Harmony University Frequently Asked Questions

HU 2025 will take place on the campus of the University of Denver, July 27-August 3, 2025.

Your badge is your ticket to all events and activities. Week-long classes, electives, master classes, shows, the cafeteria, etc. will all be monitored to make sure those attending have badges. This helps both HU staff and Loyola security track who is a student. It also gives faculty and fellow students an easy way to use your preferred name. No badge = no class/no cafeteria entry.

Music educators receiving continuing education hours or credits at HU can claim HU on their taxes. Check with your school district and tax advisor; some districts must preapprove HU before you can claim these hours or credits.

Barbershop directors and coaches, check the tax code in your country.

You can register for HU 2025 at the HU 2025 Event Registration page.

Note that there is BHS member and non-member pricing. If you are not a member but would like to become one to receive special pricing on events such as HU as well as other benefits, click here. At the time of registration, you may also decide to stay on campus or arrange for your own off-campus housing.

After enrolling for HU, you will be able to select your classes at a later date.

Enrolling for classes will happen after you’ve paid for your registration. Course enrollment will happen via a platform called CVent. This is a new platform to Harmony University and will replace the previously used Sched platform. A detailed explanation of how to select courses will be provided when enrollment opens.

Registration is the transaction you make to secure your spot at HU 2025 and begins December 2024. Enrollment for courses is where you will be able to select from the hundreds of course options. This will be done with the scheduling system called CVent.

Early bird registration for HU 2025 will be from November 14, 2024, to March 23, 20235. Afterwards, registration will be regular price until closing around July 1, 2025.

• Before April 1, 2025: Full refund (minus a $50 fee).

• Between April 1, 2025 – May 31, 2025: 75% of the amount paid is refundable.

• Between June 1, 2025 - July 14, 2025: 50% of the amount paid is refundable.

• After July 14, 2025: We will not be able to offer a refund.

Ensembles that withdraw from HU lose their pre registration fee, but ensemble members receive refunds according to the above schedule.

HU is intended for adults ages 18 or older. Harmony University is located on a university campus and structured like a traditional college with unsupervised campus housing and activities. Please contact us with any questions about this policy at harmonyu@barbershop.org.

Please see the Housing and Transportation page.

Please see the Housing and Transportation page.

Suggested items

• comfortable, casual clothes for 7 days in a very warm, humid place

• comfortable walking/standing shoes (especially performing groups)

• sunglasses

• toiletries

• bar soap

• clothes hangers

• towels

• pen/pencils

• printed or electronic versions of our General Session Music

• printed or electronic versions of any handouts given by the faculty of your classes

Optional items

• bug spray

• extra blanket (a light blanket is provided)

• sunblock

• laptop or tablet

• pitch pipe

• music manuscript paper

• light jacket (Mornings can be a bit chilly in Denver)

HU does not have the ability to offer housing for non-participants. HU is built as an all-inclusive event that is run on an open campus in a highly populated and popular urban area.

The University of Denver has multiple dorm buildings that will be your home for the duration of Harmony University 2025. The primary buildings we will be occupying in will be the DFRV building, Nagel Hall, and Nelson Hall.

Nagel and Nelson have suite-style housing. This housing is 2 double rooms with one shared bathroom.

DFRV rooms are also double rooms, but they do not have shared bathrooms in the rooms. Instead, sections of 8 rooms will share one common bathroom.

For more information on the University of Denver housing options, click the following links; DFRV, Nagel, Nelson.

Limited Single Occupancy options are available. To add a single occupancy option, select your college registration quantity, scroll to the bottom of the registration form to add on top of your general tuition. Two options are available:

• Single Occupancy Room – a single dorm-style room with a shared bathroom with another person(s). Limited to the first 50 people.

• Single Occupancy Room w/ Single Bathroom – a single dorm-style room with your own bathroom. Limited availability by request only.

You and your roommate will each have a bed, a dresser, and a closet. Linens will be provided and consist of bedsheets, a light blanket, a washcloth, and a small bath towel. Check out the What Should I Pack section of this FAQ list.

All rooms are air-conditioned and all rooms are ADA compliant with an elevator that goes to every floor in every residence hall.

To access your residence hall from the outside AND into each hallway, you will need the white access card which will be given to you when you check-in at your residence hall. To get into your individual room, you will use a traditional metal key, which is also provided when you check-in.

If your roommate or suitemate makes you uncomfortable for any reason, talk to the HU staff right away. In a school of almost 500 people, not everyone will get along, and we can find a solution. We don’t want you to endure a bad fit.

There will be a University of Denver staff member on call at the front desk of your residence hall each afternoon. Please let the staff member know of any maintenance issues with the building or your individual room. If the University of Denver Staff member is not available please contact the HU staff.

Residence hall security is tight. They monitor every public space with cameras and 24-hour security staff.

University of Denver has a key card system to enter into the dorms. Once inside the dorms, you will have a physical key to enter your room. If you lose the key card, or it stops working for whatever reason, we can replace it at no cost. If you lose, break, or forget to return your key, there will be a $300 fee to replace the key card.

Alcohol Policy

See the University of Denver Alcohol Policy.

Tobacco-free campus

University of Denver is a smoke-free and tobacco-free campus for all indoor locations. Smoking, the use of tobacco products, the use of e-cigarettes, and/or vaporizers is prohibited on any part of the university campus at any time. See the University of Denver Tobacco Policy.

Weapons-free campus

University of Denver prohibits the possession of and/or use of firearms or other dangerous weapons on university property, in university facilities, in vehicles on university property, and at university events.

Fragrance sensitivity

We have students that have fragrance sensitivity. To be mindful of all our attendees, we request that all participants refrain from wearing perfume, cologne, and other fragrances, and use unscented personal care products in order to promote a fragrance-free environment at Harmony University.

University of Denver cafeteria is geared towards the needs of our people and is set up to handle just about any special dietary requests. They offer a myriad of traditional choices for every meal:

• Meatless options

• Allergy-free options

• Gluten-free options

• Nut-free options

Please let us know about any dietary requests on your registration form. We will send your request to the cafeteria. If you have a request that may not be on our radar, please email harmonyu@barbershop.org to update your registration information.

Free WIFI is available in your room and through the residence halls. Please see the University of Denver staff at your residence hall front desk if you need help connecting.

In the past, HU negotiated a group discount through Mobility Scooter Colorado to supply scooters for attendees. HU is not able to order a scooter for you; you must order for yourself. We recommend ordering early (before July 1), as they always sell out before HU. Mention that you are attending HU at University of Denver and you’ll have a scooter waiting.

Each dorm building has free laundry facilities on the first floor. You will need to provide your own soap, however. Pro tip: laundry detergent sheets, available at Target and other retailers, travel flat and light in a ziploc bag.

Yes! There will be a marketplace with limited stock and hours, so plan to be one of the first to shop!

• Practice the General Session songs with the provided learning tracks
• Look over the materials sent to you by your instructors
• Print off any paper copied you would like to bring with you (no on-site printing is available)

There are many opportunities!

• General Sessions: We start each day singing as a group, with warm-ups, a song, and a new
• Informal Singing: This will be all over the school, at all hours of the day. Join a group or form your own.
• Formal Tag Singing: Each evening there will be specified Tag Zones where a Tagmaster will lead the Zone in tag singing.
• Woodshedding Electives: Woodshedding is where barbershop began, with 4 people harmonizing and finding new and exciting chords. It has an element of improvisation and chance.
• HU choruses: Harmony University All-Voice Chorus (all singers) and Next Gen Chorus (singers age 25 and under)
• eXtreme Harmony Quartetting Brigade. This is an exciting, yet formal experience that requires an accepted application and hours of preparation.

Electives are 45-minute mini classes with a myriad of great content. There are great opportunities to attend these one-off sessions at HU:

• Daily lunchtime Electives: 1:00–1:45pm
• Saturday Electives: 8:00am–1:45 starting on the hour

One-on-one lessons are available for those who would like to grow in arranging, conducting, music theory, performance, score study and analysis, and voice.

Range

Vocal range and octave choice matter in barbershop. Traditionally SSAA singers can sing TTBB tenor or lead parts, but it may lie low. Bass and baritone parts of TTBB charts might be too low for some. Sing the part you want, but do not sing anything up or down the octave.

Sheet music

Barbershop publishers use the familiar voicings of TTBB, SATB or SSAA on the cover. However, once you open to the sheet music, all three voicings are converted to TLBB: barbershop Tenor, Lead, Baritone and Bass. Some considerations:

• In TTBB Barbershop, the vocal tenor clef is used to indicate that the parts in the treble clef are sung an octave lower. Note the subscript 8 at its bottom.

• In SSAA Barbershop, the octave bass clef is used to indicate that the parts in the bass clef are sung an octave higher. Note the superscript 8 at its top.

• SATB (mixed) barbershop is notated with a traditional treble and bass clef and does not use the vocal tenor or octave bass clef found in other barbershop arrangement voicings.

• Barbershop notation is only in two staves and all note stems for a given part go the same direction. Tenor and baritone have note stems that always go up; lead and bass have note stems that always go down.

Learning tracks

HU provides learning tracks to the General Session music. This is a common note-learning strategy for many barbershoppers, especially those who have trouble with music notation.

Singing Outside of Classes and Rehearsals

We like to sing a lot! You’ll see barbershoppers singing in hallways, in bathrooms, in dorm rooms, in the closet, out of the closet, waiting in lines, etc. You might hear singing until the wee hours of the morning!

Barbershop Performers May Freely Interpret Rhythm

Songs with moderate or fast tempi are typically performed as written. However, many slow barbershop songs and introductions are sung freely in a rubato or speech-like style. Additionally, barbershop singers will often slow down at cadence points to emphasize special harmonies.

Barbershop-specific Vocabulary

• Tenor: tenor is the highest part, harmonizing above the lead. Notated in the top stave, tenor stems always point up. Tenor singers should have a light, lyric vocal quality, often in a head voice or falsetto.

• Lead: lead is the second highest part, singing the melody. Notated in the top stave, lead stems always point down. Lead singers should be prominent and have a dramatic and compelling vocal quality.

• Baritone: baritone sings above and below the lead. Notated in the bottom stave, baritone stems always point up. Baritone singers should have a lyric vocal quality. Because the baritone is constantly filling in different parts of a chord, the unusual voice leading can be very challenging, especially to the novice barbershop baritone.

• Bass: bass is the lowest part, singing foundational notes. Notated in the bottom stave, bass stems always point down. The bass part should be as prominent as the lead, with a big, robust vocal quality.

• Tag: a tag is music that is added to the end of the song, often introducing new harmonic progressions, similar to an amen. Tags are very popular in barbershop culture as standalone musical excerpts. Because they are often taught without using sheet music, tags are a wonderful way to introduce new singers to barbershop chords in just a few minutes by ear, rather than learning an entire song.

• Hanger/Post: One of the voice parts holds one long note on a single vowel of a word, while the other voice parts change chords and words around the singer, and can be as long as 30 seconds. Ask to learn the tag “Behind” from someone at HU.

• Swipe: A glissando (slide) from one note to another. A very common embellishment in barbershop arrangements.

• Fifth Wheeling: a frowned-upon activity where a person joins a group of four uninvited by singing along. To avoid this faux pas, wait until they are done and ask if you can sing along on the part you know. They will smile and say YES!

Members of the Barbershop Harmony Society even have a code of ethics that set expectations on the back of membership cards. Here are a few:

• We shall accept for membership only congenial persons of good character.
• We shall exhibit a spirit of good fellowship toward all members.
• We shall not permit the introduction of political, religious, or other similar controversial issues.
• We endeavor to spread the spirit of harmony throughout the world.

We ask the same of all HU attendees: be nice, encouraging, and not introduce bad energy or language to our classrooms, our meals, our dorms, and our campus. We are a caring group and we are glad you are coming to learn with us and we want all participants to feel safe.

A challenge for all involved with ensemble singing is selecting music repertoire. Barbershop singers are no exception. HU planners work very hard to ensure the general session, and TTBB, SSAA, and Next Generation songs are not religious or patriotic. Some songs, especially older barbershop arrangements, might be specifically gendered. This is not meant to be exclusive, but reflects the practice of earlier times. You are welcome to use the pronoun of your choice or neutral word in its place. If you have a concern about the repertoire choices, please reach out to us: harmonyu@barbershop.org.