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| Preceded by | SPEBSQSA International Quartet Champions 2002 | Succeeded by |
 | This article about a barbershop quartet is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
Four Voices | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Tennessee |
| Genres | Barbershop |
| Members | Lester Rector – tenor Chad Guyton – lead Brandon Guyton – baritone Dr. Jayson VanHook – bass |
| Website | fourvoicesquartet |
Four Voices is a barbershop quartet based in Tennessee. After winning the SPEBSQSA Collegiate Barbershop Quartet Championship in 1996, Four Voices went on to become international champions in 2002.
The quartet's sound is distinguished by its tenor's remarkable range (up to an E♭ 5 in chest voice), though all the singers (save the bass) have a remarkable tenor range and often end songs with the baritone or lead singing a higher note than the tenor.
The four members met each other when they attended Lee University together. They were all members of the Voices of Lee, sixteen-member a cappella choir. The members of Four Voices have stated that their name is meant to be a reference to their former membership in the choir.
| | This article about a barbershop quartet is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
In music, a quartet or quartette is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments.
A barbershop quartet is a group of four singers who sing music in the barbershop style, characterized by four-part harmony without instrumental accompaniment, or a cappella. The four voices are: the lead, the vocal part which typically carries the melody; a bass, the part which provides the bass line to the melody; a tenor, the part which harmonizes above the lead; and a baritone, the part that frequently completes the chord. The baritone normally sings just below the lead singer, sometimes just above as the harmony requires. Barbershop music is typified by close harmony— the upper three voices generally remain within one octave of each other.
Barbershop vocal harmony, as codified during the barbershop revival era (1930s–present), is a style of a cappella close harmony, or unaccompanied vocal music, characterized by consonant four-part chords for every melody note in a primarily homorhythmic texture. Each of the four parts has its own role: generally, the lead sings the melody, the tenor harmonizes above the melody, the bass sings the lowest harmonizing notes, and the baritone completes the chord, usually below the lead. The melody is not 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.
Ned Rorem is an American composer and diarist. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1976 for his Air Music: Ten Etudes for Orchestra.
SATB is an initialism that describes the scoring of compositions for choirs, and also choirs of instruments. The initials are for the voice types: S for soprano, A for alto, T for tenor and B for bass.
Vocal Majority (VM) is a Dallas, Texas-based men's chorus of over 150 singers, who bill themselves with the tagline "Pure Harmony." VM is the performing chorus of the Dallas Metro chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS). Vocal Majority has won thirteen International Chorus Championships, a Barbershop Harmony Society record. The first eleven gold medals were earned under the direction of Jim Clancy, who retired from International competition after 2010. The most recent championships, in 2014 and 2018, came under the direction of Jim's son Greg Clancy, the current Musical Director of VM.
Gas House Gang was a barbershop quartet that won the 1993 SPEBSQSA International Quartet Competition. They started singing as a group in 1987 in St. Louis Missouri. After winning the 1988 Central States District Competition in their first attempt, they began a steady climb up the International Competition ladder which culminated in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where they were awarded the 1993 International Quartet Championship.
Realtime is a barbershop quartet that won the Barbershop Harmony Society's International Quartet Championship in 2005. They finished seventh-place the previous year. Lead singer John Newell is the first Australian-born international champion. Baritone Mark Metzger and bass Tom Metzger are the first champions who are both Canadian-born and Canadian citizens. Tenor Tim Broersma is from Lynden, Washington. In 2008, Doug Broersma became the lead singer when Newell retired for family reasons. The quartet was succeeded by Via Voice when Tim Broersma retired in 2011, also for family reasons.
Keepsake was an American barbershop quartet from Florida that won the 1992 SPEBSQSA International Barbershop Competition. Members of the quartet are Joe Connelly (lead), Tony DeRosa (baritone), Don Barnick (bass), and Roger Ross (tenor).
The Ritz is a barbershop quartet from the Johnny Appleseed District of the Barbershop Harmony Society. Each member of the quartet was a vocal music teacher at the high school or university level. After coming in fourth at the San Francisco convention in 1990, the quartet won the international championship in Louisville in 1991.
Vocal Spectrum is a barbershop quartet from St. Charles, Missouri. In 2004, Vocal Spectrum won the Barbershop Harmony Society's International Collegiate Quartet Contest, and on July 8, 2006, they became International Champions, winning the society's International Quartet Contest. A distinctive feature of the quartet is tenor Tim Waurick's ability to sustain notes for upwards of 30 seconds, and the tenor's and lead's incredibly high vocal range, featured in many of the group's recordings and live shows.
Bluegrass Student Union is the Louisville, Kentucky barbershop quartet that won the 1978 SPEBSQSA International competition. They distinguished themselves by performing at a high level of proficiency on stage and in the recording studio throughout their 33-year career, and were the second youngest quartet to have won the SPEBSQSA championship, as of that time. The quartet became known for continually improving their art, even after their win. They credited much of their success to their coaches, Mary Jo Hatton Thompson, Don Clause, Ron Riegler, Gene Stickler and Ed Weber, to their chorus Director, Jim Miller, and to their long-time arrangers, Ed Waesche and Walter Latzko.
Classic Collection is the barbershop quartet that won the 1982 SPEBSQSA international competition. Members of the quartet are: Curt Hutchison, tenor; Larry Wilson, lead; George Davidson, baritone and Terry Heltne, bass.
The Interstate Rivals is the Barbershop quartet that won the 1987 SPEBSQSA international competition in Hartford, Connecticut. Formed in 1982, the Rivals won the Cardinal District championship that fall. The next summer at the international contest they placed tenth, followed by sixth, third, second-place finishes before winning in 1987. They sang and travelled widely, until they disbanded in August 1991. All four members went on to repeat gold medals with Keepsake, Gas House Gang, Marquis, Platinum and Old School. The members combine for a total of 11 gold medals between the four, all winning on just one voice part each.
Ringmasters is a Swedish barbershop quartet affiliated with the Society of Nordic Barbershop Singers (SNOBS). The quartet received first place gold medals at the Nordic Barbershop Quartet Contest in Stockholm, and won the Barbershop Harmony Society International Collegiate Championship in July 2008 in Nashville, Tennessee. On July 8, 2012, at the Society's International Convention in Portland, Oregon, they became the first quartet from outside North America to win the prestigious gold medal as International Quartet Champions. The quartet sings non-traditional barbershop harmonies with a contemporary touch. They still tour and perform all over the world.
A men's chorus or male voice choir (MVC), is a choir consisting of men who sing with either a tenor or bass voice, and whose music is typically arranged into high and low tenors, and high and low basses —and shortened to the letters TTBB. The term can also refer to a piece of music which is performed by such a choir.
OC Times is a male barbershop quartet affiliated with the Barbershop Harmony Society. They earned second place silver medals at the International Barbershop Quartet Contest at Denver's Pepsi Center on July 7, 2007, and won the International Quartet Championship on July 5, 2008, in Nashville, Tennessee. The quartet combines traditional barbershop harmonies with contemporary music styles. The music of OC Times is inspired by artists like Michael Buble, Sinatra, and Elvis.
Vocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are simultaneously sung as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical choral music and opera and in the popular styles from many Western cultures ranging from folk songs and musical theater pieces to rock ballads. In the simplest style of vocal harmony, the main vocal melody is supported by a single backup vocal line, either at a pitch which is above or below the main vocal line, often in thirds or sixths which fit in with the chord progression used in the song. In more complex vocal harmony arrangements, different backup singers may sing two or even three other notes at the same time as each of the main melody notes, mostly with consonant, pleasing-sounding thirds, sixths, and fifths.
Crossroads is the barbershop quartet that won the International Quartet Championship for 2009 at the Barbershop Harmony Society's annual international convention, in Anaheim, California. Bass singer Jim Henry also directed the Ambassadors of Harmony chorus to their international championship at the same event with the highest chorus score ever obtained.
Musical Island Boys is the barbershop quartet that won the International Quartet Championship for 2014 at the Barbershop Harmony Society's annual international convention, in Las Vegas, Nevada. From Wellington, New Zealand, the quartet began in 2002 at Tawa College, and competed in its first international barbershop contest in 2004. They won the international collegiate contest in 2006 at Indianapolis, and won second-place silver medals in the 2011, 2012, and 2013 international contests. Other awards include the New Zealand and Pan-Pacific Open Gold Medals at the 4th Pan Pacific Barbershop Convention in 2004, and second place in the International Open Barbershop Championships in 2011.