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 harmony—the 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,[1] current organizations that promote the style typify it as an "old American institution."[2] While the style is most popular in the United States, barbershop organizations exist in the United Kingdom,[3] the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Ireland, South Africa, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada.[4]
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".[1] The style is considered a blend of White and African-American musical styles.[5] Although the African-American influence is sometimes overlooked, these quartets had a formative role in the development of the style.[6]
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.[7][8] The society's first meeting was held at the Tulsa Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on April 11, 1938,[1] 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).[9]Harmony, Incorporated (HI), also serving women, was established in Rhode Island in 1959.[10] After BHS fully welcomed women in 2018,[11] 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;[12][13] since 2024, it operates as the Worldwide Barbershop Quartet Association (WBQA).[14]
In 1971, BHS president Ralph Ribble launched the "Barberpole Cat Program" to encourage barbershop singing as widely as possible.[15] Well-known and popular barbershop songs were published and promoted to provide a core set of pieces for barbershop quartets. The current list of 12 songs, commonly known as "polecats",[16][17] was selected in 1987. These songs, plus the tag end of two others, are:
The Dapper Dans at Disney World dressed in the traditional barbershop quartet style in 2006
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."[19]
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.[20] 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.
Roles of vocal parts
Male barbershop quartets use TTBB (tenor—tenor—baritone—bass) 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.[21]
Max Q, winners of the Barbershop Harmony Society's international barbershop convention in Denver, Colorado, 2007. From left to right: Greg Clancy (tenor), Tony De Rosa (lead), Jeff Oxley (bass), and Gary Lewis (baritone).
Female barbershop quartets use SSAA (Soprano—Soprano—Alto—Alto) arrangements, while applying the same range names as a TTBB arrangement. Mixed barbershop quartets use SATB (Soprano—Alto—Tenor—Bass) arrangements.[22]
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,[23] though some quartets do make use of tenors with a softer full-voice quality.[24] Notable examples of barbershop quartets which made use of the full-voiced tenor include The Buffalo Bills, Boston Common and Vocal Spectrum.[25]
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.[26]
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.
In popular culture
The TV sitcom I Love Lucy used the cast in a barbershop quartet in the 1952 episode, "Lucy's Show-Biz Swan Song;" the same footage was used for a dream sequence in their 1956 Christmas show.
In the 1997 Friends episode titled "The One with All the Jealousy", Ross Geller hires a barbershop quartet and sends it to Rachel's office to sing her a love song.
Frasier featured a barbershop quartet in the episode, "Frasier's Curse" (1998).[29]
In every episode of Nick Jr. Channel's television program Blue's Clues (1996–2006), a barbershop quartet can be heard saying "Mailtime", before which Steve (portrayed by Steve Burns) or Joe (portrayed by Donovan Patton) sings the mail time song before the mail arrives at their house.
Psych's fourth season's seventh episode, "High Top Fade-Out", prominently features the murder of a member of Gus's college barbershop quartet. Originally called "Blackapella", the quartet is renamed "Quarterblack" once Shawn (a white man) joins.
The Internet webcomicHomestuck (2009–2016) features a barbershop cover of the Eddie Morton song, "I'm a Member of the Midnight Crew". The cover was sung by a fan of the series and was put into the comic on the page, "DD: Ascend more casually."[30]
In the webcomic Cyanide and Happiness animated short titled "Barbershop Quartet Hits on Girl From Taxi", a taxi with a barbershop quartet inside (including the taxi driver) is at a red light and hits on a girl by harmonizing, until the taxi crashes into a tree due to the driver not maintaining control of the vehicle.
In the 2011 Victorious episode titled "Beggin' on Your Knees", a group of four boys is seen pleading in a barbershop quartet style for their music teacher to allow them to sing as a quartet for a musical performance.
The 2017 video game Cuphead, known for its 1930s cartoon style, contains two songs sung by barbershop quartet "'Shoptimus Prime": "Don't Deal with the Devil" and "A Quick Break".
An animatronic barbershop quartet is one of the scenery pieces in the theme park video game Planet Coaster. It is part of the Vintage Pack, a DLC pack that focuses on classic rides and theming.
In a 2019 GEICO television commercial, a barbershop quartet sings while playing a four-on-four basketball game.[32] The quartet in the ad is #TheAccidentals.[33]
The Ben Show (2013) has a recurring sketch in which a barbershop quartet sings the titles of porn videos.[34]
Barbershop music is featured extensively in the 1975 post-apocalyptic film A Boy and His Dog.[35]
Sesame Street has a barbershop quartet of Muppets who imitate the genre with the songs "When You Cooperate", "Long Time No See", "Small B", "Same Different Barbershop Quartet", and "Counting Floors", among others.
Episodes of Jack's Big Music Show frequently feature the "Schwartzman Quartet" of four puppet brothers, with one appearance explaining barbershop music.
The Forever Plaid musical tells the story of Frankie (lead/second tenor), Jinx (tenor), Sparky (baritone), and Smudge (bass), a barbershop quartet that gets the chance to come back to life after dying in a bus crash.
The opening theme song and insert song of the 1967–68 Japanese science fiction TV series Ultraseven feature elements of a barbershop quartet.[citation needed]
The 2010 video game, Toy Story 3, has a Pict-O-Matic cutscene where, if you dress four citizens in a barber outfit, it will trigger a cutscene where they become a barbershop quartet.
↑Abbott, Lynn (1992). "'Play That Barber Shop Chord': A Case for the African-American Origin of Barbershop Harmony". American Music. 10 (3). University of Illinois Press: 289–325. doi:10.2307/3051597. JSTOR3051597. S2CID191390367.
↑Henry, James Earl (2000). The Origins of Barbershop Harmony: A Study of Barbershop's Links to Other African American Musics as Evidenced through Recordings and Arrangements of Early Black and White Quartets. Washington University.
↑Averill, Gage (2003). Four Parts, No Waiting: A Social History of American Barbershop Harmony. New York: Oxford University Press. p.132. ISBN978-0-1951-1672-4.
↑"By-Laws: Purpose"(PDF). SPPBSQSUS. December 30, 2021. p.4. Retrieved January 19, 2026. purpose shall be to preserve and perpetuate the historic tradition and American cultural institution of the all-male barbershop quartet
↑"Our Story". Worldwide Barbershop Quartet Association. Retrieved January 19, 2026.
↑"What is barbershop music?". What is barbershop music? | Barbershop Harmony Society. Retrieved February 2, 2026.
↑Hoch, Matthew (2014). A dictionary for the modern singer dictionaries for the modern musician. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp.20–21. ISBN978-0-8108-8656-8.
↑McNeil, W.K., ed. (2005). Encyclopedia of American gospel music. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. ISBN1-135-37700-6.
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