Barbershop quartet

Max Q, winners of the Barbershop Harmony Society's international barbershop convention in Denver, Colorado, 2007. From left to right: Greg Clancy (tenor), Tony DeRosa (lead), Jeff Oxley (bass) and Gary Lewis (baritone).

A barbershop quartet is a quartet of singers who sing music in the barbershop genre. It consists of a lead, the vocal part which generally carries the tune; a bass, the part which provides the bass line to the melody; a tenor, the part which harmonizes above the lead; and a baritone, the part that completes the chord. The baritone can sing either above or below the lead singer.

Quartets can be male or female, but are generally not mixed. A female barbershop quartet may be referred to as a Sweet Adelines Quartet, and the vocal parts have the same labels, since the roles perform similar functions in the quartet even though the vocal ranges are different.

History

Roles of vocal parts

Tenor

The tenor generally harmonizes above the lead, making the part the highest in the quartet. So as not to overpower the lead singer, who carries the tune, the part is often sung in falsetto, which is of a softer quality than singing in the modal register,[1] though some quartets do make use of tenors with a softer full voice quality.[2] Notable examples of barbershop quartets which made use of the full-voiced tenor include The Buffalo Bills and Boston Common.[3]

The range of a tenor in barbershop music does not necessarily closely correspond to that of a tenor's range in Classical repertoire, often being more in the range of the classical countertenor range.[4]

Lead

Lead usually sings the main melody.

Baritone

Baritone often completes the chord with a medium voice.

Bass

Bass always sings and harmonizes the lowest notes.

Organisations and competitions

See also

References

  1. ↑ Hoch, Matthew (2014). A dictionary for the modern singer dictionaries for the modern musician. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 20–1. ISBN 0810886561.
  2. ↑ editor, W.K. McNeil, (2005). Encyclopedia of American gospel music. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. ISBN 1135377006.
  3. ↑ "Society Hall of Fame, Class of 2014". The Harmonizer (Nashville: Barbershop Harmony Society): 23. Winter 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  4. ↑ "Barbershop quartet singing". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 12 May 2015.

External link

Media related to Barbershop quartets at Wikimedia Commons

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