Barbershop Harmony - It's not just for musicals

I have another blog in the works about the power of gospel music.  Also in the past I have blogged about other forms of music, artists and songs.  I briefly mentioned barbershop in one of those blogs, but today I've decided to take a little space and talk about barbershop music since it was such a huge part of my life growing up.  Enough that I shared barbershop with  my own kids and still listen to it today.

Barbershop harmony is a 4 part acapella (sung without any instruments) harmony consisting of the melody line being sung by the "lead", the highest harmonizing part being sung by the "tenor", the lowest harmonizing part being sung by the "bass" and the "baritone" filling in the missing part of the chord.  Barbershop began over a hundred years ago with its roots in the African American tradition in the south of quartets "cracking out a chord" at the local barbershop while waiting for their cut and shave.

My dad and his quartet, Simply Grand.

Barbershop was beginning to fade in 1928 when a few men, most notably O.C. Cash, decided to get together and celebrate by singing some of their favorite 4 part songs.  The next meeting included a few more friends to share in the love of singing and the third meeting had over 150 men singing on the rooftop of a hotel in Tulsa, OK.  This created quite a crowd as you can imagine and a newspaper writer saw a good story.  When he interviewed Cash, Cash claimed that they were part of this grand nationwide organization called "The Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America".  Reminder that at this time FDR was putting forth his "alphabet soup" of domestic policies.  This lengthly group name was indeed poking a little fun.  They had no idea that the name would stick.  "SPEBSQSA" is still active and internationally known today.

Growing up, our family vacations were mostly trips to various contests or conventions where my dad would perform with his quartets and choruses around the United States.  The years passed in a flurry of groups of 4 men gathering at each others' homes to practice.  Those practices were sometimes rushed after a hard days work or often family affairs with wives and children getting together as well.  We all became like family.  I grew up on potlucks, Super Bowl parties and campouts where singing was the glue that tied us all together.  When the Barbershop conventions came to town, a flood of barbershoppers would descend upon the hotels and restaurants surrounding the hotels.  Some of my favorite memories are riding in elevators or waiting in lobbies with a group of men at those conventions.  If there were all four parts of the harmony represented in the group, they were destined to break into song.  Every barbershopper worth his stripes knew the familiar tags to songs like Sweet Adeline and Hello My Baby.  And over the years, I grew to know them too.

I grew up loving barbershop harmony and everything associated with acapella music.  I used to delight in seeing a barbershop quartet depicted in TV or music.  It was like an instant connection to whatever I was watching.  Who doesn't love the old traditional barbershop quartet with the striped jackets and straw hats? Even my all time favorite show Friends has a few episodes where they used a barbershop quartet to send a singing telegram.  Don't click the link if you're offended by the phrase "Buttmunch"

Friends with quartet episode

Today's barbershop quartet is a far cry from the old Lida Rose/Music Man quartet.  Today's choruses and quartets perform everything from gospel to Disney to contemporary pop, rock or country.  You can find choruses to join or listen to in almost every major city and if you're more a fan of the female singing voice, there are a lot of Sweet Adeline groups out there too.  I even sang with the Sweet Adeline's in Harmony, MN for a few years.  Of course high school and high school stuff got in the way of that, but I'll always cherish those memories.

Speaking of memories, let's talk about this great moment.  This is one moment that I will never forget and I'm so thankful my mom got photographic evidence.  This was at Disney World, 1995.  In one of the barbershops they had the quartet "Dapper Dans" singing traditional barbershop harmony.  I know my dad sang one with them and then somehow they heard that I knew the female part to Lida Rose from Music Man.  This will always be a treasured memory, on a family vacation and getting to sing with the Dapper Dans for a small crowd at Disney World.

I have a million personal stories to share about contests, or campouts, or long drives to convention locations.  Instead of boring you all to tears, I'll leave you with one of my favorite quartets from a few years ago, singing one of my favorite songs of theirs.  Have you seen the fun kids' film, Little Patch of Heaven?  Enjoy!

Crossroads: Little Patch of Heaven