A barbershop quartet is a group of four singers who sing music in the barbershop style, characterized by four-part harmony without instrumental accompaniment (a cappella). The four voices that make up a quartet are the lead, the bass, the tenor, and the baritone. Barbershop music is typified by close harmonyâÂÂthe upper three voices generally remain within one octave of each other.
Historically, barbershop quartets were mainly sung by male singers; contemporary quartets can include any gender combination. All-female barbershop quartets were often called beauty shop quartets, a term that has fallen out of favor.
While the regional origins of barbershop quartet singing are not wholly agreed upon, current organizations that promote the style typify it as an "old American institution." Though the style is most popular in the United States, barbershop organizations exist in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Ireland, South Africa, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada.
Barbershop quartets have been featured in popular culture in musical theater productions such as The Music Man, and lampooned in television series such as The Simpsons and Family Guy.
While many sources claim that barbershop singing originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States of America, some maintain that the origins of barbershop singing are "obscure". The style is considered a blend of White and African-American musical styles. Although the African-American influence is sometimes overlooked, these quartets had a formative role in the development of the style.
By the 1920s, the popularity of the style had begun to fade. It was revived in the late 1930s along with the founding of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America (SPEBSQSA), now known as Barbershop Harmony Society, abbreviated as BHS. The society's first meeting was held at the Tulsa Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on April 11, 1938, and it was open only to male singers. In 1945, a parallel organization for women was also founded in Tulsa, called Sweet Adelines International (SAI). Harmony, Incorporated (HI), also serving women, was established in Rhode Island in 1959. After BHS fully welcomed women in 2018, The Society for the Preservation and Propagation of Barbershop Quartet Singing in the United States (SPPBSQSUS) formed with a focus on all-male barbershop quartet singing; since 2024, it operates as the Worldwide Barbershop Quartet Association (WBQA).
In 1971, BHS president Ralph Ribble launched a successful "Barberpole Cat Program" to encourage barbershop singing as widely as possible. Barbershop songs were published and promoted to provide a core set of pieces for barbershop quartets. The current 12 songs and the tag end of two others, were selected in 1987.
In competition, barbershop quartets generally wear coordinated outfits to mark them as members of the same group. The Society Contest and Judging Committee of the Barbershop Harmony Society notes in their rule book that aesthetics are important to competitive success: "The judge responds to both the vocal and visual aspects of the performance, but the judge principally evaluates the interaction of those aspects as they work together to create the image of the song."
Traditionally, barbershop quartet attire consisted of a vest, straw hat, and spats, often with bow ties and sleeve garters; this is known as the Gay Nineties style. In popular culture, this style exemplifies the stereotypical barbershop quartet. Several Walt Disney theme parks feature a dedicated barbershop quartet called The Dapper Dans, whose outfits vary depending on location but do feature vests and straw hats.
Male barbershop quartets use TTBB (tenorâÂÂtenorâÂÂbaritoneâÂÂbass) arrangements, with the second tenor singing the lead. Since the 1940s, barbershop singers have tuned their seventh chords with just intonation to maximize the overtones, yielding a distinctive "ringing" sound.
Female barbershop quartets use SSAA (SopranoâÂÂSopranoâÂÂAltoâÂÂAlto) arrangements, while applying the same range names as a TTBB arrangement. Mixed barbershop quartets use SATB (SopranoâÂÂAltoâÂÂTenorâÂÂBass) arrangements.
Tenor: The tenor generally harmonizes above the lead, making the part the highest in the quartet. So as not to overpower the lead singer, who carries the tune, the part is often sung in falsetto, which is of a softer quality than singing in the modal register, though some quartets do make use of tenors with a softer full-voice quality. Notable examples of barbershop quartets which made use of the full-voiced tenor include The Buffalo Bills, Boston Common and Vocal Spectrum.
The range of a tenor in barbershop music does not necessarily closely correspond to that of a tenor's range in Classical repertoire, often being more in the range of the classical countertenor range.
Lead: The lead, often a lower or second tenor, usually sings the main melody.
Baritone: The baritone often completes the chord with a medium voice, usually slightly below the lead, but sometimes above it. While the baritone's part by itself does not sound as "melodious" as the other three, the baritone plays a fundamental role in the quartet in filling in the missing notes and giving each chord a fuller sound.
Bass: The bass always sings and harmonizes the lowest notes, often setting the root of the chord for root position chords, or singing the lowest note of the chord for inverted chords.