What is barbershop?

Barbershop harmony is a style of unaccompanied vocal music, in contest, characterized by consonant four-part chords for every melody note in a predominantly homophonic texture. The melody is consistently sung by the lead, with the tenor harmonizing above the melody, the bass singing the lowest harmonizing notes, and the baritone completing the chord.

 

So what does that mean in real language. The City of Roses Chorus Aberdeen sing songs with realtively simple rhythms, relatively simple harmonies and in relatively simple time signatures. The emphasis comes from what beauty can come from simple chords, that are voiced to help generate harmonics - notes that are not actually being sung but are generated from several voices singing the same 4 notes together at the same time.

 

The melody is not sung by the tenor except for an infrequent note or two to avoid awkward voice leading, in tags and codas, or when some appropriate embellishing effect can be created. Occasional brief passages may be sung by fewer than four voice parts.

Barbershop music features songs with understandable lyrics and easily singable melodies.

 

Artistic singing in the Barbershop style exhibits a high degree of vocal skill and a high level of unity and consistency within the ensemble.

 

 

Pitch Pipe Magazine

If you want to stay informed of the all the happenings of the female barbershop music scene, subscribe to Pitch Pipe, which is put out by Sweet Adelines International each quarter. It's full of news, reviews, and previews of coming events and competitions.

 

 

 

History of Sweet Adelines International

After World War II, barbershop singing was growing increasingly popular for men. In 1945, a small group of women wanted to participate in the chord-ringing, fun-filled harmony that the men were singing. So these women organized "Sweet Adelines in America". From its humble beginnings in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Sweet Adelines International, as it is now called, has grown to a membership of almost 30,000 women in countries all across the globe.