What is Barbershop?

Barbershop Music

The Basics

‍Barbershop music is a style of a cappella close harmony derived from traditional quartet singing. Barbershop harmony is generally considered to be one of the few uniquely American-born musical styles, alongside jazz, with which it shares origins. The simplest definition of barbershop centers around:

Building on that working definition, there are specific benchmarks around the “barbershop seventh” chord and other common chord progressions, but that’s the essence. Within that definition lies a wide range of music under the “barbershop umbrella”: contest music, show music, “barberpop,” gospel, religious, and patriotic music.

• relatively simple melodies
• sung in four-part harmony
• without instruments (a cappella)
• with the melody carried in the second-highest voice part (barbershop “lead”), a high tenor harmonizing above that, a bass singer singing fundamental harmonies (mainly roots and fifths), and a baritone filling in above and below the melody.

Building on that working definition, there are specific benchmarks around the “barbershop seventh” chord and other common chord progressions, but that’s the essence. Within that definition lies a wide range of music under the “barbershop umbrella”: contest music, show music, “barberpop,” gospel, religious, and patriotic music.