|
|
|
What is Barbershop Music? Barbershop music, with its close, unaccompanied four-part harmonies and ringing chords, is a uniquely American folk art. It evolved in much the same as other forms of vocal music. Although no one can say exactly when or where barbershop music began, the growth of the tradition was certainly aided between the 1860's and the 1920's by the types of songs popular at the time--songs characterized by sentimental lyrics and uncomplicated melodies that could be harmonized with a variety of four-part chords. In the early years of American barbershop music, singers most often improvised harmonies. When the printing press was adapted to produce musical notation, there was further advancement of the barbershop idiom. many early pieces of sheet music were printed with the standard vocal line and piano accompaniment, and with an additional quartet arrangement on the final page. At the turn of the century amateur singers, usually men, could often be heard singing improvised barbershop harmony at parties and picnics. Minstrel shows also featured babershop quartets, who sang in front of the curtain as an "olio" act while performers and stage hands prepared for the next act. It was convenient to use a quartet for this purpose, since no props were required. *From The History of Barbershop, Sweet Adelines International |