Information on this page from Sweet Adelines "History of Barbershop" brochure

History of Barbershop

Barbershop music is a uniquely American folk art featuring close, four-part a cappella harmony. Exactly when barbershop singing began is unclear, but in the early years, between 1860 and 1920, popular songs with uncomplicated melodies were sung with improvised harmonies. With the invention of the printing press, musical notation was available on paper. Many early pieces of sheet music were printed with the standard vocal line and piano accompaniment, with an additional quartet arrangement on the final page. At the turn of the century amateur singers, usually men, could be heard singing improvised barbershop at parties and picnics. Minstrel shows also featured barbershop quartets who sang in front of the curtain while performers and stagehands prepared for the next act. It was convenient to use a quartet for this purpose, since no props or instruments were required. 

Barbershop Harmony Today

Barbershop harmony’s four voice parts are still called by their traditional names, “tenor, lead, baritone and bass,” whether referring to men’s or women’s vocal groups. One of the distinctive qualities of barbershop harmony is that the melody, sung by the lead voice, is below the tenor harmony. This follows the pattern of many early American hymns written for men and women, with the melody in the male tenor voice and the women singing harmony above. The barbershop harmony of today is a highly stylized art form requiring the same high degree of singing skill as other types of choral music. Today barbershop singing is no longer limited to male voices; there are many women’s quartets and choruses that now enjoy this unique art form. Choruses, ranging in size from 15 to nearly 200 members, have enjoyed singing this challenging musical style, and have found it to be an exciting and fun musical experience.

History of Sweet Adelines International

After World War II, barbershop singing was growing increasingly popular for men. In 1945, a small group of women wanted to participate in the chord-ringing, fun-filled harmony that the men were singing. So these women organized “Sweet Adelines in America.” From its humble beginnings in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Sweet Adelines International, as it is now called, has grown to a membership of almost 30,000 women in countries all across the globe.