Immerse yourself in harmony!
Next Generation Barbershop: This is YOUR stage!
About the Junior Quartet Contest
The Junior Quartet Contest gives young singers a platform to make music together in a peer-ranked environment at our annual Midwinter Convention, held in a different U.S. city every January.
Open to all singers: men’s quartets, women’s quartets, and all-voices quartets.
All participants must be aged 18 or under at the time of the event.
Upcoming Deadlines: 2025 Contest applications now open!
Register by October 15, 2024 for the 2024 Junior Quartet Contest in San Antonio, Texas, January 28-February 2, 2025.
Easy to start!
The Basics
Sing music already approved for your State Solo & Ensemble Contest, or songs your chorus has prepared for the Next Generation Chorus Festival!
- The contest is open to young men’s, women’s and all-voices quartets.
- All singers must be 18 years of age or under at the time of the Midwinter Event.
- No exceptions will apply. Should any quartet member be over the age of 18, the quartet will only be considered for the Varsity (18-25) quartet contest held at International.
- There are no restrictions regarding membership in the Barbershop Harmony Society or any affiliate organization.
Music and Age Requirements
Sing music already approved for your State Solo & Ensemble Contest, or songs your chorus has prepared for the Next Generation Chorus Festival!
Click here for detailed FAQs on what makes songs suitable for contest and how songs can be adapted for a wide range of voices.
- The contest is open to young men’s, women’s and mixed quartets.
- A quartet who is eligible to participate in both Junior and Varsity quartet contests may only register for one contest occurring within the same year.
- All singers must be 18 years of age or under at the time of the Midwinter Event.
- No exceptions will apply. Should any quartet member be over the age of 18, the quartet will only be considered for the Varsity (18-25) quartet contest held at International.
- There are no restrictions regarding membership in the Barbershop Harmony Society or any affiliate organization.
Learn how to qualify for the Junior Quartet Contest
View the full list of rules and entry qualifications below.
Please watch the video above to learn more about qualifying for the Junior Quartet Contest, or learn about changes to the program on the Frequently Asked Questions page.
It's all in the details
Rules & Eligibility
Eligibility
- The contest is open to all genders.
- All singers must be 18 years of age or under at the time of the Midwinter Event.
- No exceptions will apply. Should any quartet member be over the age of 18, the quartet will only be considered for the Varsity (18-25 quartet contest held at International)
- There are no restrictions regarding membership in the Barbershop Harmony Society or any affiliate organization.
Rules
- An individual can sing in only one junior quartet at a time.
- All arrangements performed by quartets must be obtained in accordance with international and USA copyright law. Further information may be found here: Copyright Basics For Barbershoppers.
- One (1) song in the barbershop style must be sung. A quartet may use the same song it sang in the preliminary video contest and the live contest at the midwinter convention. (Not sure what to sing? View our suggested song list!)
- The video must be recorded in HD in front of a live audience without any edits or production enhancements. The live audience may be at public or private event or performance. We encourage you to consider recording your performance in front of a local Barbershop Harmony Society chapter or district. You can find local opportunities by searching our website (barbershop.org) or by emailing customerservice@barbershop.org.
- All video/photo/audio submitted will be owned and used without restriction by BHS.
Entry & Qualification
- Record your group singing. It doesn’t have to be a professional recording, so have fun with it.
- Perform only ONE contestable barbershop song to qualify (a 2nd song is not required)
- Post your video on YouTube.
- Register your quartet. (No emailing link.)
- Quartets must have their quartet names approved, so as not to conflict with names already selected and reserved by other competitors and registered Barbershop Harmony Society member quartets.
- Certified Society judges will adjudicate all contests, both video preliminary and the live Midwinter competition, using standard Society contest rules. Invitation to the finals combines standard rules and other factors described below.
- All videos must be submitted by YouTube link within the registration form no later than November 1.
- Video must be recorded and uploaded between January 1 and October 15, 2024
- All video/photo/audio submitted will be owned and used without restriction by BHS.
- All quartets are required to participate in a pre-event and post-event survey.
Barbershop Style
- Basic characteristics of barbershop harmony:
- Four unaccompanied voices.
- Melody in the second voice down (lead, or second tenor). The melody lies within the good quality range for the average lead singer and is free of awkward skips that make it difficult to sing accurately.
- Consonant four-part chords on all notes of the melody, almost completely in root position and second inversion.
- Easily understandable lyrics that are in good taste.
- A chief characteristic of the barbershop style is its wholesome, “G-rated” entertainment values.
- Forfeiture may result from one or all judges for:
- Anyone other than quartet members appearing on stage during the performance.
- Actions by any contestant that are deemed suggestive, vulgar, or otherwise not in good taste, as determined by acceptable, contemporary community standards. The song in the barbershop style must not be either primarily patriotic or primarily religious in intent.
- Any spoken words deemed excessive or detrimental to the performance. Participating choruses should not introduce their selections.
- Use of contestant’s own electronic sound equipment.
- Instrumental accompaniment, including instrumental introductions, interludes, or conclusions.
Judging & Criteria
- Videos will be judged by BHS’s Contest and Judging score
- Each video will receive 1 score from a certified judge in any scoring category
- Each junior quartet will receive a score based on a 30 point scale (converted from the standard BHS 100-point scale). Should your junior quartet be interested on how your score converts to the BHS 100-point scale, this information can be provided to you after the festival by requesting the conversion from customerservice@barbershop.org.
- Each judge will be required to write a brief 1-paragraph evaluation encouraging the competitor’s participation and improvement
- Top 15 will be invited to compete at Midwinter based on overall combined scores
- The live competition will be judged by a single BHS judging panel
- Scores will be converted to the 30-point “YCF scale”
Scholarship
- A free Midwinter convention registration along with stipend will be provided to each quartet member who is not also participating in the Junior Chorus Invitational.
Build your barbershop know-how
Whether you're new to barbershop or you've been singing in close harmony for years, there's always more to learn!
Our educational resources abound: from the basics of our music to the roots of barbershop harmony, from our video series, "What Makes it Barbershop?" to our online learning opportunities, this uniquely-American art-form can open new doors for teachers and students alike.