What is Barbershop Singing?

Barbershop harmony is a style of unaccompanied vocal music which usually has four-part chords for every melody note. Only occasional brief passages may be sung by fewer than four voices. All four parts should be singing the same words on each chord for most of each song. Fundamentally Barbershop songs should be easy to sing - because of the origin of the style.

The Parts

The Tenor harmonizes above the melody. In the men's groups the tenor is sung in falsetto to avoid drowning out the lead. The listener's ear normally hears the highest note most easily, so that is why normally male and female groups are separate. Some mixed groups exist, but it is very difficult to prevent the high female voices drowning out the lower male voices. See end of this article for possible changes.

The Bass sings the lowest harmonizing notes below the melody. The base forms the foundation for the chord structure.

The Baritone completes the chord, usually below the melody, but can be above it for a few bars at a time.

The melody may be sung occasionally by the Bass, but not by the tenor except for an infrequent few notes to avoid awkward voice leading, and in introductions or tags (codas).

Barbershop singing tries to tune every chord perfectly in relation to the note sung by the Lead, each part adjusting to match the note sung by the lead. When this is successful a fifth note can be heard, that no-one is singing, soaring above the rest. This fifth note is formed by perfectly matched harmonics and the sound is called a "ringing chord".

Barbershop harmony frequently employs the dominant seventh chord -the major triad plus the minor (flatted) seventh.   This gives Barbershop its unique, yet recognizable sound.

Who are the Denver MountainAires?

We are a men's barbershop chapter affiliated with an international organization, the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc., that was formed in 1938. There are 38 chapters within our eight-state (Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and New Mexico) Rocky Mountain District - one of 16 districts across the US and Canada .

Our chapter is unusual in that we are a performing chorus, not a competing chorus; we sing for the love of our craft and to entertain others. We have several active quartets within the chapter who perform with our chorus at various functions year round . As a part of our mission, we support our Young Men In Harmony program by encouraging vocal music within our schools.

  JOIN US!

Join us on Tuesdays at 7:30 PM at the Edgewater United Methodist Church at 25 th & and Fenton Street. We're soaking up the camaraderie found in four-part harmony.