What is the Barbershop Harmony Society?
The Barbershop Harmony Society is a not-for-profit singing and social organization with over 30,000 members in the U.S and Canada, and with affiliated organizations around the world. Its purpose is To perpetuate the old American Institution, the Barbershop Quartet and; To promote and encourage vocal harmony and good fellowship among its members, and; To serve the musical needs of all current and potential members by providing and actively supporting a wide variety of barbershopping opportunities which may include organized quarteting, pickup quarteting, chorus singing, and group or “gang” singing, and; To encourage and promote the education of its members and the public in music appreciation, and; To initiate, promote and participate in charitable projects, and; To promote public appreciation of barbershop harmony. What is barbershop singing? Barbershop singing is a traditional American art form. In short, it is singing songs written in a tradional style in four part , male harmony. Ba
In 1938, a small group of men gathered one evening to sing their favorite old-time songs. From this first informal meeting, and the singers’ enthusiasm, grew an international organization dedicated to preserving one of America’s unique song styles—barbershop harmony. The founders of the Barbershop Harmony Society originally named their organization the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America (SPEBSQSA) as a parody of the multi-initialed government agencies that existed at the time. The original group of 26 men would take great pride in a Society that today numbers 28,000 members from the United States and Canada, with affiliated organizations in Great Britain, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, the Netherlands and South Africa. Other barbershop groups are singing in Israel, Japan, Wales, Spain, Saudi Arabia, China and Russia. Barbershop singing, like jazz and the spiritual, is a truly American style of music. It i
The Barbershop Harmony Society preserves the unique singing style of barbershop harmony. Barbershop music is distinguished by close harmony and uniformity of word sounds. This style calls forth strong overtones, the “ringing” that makes barbershop singing famous. Songs are sung in four parts, with three of the voices harmonizing to the melody. The voice parts are called lead, tenor, baritone, and bass. The lead sings the melody, the tenor harmonizes above the lead and the baritone and bass anchor the lower notes of the chord. Each voice is essential to the chords, so singers of all parts are prized.
