What is Barbershop?

Barbershop is four-part, unaccompanied, close
harmony singing, with the melody sung in a second voice, called “Lead”. Harmonizing above the lead singer is the “Tenor”, with the “Bass” singing the lowest harmonizing notes.

The “Baritone” provides the in-between notes, to form consonant, pleasing chords. Barbershop music is in the style of the “old songs” from the heyday of Tin Pan Alley, circa 1930.

Barbershop melodies are in the vocal and skill
range of the average singer, with lyrical emphasis on simple, heartfelt emotions…love, friendship,
mother, moon, and the girl next door.

Barbershop’s most distinctive characteristic is
probably the phenomenon known as expanded sound, which is created when the harmonics in the individual tones reinforce each other to produce audible overtones or undertones.