1- What is the proper musical term for the chord we all know and love as the barbershop 7th?
2- From what non-society event did the Society get the idea of the format for our own competitions?
3- When did choruses begin to compete?
4- Who won the first international chorus contest and where was it held?
5- When did the society headquarters move to Kenosha, and where was it previously?
Answers to this month's history quiz:
1- the dominant seventh, so called because it is built on the dominant (or 5th degree) of the scale and on the 7th degree of the scale.
2- the NYC Parks Department Barbershop Quartet Contest, run by the dearly loved or hated, mostly hated, Parks Commissioner Robert Moses. This was an annual event from 1923 to 1960
3- although choruses existed since the mid-1940's (I have thus far been unable to pin down the exact start-up date of the first one), chorus competitions did not occur until 1952, but then only two districts, Johnny Appleseed and Land O' Lakes, entered contestants. The following year the chorus competition became a society-wide event.
4 - the Washington, D.C. Chorus in their own hometown
5- The Society headquarters moved to Kenosha, WI, in 1957, from its earlier site in Detroit, MI, where it had been since 1943. With the move came a new name…Harmony Hall.