Harmony, Incorporated, is an international organization of women singers whose purpose is to empower all women through education, friendship and singing. Founded by 1959 by Peggy Rigby, Charlotte Sneddon, Mary Avis Hedges, Jeanne Maino and Mary Perry in Providence, Rhode Island, the organization currently has just under 2000 members in the United States and Canada and is closely affiliated with the Barbershop Harmony Society.
In 1957, several members of Sweet Adelines International (SAI) broke from the organization in protest of the policy limiting membership to Caucasian women. In 1958, chapters from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Orillia, Ontario, also left SAI to form Harmony, Incorporated.[2]
Harmony, Inc. was incorporated in the State of Rhode Island on February 26, 1959. The founding member chapters of Harmony, Inc. were the Melody Belles of Providence, Rhode Island; Sea Gals of New Bedford, Massachusetts; The Harmonettes from North Attleboro, Massachusetts; Harmony Belles of Barrie-Orillia, Ontario; and the Harborettes from Scituate, Massachusetts.[3]
1963, a Sweet Adeline chapter in Ottawa, Ontario was threatened with expulsion after accepting a black woman, Lana Clowes, as a member.[4] As a result, Ottawa's Capital Chordettes left SAI to become the seventh chapter to join Harmony, Incorporated.[5]
In 2013, Harmony, Inc. announced the creation of the Affiliate membership category, extending membership to men involved with the organization.[6]
Contests
Harmony, Inc. annually holds international and area-level conventions and contests for choruses and quartets to improve singing, conduct meetings and provide educational instruction.
Quartets who win the international gold medal are called "Harmony Queens," and are considered champions forever and may not compete again. A chorus that wins the gold must sit out of competition one year and may compete for the gold medal again in the second year following their championship.
Quartet champions
Take4, 2022 International Quartet Champions
Hot Pursuit, 2019 International Quartet Champions[7]
Aged to Perfection, 2018 International Quartet Champions[8]
Taken 4 Granite, 2016 International Quartet Champions
LiveWire, 2015 International Quartet Champions
Moonstruck, 2014 International Quartet Champions
Spot On, 2013 International Quartet Champions
Epic, 2012 International Quartet Champions
Foreign Exchange, 2011 International Quartet Champions
Ringtones!, 2010 International Quartet Champions
Showcase, 2009 International Quartet Champions
U4X, 2008 International Quartet Champions
Boston Accent, 2006 International Quartet Champions
After Hours, 2000 International Quartet Champions
Blue Champagne, 1998 International Quartet Champions
Images, 1997 International Quartet Champions
For Heaven's Sake, 1996 International Quartet Champions– longest active Queens quartet
Scale Blazers, 1964 International Quartet Champions– Baritone Jeanne (Emi) O'Connor was the youngest quartet champion at age 17
Chorus champions
New England Voices in Harmony, from Nashua, New Hampshire, two-time International Chorus Champions (2014, 2018)
Northern Blend Chorus from Watertown, New York, three-time International Chorus Champions (2010, 2017, 2022). Their 2017 championship ended The Village Vocal Chords' streak of 19 consecutive championships.
A Cappella Showcase from Milton, Ontario, four-time International Chorus Champions (2008, 2012, 2016, 2019)
The Village Vocal Chords based in Metro Chicago, Illinois, are twenty-time International Chorus Champions, with the most international gold medals in Harmony, Inc., 19 of which were in succession (each time the chorus was eligible to compete) since 1979.
Derby City Chorus from Louisville, Kentucky, are five-time International Chorus Champions (1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006)
The Harmonettes, one of the founding chapters of Harmony, Inc. are nine-time International Chorus Champions (1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1977)
Capital Chordettes from Ottawa, Ontario, three-time International Chorus Champions (1984, 1988, 1996)
Areas
Harmony, Inc. is divided into geographical areas,[10] and the membership of an Area consists of all the chapters and Associate members assigned to it by the International Board of Directors (IBOD).
For purposes of administration (particularly of local schools and contests) the society is organized into geographical districts as follows:
Area 1: Ten chapters, located in Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Labrador, and Prince Edward Island
Area 2: Twelve chapters located in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the Province of Quebec south of latitude 46'N
Area 3: Ten chapters located in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia
Area 4: Eleven chapters located in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin, and California Note Catchers chapter
Area 5: Eight chapters located in Ontario
Area 6: Nine chapters located in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee
Expansion Area: All other provinces/states of Canada and United States not mentioned in Areas 1 through 6
↑ Document 2015AnnualMeetingMinutes.pdf, Harmony, Inc. Annual Meeting Membership Totals, October 2015; .
↑ Averill, Gage (2003), Four Parts: No Waiting, Oxford University Press, ISBN0-19-511672-0, p. 132: "The split occurred after the 1957 convention in Miami, at which the outgoing board introduced a resolution to restrict membership to Caucasians...Sweet Adelines had no black members, and no one was aware of any black singers who had petitioned to join the organization. Still, the board argued that there had always been tacit agreement about racial exclusion and it was time to formalize this policy.... chapters split, quartets broke up, members resigned, and arguments ensued at all levels of the organization... starting in July 1958, a number of northern chapters dropped out of Sweet Adelines... and met in Providence, Rhode Island... to start Harmony, Incorporated."
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