barbershop music is a dying breed.
Yes I agree! My dad was in a barbershop group. He sang in the cappella style with close harmony. There were 4 people in the group.
thats cool, seems lke you only see it in cartoons
This is true! It's not easy either. He sang the lead, so he would do the main melody. There was a tenor, bass, and baritone that would complete the sound.
yea they really have to sink together
My dads from who was the tenor always wanted to sing the melody, but it just didn't work. It resulted in awkward voice leading.
yea its really hard to pull off well.
They used to do this really neat trick when singing called "snakes" or "swipes". It sounded amazing!
Those are pretty snazzy names to use i like it.
usually sung by the tenor or baritone, except for an infrequent note or two to avoid awkward voice leading, in tags or codas, or when some appropriate embellishment can be created. One characteristic feature of barbershop harmony is the use of what is known as "snakes" and "swipes". This is when a chord is altered by a change in one or more non-melodic voices. Occasional passages may be sung by fewer than four voice parts.
Barbershop music is generally performed by either a barbershop quartet,
/Lockard (April 25, 1927 – May 19, 2003). In 1952 Lynn Evans replaced Schwartz and in 1953, Margie Needham replaced Osborn (who was having a baby), though Osborn later returned to the group. Nancy Overton also was a member of the group at a later time. Originally they sang folk music in the style of The Weavers, but eventually changed to a harmonizing style of the type known as barbershop harmony or close harmony. Part of this change seems to be influenced by Osborn's father