BinG! Harmony College 2026

In this class, we will explore musical modes beyond the familiar major and minor scales. Through singing exercises and listening activities, we will explore how to recognize, experience, and sing different modal scales. The class first unpacks some principles behind these modes and discuss how modes affect emotional character in music. ...

After attending the class, participants will be able to:
- Describe the basic characteristics of different musical modes
- Recognize the sonic character of different musical modes beyond major and minor
- Sing scales and musical phrases in different modes
- Experiment with altering modes

Das Harmony-College-Stipendium lädt (angehende) Berufsmusiker*innen und Musikpädagog*innen dazu ein, Barbershop, den Verband und die Community kennenzulernen. Dieser Kurs möchte die Möglichkeit bieten, zur Harmony-College-"Halbzeit" Eindrücke schildern zu können und gemeinsam die Anwendbarkeit von Barbershop und den Wert des Verbandes und der Community hinsichtlich des eigenen musikalischen Arbeitsfeldes zu reflektieren und zu diskutieren. Der Kurs ist für die Stipendiat*innen verpflichtend, aber auch für alle weiteren Teilnehmer*innen offen, die Interesse am Mitdenken, Austauschen und Networken haben.

The Harmony College Scholarship invites (aspiring) professional musicians and music educators to get to know Barbershop, the association, and the community. This course aims to offer participants the opportunity to share their impressions at the "midpoint" of Harmony College and to collectively reflect on and discuss the applicability of Barbershop, as well as the value of the association and community in relation to their own professional musical work. The course is mandatory for scholarship recipients but also open to all other participants who are interested in engaging in discussion, exchanging ideas, and networking.

(Teil 1/2, 2. Teil am Sonntag! | Part 1/2, 2nd part on sunday!)
Chords, and chord progressions, are one of the things that make barbershop 'feel' like barbershop. We love the dominant seventh chord so much, we've even called it the 'Barbershop Seventh'! Come and learn more about the vocabulary, variety, voicings and progressions that are commonly found within the style - we'll even write a tag!

- Develop a deeper understanding of the barbershop style and general music theory
- Acquire practical skills to ensure greater harmonic colour when writing arrangements
- Develop a great love for the absolutely nerdiness of chords!

This session explores how to sharpen your barbershop craft with specific exercises. This will not focus on overall vocal production, but on the small, trainable elements you can control, including aligning rhythmic durations, hard word sounds, and vowels, and improving listening skills.

The goal is to give you skills you can apply and practice that will stick and happen naturally when you eventually stop thinking and simply perform.