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Barbershop Harmony is a style of a capella,
four part, close harmony, vocal music.
A capella means that it is unaccompanied. The
word comes from the Latin meaning "in the chapel style" from an
era when musical instruments were considered to be the work of the
devil and were banned in church services. It doesn't mean that we
sing church music, only that it is not accompanied.
Four part means that the smallest group that can sing barbershop
is four voices, a quartet. In a chorus, there are still only four
different voice parts, there is just more than one person singing
each part. The parts are called lead (singing the melody), bass
(singing the low notes), tenor (singing a high harmony part over
the melody) and baritone (singing the notes that nobody else wants!).
It is close harmony because it is always sung
by single voice groups, either all male or all female and that,
of course, limits the range of notes that can be sung. The interval
between the highest and lowest notes are always less that two octaves
and, frequently, much less.
It is arranged in such a way that the different
voice parts blend together in support of each other. This makes
it possible for people with untrained voices to produce exciting
and creative music.
For more information on the history of the
style and its technicalities, visit the Barbershop Harmony Society
site. This Society was formed in 1938, in the USA, by a few men
who felt that the barbershop style was vanishing as a result of
trends in entertainment, including radio, and they determined that
it was worth some effort to preserve it.
History |
Chorus Members |
Committee Members |
Membership & Rehearsals |
About Barbershop |
Links |
Members Only
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