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| The Arlington, Virginia, Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society |
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Photo by Mal Agnew Carl Costanzo
Christmas Party |
What is Barbershop Harmony? Barbershop harmony is a style of unaccompanied, or a cappella, vocal music characterized by consonant four-part chords for every melody note. Occasional brief passages may be sung by fewer than four voice parts. The voice parts are called tenor, lead, baritone, and bass. The melody is sung by the lead, with the tenor harmonizing above the melody, the bass singing the lowest harmonizing note below the melody, and the baritone completing the chord either above or below the melody. The melody may be sung occasionally by the bass but not by the tenor or the baritone, except for an infrequent note or two. A barbershop quartet consists of one person singing each of the four voice parts. In a barbershop chorus, the same four parts are sung, but a number of people will be singing each voice part. Barbershop interpretive style permits relatively wide liberties in the treatment of note values-staying within proper musical form-and uses changes in tempo and volume to more effectively and artistically create a mood and tell a story. Relative to an established sense of tonality, the melody line and harmony parts are enharmonically adjusted in pitch to produce an optimum consonant sound. Use of similar word sounds in good quality and optimum volume relationships by each of the voice parts mutually reinforces the harmonics (overtones) to produce the unique full or "expanded" sound characteristics of barbershop harmony. Barbershop harmony: it's easy, it's fun, and you can do it too. You'll find lots of opportunities to learn more about your voice and how to use it, through weekly meetings, workshops, schools and SPEBSQSA instructional materials. |
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