Oh Canadians, you always find new and impressive ways to be lame.

Just kidding, love you Canucks! I can see you from my house!

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - You might say he's a member of a 'barber-ship' quartet.

I laughed so hard. hahaha barber-ship quartet. comedy gold

/hotlinked

Cool guy.

Barbershop has a long history in the RCAF, so....yeah.

I tried to join the Canadian Army in '02 but they told me:

-I was too American
-Too drunk
-There is no draft

Barbershop quartets FTW. Especially if white/red stripes and bow ties are included.

"I'm a barbershop slut,"

...What?

Ben Bernanke Barbershop Quartet

..when he said he'd take just a bit off the top I thought that...
NEVER MIND!

Barbershop singing is an American-originated music form based somewhat loosely on old style jazz. As Samsaran pointed out, getting the harmonies right can be tough. The goal of barbershop quartet singing, and the addictive part, is the expanded sound. If the four of you do it right, everybody uses the same vowel sounds, sings through the same resonators in the mask, balances the chord correctly and tunes the chord absolutely instead of tempered like a keyboard, and you create sympathetic vibrations, ring overtones and is sounds like there are 5 or, very rarely, 6 voices.

Dick Van Dyke and Andy Griffith are a couple old-timers who also dabble in barbershop quartet singing.

Samsaran:

Incredibly well said ...

Thanks. Serious musician most of my life, barbershopper for 20+ years. Still prefer classical but having a beer and ringing chords with 3 cronies is great fun - and sometimes the audience likes it too!

Ryan admitted he has a hard time limiting himself to a single group of partners.

Go Canada!

RIGHT WING CANADIANS: stop trying to get our states to fight each other so we can end our wars

Mitch Mitchell

It's one hell of an organization, Mitch - you will never love and hate a job so much at once.

Mr. Right: Barbershop singing is an American-originated music form based somewhat loosely on old style jazz. As Samsaran pointed out, getting the harmonies right can be tough. The goal of barbershop quartet singing, and the addictive part, is the expanded sound. If the four of you do it right, everybody uses the same vowel sounds, sings through the same resonators in the mask, balances the chord correctly and tunes the chord absolutely instead of tempered like a keyboard, and you create sympathetic vibrations, ring overtones and is sounds like there are 5 or, very rarely, 6 voices.


Essentially the beauty of barbershop. The whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. It'll also teach you a helluva lot about proper voice leading.

/musician
//serious music
//and teh shopz

And let's not forget the ladies.....Sweet Adeline quartets and choruses compete internationally, too. Same principles, same ringing chords, good times, good times. Nothing lame about it.

Let me call you Shiite, I'm in love with you.

hbananas: And let's not forget the ladies.....Sweet Adeline quartets and choruses compete internationally, too. Same principles, same ringing chords, good times, good times. Nothing lame about it.

The Sweet Ads are truly great. Interesting thing about the barbershop style is that separate but equal works - probably one of the only times it does. A mixed chorus, because of the physical differences in resonance, can never ring a chord as well as 4 men or 4 women. They can sound good, they can sing well but the physics of sound and tonal generation are enough different to thwart a lot of the sympathetic tones.

/Aside from the singing, however, Sweet Ads are a lot more fun - at least from my perspective.

Oops, wrong war. But Alexander's Tali-Ban just isn't as good as Yes Sir, That's Abu Ghraib.

player 99: RIGHT WING CANADIANS: stop trying to get our states to fight each other so we can end our wars

Man, it sounds like this is not your week to quit sniffing coke...

Mr. Right

Barbershop singing is an American-originated music form based somewhat loosely on old style jazz. As Samsaran pointed out, getting the harmonies right can be tough. The goal of barbershop quartet singing, and the addictive part, is the expanded sound. If the four of you do it right, everybody uses the same vowel sounds, sings through the same resonators in the mask, balances the chord correctly and tunes the chord absolutely instead of tempered like a keyboard, and you create sympathetic vibrations, ring overtones and is sounds like there are 5 or, very rarely, 6 voices

Even if you added two people for a total of six, the style is extremely limited and the compositions themselves suck ass. And there's no getting around THAT.

Marcus Aurelius:
Even if you added two people for a total of six, the style is extremely limited and the compositions themselves suck ass. And there's no getting around THAT.

You obviously don't have a clue what barbershopping is actually about. Adding people would destroy the whole notion of ringing chords. If you understood anything about music you'd know that a lot of the arranmgents are really very well done and musically sophisticated. And I'm sure lots of folks hate the music you like. And there's no getting around THAT.

Came here for Family Guy. Disappointed.

He could win a Grammy.
/Baby on board...

Also good for breaking horrible news to people.

Marcus Aurelius: Mr. Right

Barbershop singing is an American-originated music form based somewhat loosely on old style jazz. As Samsaran pointed out, getting the harmonies right can be tough. The goal of barbershop quartet singing, and the addictive part, is the expanded sound. If the four of you do it right, everybody uses the same vowel sounds, sings through the same resonators in the mask, balances the chord correctly and tunes the chord absolutely instead of tempered like a keyboard, and you create sympathetic vibrations, ring overtones and is sounds like there are 5 or, very rarely, 6 voices

Even if you added two people for a total of six, the style is extremely limited and the compositions themselves suck ass. And there's no getting around THAT.

Barbershop IS a limited style, but that's what defines it. Loads of V⁷ and secondary dominant chords--not very adventurous harmonically, but these chords allow the singers to "ring". As Mr. Right mentioned, equally tempered instruments (piano, etc.) don't allow for the emergence of these overtones. However, a string quartet, or human voices, can harmonize "just"-ly, and the effect is nothing short of spectacular. The first time I ever rang a chord, the hairs on my neck stood up. They still do--hearing these phantom notes emerge is something you don't get over.

/doesn't have a hairy neck

Whatever gets you through.

I came here for a bagpipes joke, and I am disappointed.

Shame, farkers, shame. We all know that barbershop is nothing compared to the power of the bagpipes!

Double double in the AM get shot at in the PM.

Mr. Right 2008-12-21 09:18:56 AM
hbananas: And let's not forget the ladies.....Sweet Adeline quartets and choruses compete internationally, too. Same principles, same ringing chords, good times, good times. Nothing lame about it.

The Sweet Ads are truly great. Interesting thing about the barbershop style is that separate but equal works - probably one of the only times it does. A mixed chorus, because of the physical differences in resonance, can never ring a chord as well as 4 men or 4 women. They can sound good, they can sing well but the physics of sound and tonal generation are enough different to thwart a lot of the sympathetic tones.

/Aside from the singing, however, Sweet Ads are a lot more fun - at least from my perspective.

My wife has been a Sweet Ads for years. The sound doesn't do anything for me, but I appreciate the amount of work required to get it right (They placed second this year at International).... sadly, there also needs to be a balance and BarberShop becomes crack cocaine too quickly and easily.