Go -- nintendo themes, a cappella (a choir performance of classic nintendo songs) - video

New Release Quartet

2005-12-03T05:48:00.000-06:00

Hailing from the Washington, D.C. area, southeast Pennsylvania, and northeast Ohio, New Release formed after a chance meeting at an Alexandria Harmonizers chapter meeting.

Look at the Atlanta College Tour video, and you'll see the simplest way to keep men singing: take them to supper at a hot wings establishment.

New Release :: Official Home:

SingingValentines.com Registration

2005-12-03T05:05:00.000-06:00

Provider Registration: "SingingValentines.com makes it easy to find a Singing Valentine anywhere in North America!"

MaxQ releases "For The Children" 2 CD set

2005-12-02T16:30:00.000-06:00

Listen to the preview tracks. Lots here for adults, too... These guys can sing.

A double CD set of music for children of all ages. Lullabies and Daytime songs featuring arrangements from Frank Bloebaum, Jim Clancy, David Harrington, Clay Hine, Derric Johnson, Chris Kershaw, Paul Langford, Gary Lewis, Greg Volk, Ed Waesche, and Marshall Webb.

20% of each sale will go to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital (www.stjude.org), in honor of their incredible program that has been a huge blessing for the DeRosa family."

MaxQ [Product: For The Children 2 CD SET]: "For The Children ($25.00)

Keep It Mory's

2005-12-02T09:27:00.000-06:00

Here's a timely follow-on to the history issue.

Fabled in song... having trouble being relevent to today's Yale student.

yaledailynews.com - The decline of the Yale tradition: "According to Radley Daly '49, former president of Mory's, the Mory's association board's mantra is 'Keep Mory's Mory's.' But being fundamentalist about Ye Olde Yale will not answer Shumway's more pressing question: how to keep Mory's relevant."

KMM-ers, unite!

Who reads what, why?

2005-12-02T08:57:00.000-06:00

A friend recently wrote me regarding the Sep 2005 issue:

"I LOVED the History of Barbershop issue. It was the first one that I have read in a long time."

This Barbershopper sings in a medalist chorus, constantly quartets, web-geeks for his chapter and personal projects. Presumably, a hard-core fan for "the international scene." Yet the issue he takes most notice of is the look at our roots.

During issue planning, several folks had remarked that doing "history" woudn't be relevant to our younger reader-members. (I try to keep that term in front a lot; for The Harmonizer, readers and members are not necesarily equivalent. We know not all members read it; we know that not all readers are members.)

Seems you never can tell.

Coming next year: reader survey.

November links: Sincere Slugs - Google Video

2005-12-01T05:09:00.000-06:00

Canadian animator Brent Forrest celebrates moon & June in the back garden.

November links: 4-cast, The Barbershop Podcast

2005-12-01T05:07:00.000-06:00

4-cast, The Barbershop Podcast

Alan and Eric have even asked me to be a guest. I dunno... I'm no Ev Nau. I'm no Ed Watson. I'm no Jim DeBusman. Wait, maybe I AM Jim DeBusman. OK, I'll do it.

Alan gave me the run-down of episodes to date:

Starting at 4-Cast #5 we're teaching a tag in each episode. #5,6, and 7 are by Raymond Davis, and #8 will be a holiday tag by Jason Warschauer.

#1 International Coverage: Many discussions about the contest and peoples opinion on the logo and name change.
People include: George Davidson (Baritone of Classic Collection), Metropolis, and some general comments by people who were there.
#2 Pat LeVezu: President Elect of Sweet Adelines International. Talks about SAI in general, membership and their plans. This is a really great interview for people to understand the basic core of what makes SAI and BHS different.
#3 More international coverage... but a lot more specific. We talk with members of the Ambassadors of Harmony, Presentation Coach Cindy Hansen, Presentation Judge Bob Hodges, and Sean Devine, lead of OC Times. We cover everything from the "Keep It Barbershop" concept to the 4th wall and presentation, to what it's like to be in a gold medal chorus.
#4 The new CEO of the society, Ed Watson. Ed talks about a bunch of stuff, from the logo, to his background, to his concepts on where we should be going to his old quartet experiences... and speaking of his old quartet, we then talk to Raymond Davis, a member of Ed's old quartet, about his tags and music and etc.
#5 This episode has two interviews, the first is focussed on Youth Harmony and is with Mark Freedkin (of the Master's of Harmony) and with Larry Bean, music educator from the NE and ex-Lead of The Management. The second interview is with music educator (from Iowa) Dan Warschauer about the whole Keep It Barbershop thing.
#6 Ev Nau talks to us about three different subjects: first he describes Harmony Foundation and some of the stuff that's happening there, then he also talks about Youth Harmony and describes a different concept for the College Quartet Contest. Finally he talks to us about membership. One of our listeners described Ev's second and third sessions as being as important to listen to as Dave Steven's "What are we trying to preserve?" thing... I don't know that I would go quite that far... Then we talk to a new Sweet Adelines Chorus Gold Medalist, one week after their contest.
#7 In this issue we talk with Brian Philbin (Bass of Metropolis) for a while about the 4th wall and theater on the barbershop stage, and we discuss a little about the barbershop style and what is and isn't. Did you know that the O vowel is orange? or the oo sound is a deep cerulean blue? or how about the fact that there are only four vowels in singing? Eric interviews Bill Weiser about his book "Breathe Color Into Your Voice" and Bill explains many of the basic concepts. Finally We get a chance to sit down and talk with Dr. Greg Lyne about excellence in music and the "Inner Game". All three interviews are fascinating and all bring something new to the table to consider when you're thinking about performing and singing at your best.

Coming up:

Obviously, one of the things we're focussing on is the upcoming interview with Realtime. We've got a bunch of questions from listeners that we'll be asking. We'll just be talking to them and letting people get to know them as well! We've got an interview regarding Chorus Director Workshop Intensive (CDWI) that's not just for directors, and whatever else we can come up with. Based on the timing of the Harmonizer, we'll probably have MidWinter coverage out before the next one after then.

What is the mission of The Harmonizer?

2005-11-29T08:51:00.000-06:00

I posed the question to my co-workers. If they don't agree on the mission, how well could our readers be served ?

Interesting range of responses... none "wrong," but probably less in line with what I would hope the perceived mission to be.

March 2006-- Why I Barbershop

2005-11-24T07:08:00.000-06:00

What Barbershopppers talk about in afterglows when they're not singing tags.

How I got started in barbershopping
The Barbershop Moment That Changed My Life
Why I Keep Doing It
What the World Would Look Like Without Barbershop

January 2006 - Extreme Makeover Barbershop Edition

2005-11-24T07:06:00.000-06:00

Hot concept -- good material under devleopment. How do you quickly makeover any aspect of your barbershop life?

November 2005 issue: Realtime, Masters, Youth in Harmony

2005-11-24T06:57:00.000-06:00

Terrific progress on November issue. Should be done in time for Christmas. That will make delivery in three consecutive months, with a fourth month envisioned for January.

I'm lucky to have Lorin May helping out from Utah. Having said again and again that he was one of the most expensive layoffs inflicted on us last year, he's also proving to be a most valuable player for afar.

The Masters piece especially is looking strong, avoiding the typical chronology of "first we did this and then this and then we won" and instead bringing out specific techniques which any chorus can use to improve itself.

Rick Spencer is overseeing a package of Youth In Harmony stories, including a massive piece from Chris Scappatura on "doing what one can." Great stuff.

Why "Between The Lines"?

2005-11-23T15:21:00.000-06:00

BLOG-ONIZER?
www.barbershop.org/harmonizer

This month we debut “Harmonizer: Between the lines,” our work-in-progress notes on the production of the magazine. Despite the speed of email... despite the immediacy of email... and because of the public quality of publishing... it’s hard to have a dialogue with the readers and contributors of the magazine one at a time.

And in the midst of beating down deadlines, it’s even harder to create broadcast invitations to contribute and drive the direction of content in time to make a difference.

So as an experiment, we’re opening a “work in progress” view of the magazine.

Look here for story scraps... coming attractions... links to sites and resources mentioned in the magazine... and occasionally, just stuff that seem relevant base don what we're publishing an discussing.