The Keene, NH Chapter

of the

Barbershop Harmony Society

 

What is barbershop harmony?

 

Four guys standing around in boaters and armbands - is this barbershop?  Maybe 100 years ago, but today, you're just as likely to see four guys - or 104, in the case of a barbershop chorus - standing around harmonizing, wearing leather jackets or polo shirts. It's all about the sound, no matter what you wear.  Those tight, ringing chords, rich with sevenths and baritone "dirty notes" are what makes the barbershop style so distinctive.  Yes, the repertoire is pretty stationary, and in International competition, there are pretty stringent rules as to what constitutes "legal" music, but it's all about the preservation of that barbershop sound.

 

Barbershop is an all-American musical style that developed in the 1890s and flourished during the Vaudeville years in the 1920s. Organzations like the men's Barbershop Harmony Society (formerly SPEBSQSA) and their female counterpart Sweet Adelines International have fostered and promoted the art form for most of the twentieth and into the twenty-first centuries. Both associations hold international competitions yearly, to crown the "best of the best" in their genre. Listen to some of their classic tunes. If you don't instantly crave an ice cream cone and want to walk in the moonlight with someone named "Nellie," then you're impervious to musical suggestion for sure...

 

Barbershop music ...as defined, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Barbershop harmony is a style of unaccompanied vocal music 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. The melody is not sung by the tenor except for an infrequent note or two to avoid awkward voice leading, in tags or 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, whose tones clearly define a tonal center and imply major and minor chords and barbershop (dominant and secondary dominant) seventh chords that resolve primarily around the circle of fifths, while making frequent use of other resolutions. What sets barbershop apart from other musical styles is the predominant use of the dominant-type seventh chords. Barbershop music also features a balanced and symmetrical form, and a standard meter. The basic song and its harmonization are embellished by the arranger to provide appropriate support of the song's theme and to close the song effectively.

Barbershop singers adjust pitches to achieve perfectly tuned chords in just intonation while remaining true to the established tonal center. Artistic singing in the barbershop style exhibits a fullness or expansion of sound, precise intonation, a high degree of vocal skill, and a high level of unity and consistency within the ensemble. Ideally, these elements are natural, un-manufactured, and free from apparent effort.

The presentation of barbershop music uses appropriate musical and visual methods to convey the theme of the song and provide the audience with an emotionally satisfying and entertaining experience. The musical and visual delivery is from the heart, believable, and sensitive to the song and its arrangement throughout. The most stylistic presentation artistically melds together the musical and visual aspects to create and sustain the illusions suggested by the music.

 

 BACK to Main

 

The Cheshiremen Chorus

The Keene Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society

Post Office Box 225 • Keene, New Hampshire 03431-0225

 

Toll Free 1-877-31B-SHOP (that's 1-877-312-7467)  ~~   E-MAIL US

This page was last updated: Monday January 11, 2010

 The web site www.cheshiremen.org and its contents  © Copyright 2002-2010.  All Rights Reserved, since 1952.