Barbershop Harmony!
Ranked #2,685 in Music, #74,612 overall
Four Parts. Interesting sounds. Great Fun!
Chances are you've heard them on the street corner, in a mall, on Valentine's Day or somewhere during the Christmas holidays.
You've often wondered how they get their sound. In this lens you'll find dozens of videos and resources to listen to this unique harmony. There's a whole 'society' of 'em out there, the Barbershop Harmony Society (formerly known as the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America or SPEBSQSA).
Come look around. Drop a line. Stay a while!
I've posted a few Mongolian Throat Singers. One man with overtones here!And don't miss the multi-track YouTube videos towards the top. They are fantastic.
How it All Comes Together
Don't know where you fit in? Here are some quick descriptions of the four parts.
Lead is the melody. Talk to a lead and he will tell you that he has the absolute most important part in the world. Let 'em brag a bit. It shows you're interested.
Lead
Tenor is a harmony part sung consistently higher than the lead. The tenor should have a light, sweet, pure tone that will complement but not overpower the lead. And most of them talk funnier than Leads too, like their pants are a tad too tight.
Tenor
Bass singers tend to have a rich, mellow voice. They pick a note somewhere on the bottom and stay there for the entire song. It's a nice gig if you can find it.
Bass
Baritone. You take out the baritone and you have three-part harmony. Not as thrilling or exciting.
Cream of the Crop, King of the Castle, Part that makes it 'Sing!!' Part that will One Day Rule the World, Poor and Humble Baritones
So the Tenors go up high; the Leads take on the melody; Basses go low; and in walks the Baritone.
Lead is the melody. Talk to a lead and he will tell you that he has the absolute most important part in the world. Let 'em brag a bit. It shows you're interested.
Lead
Tenor is a harmony part sung consistently higher than the lead. The tenor should have a light, sweet, pure tone that will complement but not overpower the lead. And most of them talk funnier than Leads too, like their pants are a tad too tight.
Tenor
Bass singers tend to have a rich, mellow voice. They pick a note somewhere on the bottom and stay there for the entire song. It's a nice gig if you can find it.
Bass
Baritone. You take out the baritone and you have three-part harmony. Not as thrilling or exciting.
Cream of the Crop, King of the Castle, Part that makes it 'Sing!!' Part that will One Day Rule the World, Poor and Humble Baritones
So the Tenors go up high; the Leads take on the melody; Basses go low; and in walks the Baritone.
Barbershop Harmony Contents
- How it All Comes Together
- 2009 International Chorus Champions: Ambassadors of Harmony
- 2009 International Quartet Champions: Crossroads
- Crossroads Quartet: 2009 International Champions
- Vocal Spectrum
- Barbershop Audio Links
- Gas House Gang quartet
- Barbershop Links
- Pitch Pipes
- Barbershop Multitrack
- Max Q Quartet
- RealTime Quartet videos
- Buffalo Bills Quartet
- Music Mousepads
- Mongolian Throat Singers
- Harmony on Ebay
- Platinum
- Multi-location Multi-track Barbershop
- Four Voices Quartet YouTube vids
- Barbershop Quartets
- Harmony
- Voices of Lee videos
- Barbershop Costumes on Amazon
- Talk to me
- Twitter Follow
Barbershop Audio Links
Here are a few links that you might enjoy.
Barbershop Links
- Barbershop Harmony Society
- The organization that helps barbershoppers do what they love to do.
- Harmonet Central
- Men, Women, Mixed, Arrangers, Coaches, Tapes
- Mixed Barbershop Quartets
- Men and Women
Pitch Pipes
For the non-Pitch Perfect crowd!
Sure, there are few of you out there that can pull an Eb out of the air at a whim. For the rest of us, we need pitch pipes.
Barbershop Multitrack
These two are the absolute best in this very young subcategory....
curated content from YouTube
Music Mousepads
Mongolian Throat Singers
You have to hear it to believe it
There are even some youtube videos that teach you how to do it!
automatically generated by YouTube
Harmony on Ebay
Multi-location Multi-track Barbershop
A new wave of creativity has hit YouTube multitrack barbershop harmony: two or more guys decide that they want to sing with each other and they are in entirely different locations!
Enjoy as this can only get better!
Enjoy as this can only get better!
curated content from YouTube
Harmony
Voices of Lee videos
Great Quality A Capella...perhaps an understatement
automatically generated by YouTube
Barbershop Costumes on Amazon
Talk to me
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bjslapidary
Apr 11, 2012 @ 7:51 pm | delete
- Great lens. Barbershop singing is so neat. Thanks for sharing.
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shermanmorrison
Feb 16, 2012 @ 6:08 am | delete
- I sang with the local Society chapter -- the Cheshiremen Chorus -- in Keene, NH for quite a few years. I love this form of singing, though I do better in the chorus than a quartet. Perhaps I'll get back into it. Thanks for a great lens on an important genre of music!
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Jan 11, 2012 @ 9:55 am | delete
- Nice lens about Barbershop Music!
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River88
Sep 22, 2010 @ 12:52 am | delete
- Great lens! I love watching the singers almost as much as I love hearing them. I wish more people would bring this back into the light.
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susannaduffy
Mar 1, 2010 @ 9:10 pm | delete
- Superb! A wonderful resource for Barbershop Harmony! Blessed!
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Twitter Follow
by tenger
Welcome! I'm a Technical Writer who just can't get enough writing during my day job!
Stick around. There's lots to enjoy.
I started singing Barbershop...
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