‘Barbershop’ is a style of singing in four parts ‘a cappella’ (no accompaniment), just voices.  These choruses are either all male or all female and, as the style of singing was originally developed by men’s quartets, the four part are called by the names of the men’s voices:

The melody is consistently sung by the LEAD line, with the TENOR part harmonising above the melody line, the BASS part singing the lowest harmonising line, and the BARITONE completing the chord. This close harmony is easily recognisable as the unique barbershop sound. Songs are arranged by experts in the style, who make sure that the close harmony chords are in place, in order to achieve the ‘ringing’ tones, which can send a shiver down your spine!

You don’t need to read music in order to sing barbershop.  Although we use written music to learn the notes and words, many people use hand-held tape recorders.  You can practice in the car, at home etc and once the music is learnt, the sheet music is not used.

If you would like to know more about the history of barbershop, click here.