HANDOUT for ESSENCE OF BARBERSHOP for NEWBIES

Ted Chamberlain 253-414-2267

ted@nwvoicestudio.com

It is my philosophy that all barbershop singers are on their own unique place on the path of learning and

excellence. No two people are at the same place on all the myriad of skills and understanding. AND

Barbershop is a style for “everyone” – not just an elite few. Anyone with the desire can learn to sing

barbershop…and to sing/perform it well!! Be patient, however, as skills can take time to develop!!

Resources

Being active in your local chapter/chorus

Getting involved in quartetting

Harmony Schools such as this! (SET, Harmony

University)

Attending conventions

o Men: division, district, international.

o Women: Regional and International

Barbershop Organizational Websites and

Marketplace

YouTube

Spotify, Pandora

International Contest Webcasts.

What’s in here?

This handout is primarily references for later – some of which we will explore today, and much of which will help provide a skeleton of information you can use as you begin your journey in singing Barbershop Harmony!!

What Is Barbershop Harmony?

First, A Little History...

In the last half of the 19th century, U.S. barbershops often served as community centers – a place where most men would gather.

Barbershop quartets originated with African American men socializing in barbershops; they would harmonize while waiting their

turn, vocalizing in spirituals, folk songs and popular songs. This generated a new style, consisting of unaccompanied, four-part,

close-harmony singing.

Bookmark these!

Men

http://www.barbershop.org

http://evgsings.org

Women

http://www.sweetadelineintl.org

http://www.sairegion13.org

Later, minstrel singers adopted the style, and in the early days of the recording industry, their performances were recorded and

sold. Barbershop music was very popular between 1900 and 1919 but gradually faded into obscurity in the 1920s. It experienced

a revival in the 1940's and is still a popular genre of a cappella music sung around the world today.

Translation: Barbershop is an older style of harmony. Originally, singers would simply make up their parts as they

sang…singing by ear.

Characteristics Of The Barbershop Style

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 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 harmony parts

(tenor, baritone, bass) except for an infrequent note or two to avoid awkward voice leading or as an embellishment such as tags

and codas. Occasional brief passages may be sung by fewer than four voice parts.

Translation: Unlike traditional choral music in which the highest (soprano) part has the melody, Barbershop Harmony has the

melody in the second highest part. All parts sing the same words at the same time…in 4-part harmony.

The Barbershop Sound

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, unmanufactured and free from

apparent effort. Barbershop singers adjust pitches to achieve perfectly tuned chords in just intonation while remaining true to the

established tonal center. This results in what is known as "ringing chords" - the precise synchrony of waveforms of the four

voices simultaneously creating the perception of a "fifth voice" while at the same time melding the four voices into a unified

sound. The quality of a ringing chord is different from the sound of a musical chord played on modern keyboard instruments, due

to the fact that these instruments are tuned to an equal-tempered scale which contains slight tuning imperfections. What is prized

in Barbershop singing is not the ringing chord's "overtone" itself, but the unique unified sound whose achievement is most easily

recognized by the presence of the overtone.

Translation: When sung well and in tune, barbershop chords combine in such a way so as to feel and sound louder than the sum

of the parts.

Music And Presentation

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. Barbershop music also features a balanced

and symmetrical form, and a standard meter. Barbershop musical arrangements exhibit harmonization which is embellished to

support the song's theme and to close the song effectively.

The presentation of Barbershop music also 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.

Translation: Barbershop music and performance seeks to be very “natural” and “conversational”. While there IS much detail in

learning to sing barbershop harmony well, it is intended to come across as a non-formal (i.e. not “classical”) manner.

Adapted from Wikipedia article: Barbershop Music 20 Oct 2013 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbershop_music>

The Four Voice Parts

The Barbershop style of a cappella singing features a distinctive four-part vocal arrangement which is the same for both men's

and women's groups. Although the names of the voice parts are the same as those used in classical music, they do not correspond

in practice.

TENOR sings the harmony part above the Lead and should have a lighter, clear, sweet sound to his/her voice with very little

vibrato. Tenors are the SPARKLE or GLITZ in the sound! Their shimmering tone rides on top of the rest of the chord…lurkin

much of the time, then, at special moments they add vocal GLORY to the sound!

Many male tenors sing in head voice or falsetto most, if not all the time. Male basses with a confident falsetto, often make great

barbershop tenors. Operatic tenors SELDOM make great barbershop tenors. Likewise, women sopranos with more dramatic (full)

classical voices, may be better suited to lead or baritone, than tenor.

LEAD usually sings the melody and should have a clear, strong, pleasant voice with a good sense of pitch. Leads are the

STORY-TELLERS.

The range in men is akin to a “Tenor 2” part in TTBB music. Women…perhaps a mezzo soprano or a fuller or darker soprano.

Singing lead in a QUARTET is perhaps as much about expressing the song through your personality, as it is about the notes! It is

the part the audience listens to most!

BARITONE sings in the same range as the Lead, moving above or below the Lead line as necessary for the note to complete the

barbershop chord. The baritone needs to have a “good ear” for harmony and the ability to adjust his/her pitch and balance (how

loud or soft relative to the rest of the chord) to the other parts.

Because the baritone and lead ranges are essentially the same, Baritones must be aware of when they are above and below the

lead. When above, they are to sing lighter…like a tenor. When lower than the lead, sing with greater fullness, like a bass. When

very close to the lead in pitch…like the lead, while allowing the lead to remain slightly prominent.

Baritones add BEAUTY to the sound and fill up the chord with resonance.

BASS sings the lowest note in the harmony part below the lead and should have a deep voice with a mellow timbre.

Basses provide the FOUNDATION of the harmony and must be consistently resonant and full. They will also “cone” so that

when they are higher in pitch they will be a little lighter than when lower. However, they must always maintain their full bass

resonance.

Adapted from Wikipedia article: Barbershop Music 20 Oct 2013 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbershop_music>

THE BARBERSHOP CONE and Balance

Barbershop music requires a precise balance of the notes, which you will learn to hear. Because we tend

to hear higher pitches in the human vocal range more easily than lower ones (which is why we must pay

considerably more for speaker woofers than speaker tweeters!!) we must compensate to some degree.

This means that:

The lower one is within the chord, the stronger the note must be.

The higher one is within the chord, the lighter the note must be.

VOCAL TECHNIQUE FOR BARBERSHOPPERS

This section alone can be ones’ focus for a lifetime. That said, there are a few basic concepts that help get people, new to barbershop, on a healthy positive track. I’ll also say that even the least skilled barbershop singer, enjoys the experience of ringing chords. However, that fulfillment seems to grow the more accomplished the singer becomes, as he/she is able to ring chords more consistently, stronger and more of the time. WHAT ARE THE BASICS OF AN EXCELLENT BARBERSHOP TONE?

PERSONAL VOCAL TECHNIQUE o Freely produced. Learn to allow relaxation in shoulders, neck, base of the tongue, and

jaw. Other places may also be a specific issue for one person or another. While “ENERGY” is necessary, “TENSION” is typically the enemy.

o PING. Vibrant, buzzy, pingy, focused, brilliant tone. In classical singing, it is referred to as the “singer’s formant”. Sensation of the PING in the sound is often felt as an increased vibration sensation in the MASK (area around eyes). Allow the PING to ALWAYS be present in every tone. Learn to “align” your PING with the PING of the other voices around you. Even when singing tender, gentle messages, the vibrancy of the PING keeps the voice alive with emotion, and keeps the harmonics dancing!!

o RING. In the terminology I use, RING is the resonance created by the shape of the tone/vowel. You will learn how to allow the shape of your tone (mouth, lips, jaw, tongue) to modify in somewhat subtle ways to allow the tone to expand and be full and strong, even while free from tension!

o WALL OF SOUND. This is a concept that we allow the resonance (ping and ring…with freedom) to be maintained as a constant stream of tone. There are many ways we learn to do this, and it can become rather sophisticated. For starters, though, understand that we are wanting to maintain the integrity of the ringing chord. The opposite of “wall of sound” is “choppy singing”.

UNIT SOUND o Singing INSIDE the sound. Blend, unity, vocal match, all come from making small

adjustments to one’s singing so as to align with the sounds of other singers. The implication is NOT to sing SOFTER, but to sing THE SAME as the others so your voice disappears into the mix.

o Synchronization. Aligning word sounds together and even feeling the nuance of expression together help our voices to align in perfect precision. Again, there are many ways to work toward this in the barbershop style, and some may seem very strange or even counter what may have been learned in other styles. That’s OK…it can take a while to fully master this.

o INTONATION…Precise TUNING. While it is true that being in tune is actually our natural tendency, MANY factors can impede that process. Vocal tension, poorly shaped vowels, fatique, notes that are rather high or rather low, and much more can all make it challenging to maintain intonation at the highest levels. In addition, because MOST music we hear is tuned using a compromised method of tuning called “Equal temperament” … brought into vogue with J.S. Bach, our ears have learned to recognize these slightly out of tune sounds to be normal. Many singers new to barbershop will benefit from learning how to listen and feel for the ACTUAL tuning which is NATURAL – called JUST INTONATION. My Techno-tuning class is both a technical approach to understanding, and also a PRACTICAL approach on how to develop this skill as a barbershop singer.

o LOCK and RING….and EXPANDED SOUND. These are terms you will hear frequently in barbershop! When a chord is sung with great precisioin…in tune…vowel unity…exceptional balance, the resulting COMBINATION of sounds reinforce each other in some pretty spectacular ways!! Without going too deep into it here, suffice it to say that the resulting column of sound that is created contains audible notes that are beyond the 4 pitches being sung. This has to do with OVERTONES (also called “harmonics”) in each sung note, and how the note sung, and the various harmonics mix mathematically to create additional notes above, within and below the chord notes

being sung. Spectacular…and NERD-filled FUN to explore!!! For those just starting out, you really get a feel for “more than just the 4 notes being sung” even if you can’t yet hear the OTHER notes (overtones and “combination tones”). You’ll still feel the expansion.

EXPRESSIVE ARTISTRY. The structure of the chords, the shape of the melody, the feel of the rhythm, the meaning of the lyrics all combine to touch people (us and our audiences) in very meaningful ways. THIS is the artistic goal of performance: to use the elements of the music/song to connect with our audiences on these deeper levels.

o Genuine & Heart-felt. Our messages are meant to help our audiences experience universal human emotions. Learning to do so in a very genuine and natural way, that still gets across the footlights is an important aspect of Barbershop performance.

o Musically artistic. We strive to express the musical elements with beauty, finesse and rhythmic integrity, as appropriate to the song, arrangement and message you wish to convey.

o Engaging. This can be emotionally intense, or transport the audience to another place and time, or get them grooving to the rhythmical elements, or laughing, etc.

SHOWMANSHIP, STAGE PRESENCE, AND

PERFORMANCE BASICS

Barbershop performers sing with voice, face and body!! How we present the music VISUALLY is an important aspect of the style. Barbershop comes from the Vaudeville performance heritage, and as such, there is a strong emphasis on entertainment value.

Genuine, “from the heart” expression

Body posture that is confident, proud and regal

Visual plans, which may include choreography, special costuming and even props, that brings out the various stories, expressions and messages of the songs we sing.

Much of the expression should feel “conversation” as well as it should engage your audience as appropriate for the song and it’s musical and lyrical message.

WHAT DO CONTEST JUDGES JUDGE?

While a contest score is only a reflection of the quality of an artistic performance, the barbershop contest and judging systems are designed to help elevate our art form and to educate members in the finer points of performing in the barbershop style. MANY aspects of barbershop performance are universal across other musical styles.

BHS (Men); 3 categories: Singing, Music and Performance (formerly Presentation)

A single panel would be one judge per category. Larger contests often have double panels. International contest has 5 sets of judges!

Each judge can award up to 100 points per song. Contestants will sing 2 songs back-to-back. So each judge will award up to 200 points total, which means that a 600 would be a perfect score with a single panel.

The judge will determine whether the level of the performance is excellent (A-level, from 81-100), good (B-level, from 61- 80), fair (C-level, from 41-60), or poor (D-level, from 1-40)

1. SINGING a. Singing is defined as quality, in-tune vocalization accomplished with a high degree of

unity, ensemble consistency and artistry. The Singing judge evaluates the degree to which the performer achieves artistic singing in the barbershop style.

b. Major elements in the category are: intonation; vocal quality; unity of word sounds, flow, diction and synchronization; expansion and “ring”; and artistry.

2. MUSIC a. Music is defined as the song and arrangement as performed. The Music judge evaluates

the suitability of the song and arrangement to the barbershop style and the performer’s musicianship in bringing the song and arrangement to life.

b. Major elements in the category are: consonance; theme; delivery and musicality; execution; and embellishment.

3. PRESENTATION [The new PERFORMANCE category will be similar but complete information is not yet available]

a. Presentation is defined as the net impact of the performance upon the audience. The Presentation judge evaluates to what degree the audience is entertained through the performer’s communication of the story/message/theme in its musical and visual setting.

b. Major elements in the category are: entertainment value; “from the heart” delivery; audience rapport; artistry and expressiveness; and unity between the presentation’s vocal and visual elements.

Sweet Adelines International. (Women): There are many similarities between the men’s scoring and the women’s scoring. The categories are somewhat different. Here are the women’s categories:

1. SOUND a. The focus of the SOUND category is the evaluation of unit sound in the barbershop style.

Unit sound occurs when tones are properly produced, accurately tuned, blended and balanced. In barbershop terminology, this is referred to as “lock-and-ring.” Although the Sound Judge does not evaluate vocal technique in and of itself, the Sound category does include evaluation of the basics of correct singing.

2. MUSIC a. The primary focus of the MUSIC category is the performance of a song arranged in four-

part harmony, barbershop style. The Music Judge evaluates the musicality of the performance, the quality of the song and arrangement, and the adherence of the performing ensemble to the barbershop style. While any song can be arranged in the barbershop style, the extent to which a song adheres to the barbershop style is determined by characteristics unique to this form of music: chord structure, arrangement, the cone-shaped sound, untempered tuning, delivery and interpretation, which contribute to the “lock-andring” quality of the barbershop style.

3. EXPRESSION

a. The focus of the EXPRESSION category is the evaluation of the performer’s ability to communicate musically and lyrically. In vocal music, communication is strengthened by meaningful delivery of lyrics, musical diction, artistic phrasing, appropriate dynamics, energy, vocal characterization and a projection of sincere emotion. The Expression judge listens to a performance with her primary concentration directed to the evaluation of the degree of artistry achieved in the verbal execution and lyrical delivery of the song. Although many specific areas contribute to the success of an artistic performance, they are inseparable in that blended together the result is an artistically satisfying experience.

4. SHOPWMANSHIP a. The focus of the SHOWMANSHIP category is the evaluation of the salesmanship of the

musical product. This includes the elements of preparation, the visual plan and the creation and communication of onstage magic. With effective showmanship, the performer is able to enhance what the listener hears by reinforcing it with what the viewer sees, creating a total performance. The Showmanship Judge assesses the performer’s ability to incorporate the intangible art of showmanship into a performance that creates and communicates magic.