Although Bbshop will always be an aural hobby, most of the best quartets and choruses can read music. No longer is it a badge of honor when an old Bbshoppers says, "I've been singing in a chorus for 50 years and I can't read a note!" Shame on the director, first of all, for letting that happen, and shame on the singer for being proud of the fact that he is musically illiterate. The times, they are a-changin'. If the Barbershop Harmony Society wants to keep up with the times, it will encourage all singers to become readers as well.

Semi-rebuttal from harmonytom: I'm not encouraging illiteracy, but I'd say there's still a lot of need to rely on your ears. Most guys who took piano lessons have never heard a "perfect" perfect fifth. Tune it or die!

We've got a lot of good learning tapes (I mean CDs – we are keeping up with the times) going around, that you can listen to in your car. I wouldn't encourage anyone to be reading "spots" off a piece of paper while they're driving. They might drop their cellphone or spill their coffee!

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Resources for Music Theory:

• [http://cnx.org/content/col10208/latest/ Introduction to Music Theory from cnx.org]
• [http://www.musictheory.net/ Ricci Adams' musictheory.net]