Harmony College 2026

Welcome to the Harmony College mini-site

Harmony College is an all-inclusive LABBS education event in more ways than one - it combines all our annual education days into one weekend, organised by streams of content/role, and it also has accommodation packages that are all-inclusive of meals!  It is also inclusive in that we welcome all-comers, not just LABBS members. BABS and SAI members can come along, and we also welcome other non-members such as music teachers and directors of other genres.

When is it?

Friday 24th to Sunday 26th April, 2026

There are currently no planned formal sessions on the Friday evening but many delegates choose to come the evening before and socialise in the bar and sing a few songs/tags including the new 2026 LABBS polecat which will also be the college song! 

On the Saturday morning, you can collect your event pass from 9am, sessions start at 10am and the last session on Sunday finishes at 4:30pm... but allow time after that to say your goodbyes to all your new barbershop friends!

More delegate information is available on the delegate information page.
 

Where is it?

Jubilee Campus, Nottingham University

We have held LABBS Harmony College at this campus three times before and it suits our needs well. It's all on the flat and within a fairly compact area. There is a bar and if it's nice weather, plenty of outside spaces.
 

What can I do and learn?

Our special guest educator is Blair Brown, probably best known as a member of Double Date quartet, the two-times BinG! World Champion mixed quartet. Read more about Blair on the faculty page.  Blair will spend some time with each of the streams throughout the weekend, as well as truly inspiring us all with plenary sessions.

There are various educational streams that you will follow for most of your weekend, supplemented by a couple of sessions with random "pic-n-mix" breakout classes.

The streams in brief are:

• Personal Development stream - this stream is classroom based, covering topics from all categories: music, performance and singing.  As well as for those who want to learn and understand more about Barbershop, this stream is also suitable for those who realise that a weekend standing on risers is not for them, but still want to attend Harmony College.  New this year: Sub-streams on Music Theory from Scratch and Barbershop Arranging!  There is plenty of capacity on this stream.
• Chorus stream - Delegates are split into 2 choruses, and each chorus rehearses 2 songs, one of which will be the brand new LABBS polecat and the other the choice of each chorus stream leader.  There is plenty of capacity on this stream.
• Directors stream - whether you are an established director, novice, or aspiring director this will be suitable for you, to spend time with your peers discussing the challenges of being a director, learning how to be better at the role, and improving your directing technique. There is plenty of capacity on this stream, although there may be restricted numbers for practical coaching.
• Quartet stream - for full quartets in attendance, who will spend most of their time receiving dedicated coaching from different category judges, with the latest techniques and approaches to the style. Places are limited on this stream to 6 quartets. THIS STREAM IS NOW FULL.
• Extreme Quartetting stream - an entry level for Harmony Brigade-style extreme quartetting. Those selecting this stream will learn 6 songs in advance, to a high level of accuracy and then sing them in multiple randomly drawn quartets, before competing on Sunday afternoon to have the chance as the winning quartet to perform on the final showcase.  Applications for this stream are carefully managed, to achieve 13 quartets of the correct voice parts, so you'll need to fill out an additional form if you want to "EQ".

Breakout Pic-n-Mix sessions

Breakout pic-n-mix sessions are what they say on the tin... with members of the faculty and any delegate who offers to lead a session, going "freestyle" on a topic of their choice. This could be anything from a polecats session, singing tags, learning how to deal with stage fright, trying quartetting for the first time, and just about anything else! 

I'm in! How do I enrol?

Enrolment is now OPEN! Simply hit the "enrolment" button at the top of the page, read the info and fill out the form.

Do you have any questions?