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A cappella music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this fashion. The term a cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato musical styles. In the 19th century, a renewed interest in Renaissance polyphony, coupled with an ignorance of the fact that vocal parts were often doubled by instrumentalists, led to the term coming to mean unaccompanied vocal music. The term is also used, rarely, as a synonym for alla breve.
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.
The Barbershop Harmony Society, legally and historically named the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc. (SPEBSQSA), is the first of several organizations to promote and preserve barbershop music as an art form. Founded by Owen C. Cash and Rupert I. Hall in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1938, the organization quickly grew, promoting barbershop harmony among men of all ages. As of 2014, just under 23,000 men in the United States and Canada were members of this organization whose focus is on a cappella music. The international headquarters was in Kenosha, Wisconsin for fifty years before moving to Nashville, Tennessee in 2007. In June 2018, the society announced it would allow women to join as full members.
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.
Sweet Adelines International is a worldwide organization of women singers, established in 1945, committed to advancing the musical art form of barbershop harmony through education and performances. This independent, nonprofit music education association is one of the world's largest singing organizations for women. "Harmonize the World" is the organization's motto. It has a current membership of 23,000 and holds an annual international singing competition.
Gotcha! is an American barbershop quartet formed in 1996 by four members of the Masters of Harmony chorus.
The Rich-Tone Chorus is an all-female, barbershop chorus, located in northern Texas in the United States. The group was founded in 1968 in the city of Richardson. The musical director is Dale Syverson.
The Melodeers are an all-female, a cappella barbershop harmony chorus based in the metropolitan Chicago area.
Moxie Ladies is the barbershop quartet that won the Sweet Adelines International Quartet Championship for 2009 on November 7, 2008, in Honolulu, Hawaii. SAI, "one of the world's largest singing organizations for women", has members over five continents who belong to more than 1,200 quartets.
Zing! is an American barbershop quartet, which won the Sweet Adelines International Quartet Championship for 2010 in October 2009 in Nashville, Tennessee. Sweet Adelines, "one of the world's largest singing organizations for women", has members over five continents who belong to more than 1200 quartets. The State Library of Kansas, representing the quartet's home state, lists Zing! among its "Musicians of Note". Zing! announced its retirement in November 2012.
Four Bettys is the barbershop quartet that won the Sweet Adelines International Quartet Championship for 2008 in October 2007, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. SAI, "one of the world's largest singing organizations for women", has members over five continents who belong to more than 1200 quartets. The Illinois Arts Council has included Four Bettys in its ArtsTour roster and notes "their numerous appearances singing the National Anthem at Wrigley Field for Cubs games".
MAXX Factor is the barbershop quartet that won the Sweet Adelines International Quartet Championship for 2011 on October 22, 2010, in Seattle, Washington. The quartet competed with seven other a cappella groups in the first season of The Sing-Off reality television show in December 2009, before being eliminated in the third of four episodes. MAXX Factor won the 2009 Mid-Atlantic Harmony Sweepstakes qualifying them to compete in the 2009 National Harmony Sweepstakes, which they won. All MAXX Factor members sing with The Coronet Club in their annual show at Sweet Adelines International Convention.
Martini is the barbershop quartet that won the Sweet Adelines International Quartet Championship for 2012 on October 21, 2011, in Houston, Texas. SAI, "one of the world's largest singing organizations for women", has members over five continents who belong to more than 1200 quartets.
The Rönninge Show Chorus is an all-female, a cappella chorus based in Rönninge, Sweden.
Adolf Fredrik's Music School is a general municipal junior high school in Stockholm, Sweden with a focus on choral music, and highly competitive admission based on audition in singing and musical ability. The school has two campuses and three youth choirs of high international standard. Many professional musicians are alumni.
The Sweet Adelines International Competitions are the annual global championships for women's barbershop harmony a cappella singing – in quartets and choruses – for members of Sweet Adelines International (SAI) and have been held annually between September and November since 1947. They are now the largest women's singing competition in the world with over 8000 participants at the 2014 convention. There are two competitions for choruses, and two competitions for quartets. Currently, the first three of these competitions are held together and form the Sweet Adelines International Convention. Over the course of competition history, the most successful chorus has been Melodeers Chorus from Chicago with seven championship titles, and the most successful quartet singer was Connie Noble who won with four separate quartets. Lustre Quartet from Baltimore holds the record for highest quartet score, and Rönninge Show Chorus from Stockholm for highest ever chorus score.
The results of the Sweet Adelines International competition for quartets in the years 2010–2019 are as follows.
Toast of Tampa Show Chorus is an a cappella, female-only chorus, composed of 100 women singers of all ages. The non-profit group, a chapter of Sweet Adelines International, competes and performs around the world, and is considered locally to be among the best barbershop music choruses in the world.
Harmony, Incorporated, is an international organization of women singers whose purpose is to empower all women through education, friendship and singing. Founded by 1959 by Peggy Rigby, Charlotte Sneddon, Mary Avis Hedges, Jeanne Maino and Mary Perry in Providence, Rhode Island, the organization currently has just under 2000 members in the United States and Canada and is closely affiliated with the Barbershop Harmony Society.
Diablo Vista Chorus (DVC) is an amateur women's a cappella singing group, based in the "East Bay" of the San Francisco Bay area. DVC is a chapter of Sweet Adelines International, the world's largest singing organization for women, with over 21,000 members worldwide. DVC primarily performs four-part-harmony works, often in what is traditionally called "barbershop" style.
References
- ↑ "SALT". sweetadelineintl.org. Sweet Adelines International. Archived from the original on June 13, 2010. Retrieved December 19, 2009.
- ↑ "Coronet Club". coronetclub.com. Sweet Adelines International. Archived from the original on November 2, 2009. Retrieved December 19, 2009.
- ↑ Donaldson, Samantha E. (December 14, 2012). "In tune with the season: Local singers are Sweet Adelines". The Tennessean. Gannett.
- ↑ Ghianni, Tim (February 4, 2010). "Sweet Adelines: World's Largest Singing Organization for Women". American Profile. Publishing Group of America. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
- ↑ "Harborlites Chorus of Anaheim" (PDF). The Vasa Star. September–October 2008. pp. 2, 25–26. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-06. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
- ↑ Bergman, Ingmar (April 2007). "SALT – With a Passion for 'Entertainment'". Pitch Perfect. 59 (4).
- ↑ "SALT quartet" (in Swedish). Facebook. June 18, 2012. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
