Barbershop Glossary

A

  • A&R sessions: Evaluation meetings with analysis and recommendations from the judges after competitions. »Clinics
  • Afterglow: One of the most important elements of barbershop music. The party after a show, meeting or rehearsal. The social ending of barbershop activities, with an opportunity to sing familiar arrangements together.
  • Attack: The beginning of a note on a vowel or consonant, to be produced uniformly by all singers if possible. »Release

B

  • B: In Germany this is known as "H". Germans call Bb "B".
  • BABS: British Association of Barbershop Singers, British Barbershop Organisation for men, c. 2000 members.
  • Balance: The effect achieved by adjusting the relative volume of notes within a chord.
  • Ballad: A slow song whose rhythmic interpretation differs greatly from the written notes, thus being similar to a classical recitative.
  • Baritone, Bari: The third voice in the chorus, mid-range. Its the baris job to fill out the harmony. This means that the part is not so easy to learn. The bari mustnt be heard in the foreground.
  • Bass: The lowest of the 4 barbershop sections. Women are required to reach the D below middle C. Often provides the rhythm: dum-da-dum.
  • Bell Chord: Glocken-Akkord. Ein Arrangier-Effekt, bei dem ein Akkord durch die vier Stimmen, die nacheinander einsetzen, aufgebaut wird.
  • BinG! / Barbershop in Germany: the German Barbershop Organization, extant since 1991 with c. 545 men and women in its membership.
  • Blend: The mixing of individual voices into a total sound.
  • Breath Support: The support offered by the muscles of the chest.
  • BS Seventh Chord: The dominant seventh chord, the best-loved barbershop chord. Good barbershop music contains more than 60% of them.

C

  • Chord: A sound produced by three or more tones sounded together.
  • Chord Progression: A series of chords.
  • Chorus: 1. The name of a group of barbershop singers (as opposed to "chorus".)2. Refrain. The part of the song between the verses. Usually repeated several times. The repeat can be of text, tune or both.
  • Climax: The high point of a song, as regards music and usually content, too.
  • Clinics: Meeting between judges and particpants after a contest. »A&R Sessions

D

  • DABS: Dutch Association of Barbershop Singers, association of male barbershoppers in the Netherlands, with about 500 members.
  • Diphthong: Two vowels occurring together  a double vowel. »Turning a diphthong

E

  • Embellishment: Decoration within an arrangement, to make it more interesting. eg »Swipe »Key Change »Bell Chords.
  • Expanded Sound: A sound greater than the sum of the voices, produced by the interaction of exact intonation, uniform pronunciation, »Balance und »Blend,It is achieved by the reinforcement of the overtones in each voice.

F

  • Fifth Wheeling: Joining in without invitation when a quartet is singing; a breach of manners.
  • Flat: 1. The musical sign b which lowers a note by a semitone 2. "to sing flat" means singing beneath the correct note.

GH

  • Hanger: The long note sung by one voice, often at the end of a song, while other sections move around it. Gives rise to boundless admiration for the breath capacity of the one singing it.
  • Holland Harmony: Womens barbershop organization in the Netherlands, with c. 700 members.

I

  • Implied Harmony: A series of chords arising from the original melody.
  • Introduction: Abk. intro: A line or phrase leading into the song, anticipating the refrain or a verse.

JK

  • Key Change: Modulation, usually at the end of a verse or refrain a semitone higher.
  • Key Signature: The sharps and flats shown at the beginning of the line to denote the key.

L

  • LABBS: Ladies Association of British Barbershop Singers, the British womens association, with about 1400 members.
  • Lead: The melody line in barbershop. Sings with few exceptions below the tenor.
  • Lock (and ring): The untranslatable situation when singing a chord, when »Expanded Sound is achieved with the help of overtones  barbershoppers are hooked on it! »Ring
  • Lyrics: The words of a song or poem.

M

  • Major: A certain series of notes in a scale. Sounds different from »minor (Moll)
  • Measure: a rhythmical unit, in which a number of beats occur between two bar lines.
  • Minor: A different series of notes in a scale from »Major Often sounds dark and sad.
  • Music: Kategorie bei Barbershop-Wettbewerben:Judging category in barbershop contests. The arrangement of a song and the way it is performed. Is eveluated by »BinG! and »SPEBSQSA.

N

  • Natural: The attribute of a note with a cancelling sign. ie without »flat or »sharp »sharp (corresponds to the white notes on the piano).
  • Neutral Syllable: A sound eg. "dum dum", with which the melody singer is accompanied by the harmony voices. Should only occur sporadically in a good barbershop arrangement.
  • Neutral Vowel: A sound like "ah" oder "oh", »Neutral Syllable.

O

  • Overtones: Tones of higher pitch than the sung note, whose presence or absence determine the quality or "colour" of the musical sound.

P

  • Pick-up: Lead-in, one or several notes before the first bar of a phrase, sometimes sung by only one or two voices.
  • Pitch: How high or low a note is.
  • Pitch (Pipe): A small wind instrument similar to a mouth organ, to give the note for the beginning of the song. It has all 12 notes of the scale. The pitchpipe beginning with F is recommended for men, that beginning with C for women.
  • Presentation: Kategorie bei Barbershop-Wettbewerben. Judging category in barbershop contests. The believability of the interpretation and how the song is conveyed visually. Is evaluated by »BinG! and by »SPEBSQSA .

QR

  • Range: The reach from the lowest to the highest note which a person can sing or which is present in an arrangement.
  • Release: The ending of a word, note or phrase, which should be produced uniformly by all singers if possible. »Attack
  • Ring: Wie »Lock "Ringing" describes the situation when a chord is rich in overtones and is therefore so beloved by barbershoppers. The ringing chord is the main reason that barbershoppers enjoy singing barbershop.
  • Root: The base note of a key  also called »Tonal Center

S

S

  • Scooping: Beginning a note lower than the correct pitch, then sliding up to it. Undesirable in barbershop.
  • Seventh: The seventh note on a rising scale. As minor (flattened) seventh, an often-used characteristic note in barbershop music.
  • Sharp: The written sign (#) which raises a note by a semitone. 2. "To sing sharp": means to sing a note slightly higher than it should be.
  • Singing: Kategorie bei Barbershop-Wettbewerben: Judging category in barbershop contests. The singing quality.. Is evaluated by »BinG! and by »SPEBSQSA
  • SNOBS: Society of Northern Barbershop Singer. Barbershop organisation for men in Scandinavia.
  • SPATS: Southern Part of Africa Tonsorial Songsters. One of the few barbershop organisations with both men and women members.
  • SPEBSQSA: Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America. The largest mens barbershop organisation in the USA, with c.30,000 members.
  • Sweet Adelines International (SAI): The largest womens barbershop organisation in the USA, with c.30,000 members.
  • Swipe: A progression of two or more chords sung on a single word or syllable; hallmark of the barbershop style.

T

  • Tag: The specially arranged final phrase or line in an arrangement. Has developed a life of its own over the years and on informal social occasions is often sung alone.
  • Tenor: The highest harmony voice in barbershop, which has to be less dominant than the »Lead .
  • Tonal Center: The base note of a key  also called »root. Singers must be able to refer to it, especially when sight-singing.
  • Turning a Diphthong: The change from the first to the second vowel in a double vowel (»Diphthong). Barbershoppers try to make this change simultaneously.

UV

  • Verse: Strophe

WXYZ

  • Woodshedding: Impromptu quartet singing without arrangements; singing by ear. The most creative form of barbershopping.