Barbershop quartets have a dapper quality similar to those old-style change belts and salt-water taffy: they’re so quaint, niche and such a throwback to yesteryear that you forget they’re still around. And not just around, mind you, but thriving in a manner both quiet and old-timey charming.
Seth Bocknek, Ryan Lindsey and Chris MacMartin are three quarters of Future Presentation, part of the Ottawa-based Capital City Chorus. While not usually decked out in the bowties, striped vests and boaters of their forbearers, this quartet is one of many keeping the tradition alive.
“For the singer, barbershop is a very rewarding style of music,” MacMartin says. “You can take four average voices and when they sing in tune, the sound is expanded far beyond what any singer can do on their own.”
MacMartin, a recent graduate of Carleton’s music program, describes the ideal barbershop sound as one of “blend and unity,” emphasizing oneness rather than separate, soloing voices.
Barbershop quartets consist of four voices: a “lead” singing the melody, a tenor to harmonize with higher notes, a bass voice below and a baritone rounding it out somewhere in between. Unlike other styles of vocal music, namely the soprano-alto-tenor-baritone form, the four voices are relatively in close range of each other, usually within an octave (eight notes) or a little wider.
Harmony is the key element of the unmistakeable barbershop quartet sound. As MacMartin describes, when a chord “locks”—i.e. all four voices are in proper intonation with each other—the separate voices lose their independence and give off the impression of a single, multifaceted voice, or “unit sound.” This also produces a “ringing” effect, when overtones, or harmonics, are so reinforced they create notes above what any of the individual voices are singing. Very technical, but this demonstrates how a confluence of sonic resonance and physics can make transcendent music.
Lindsey says this near-magical application of harmonization heavily contributes to barbershop music’s niche appeal.
“What makes it so distinctive is precisely what defines it, and separates it from other a capella [music], and that is the chords that physically sound good,” he says. “There are mathematical reasons behind it, but the original way barbershop was created was just having a few guys try out harmonizing to a melody. They found that the closer their voices sounded, the better the chords sounded, and the more the overtones were present.”
Though he has only been barbershopping—the casual name of this particular game—for five years, Lindsey has competed in district and international contests and has won collegiate and district trophies for the former. Discussing the persistence of barbershop music well beyond its original epoch, he emphasizes the impressive notion of a quartet singing chords that “sound so universally good.”
“[The audience] just can’t believe the sound that can come out of four people like that—and especially without microphones,” Lindsey says.
He also mentions that, for some, there is also an element of attracting the opposite sex, and that today there are not only female barbershoppers as well, but that they also outnumber men.
Like Lindsey, Bocknek hasn’t been long in the world of barbershop music, having only been singing for under two years. But during this time has become familiar not only with genre itself but its roots and context.
Bocknek was introduced to the unique world of barbershop music after viewing several videos dedicated to the subject while surfing YouTube. He says his addiction was immediate.
“Back in the day, barbershop was truly an ‘average Joe’ singer’s hobby, consisting of easy-to-sing arrangements that all sounded quite similar and priding itself on being something that anyone could do,” he says.
Now newer arrangements are not only more complex and challenging but also include contemporary classics, such as Disney tunes.
Asked why barbershop quartet music remains so appealing in today’s world, MacMartin says it can evoke feelings of either hokeyness or nostalgia in its listeners. That being said, an experienced quartet can bring an audience to tears, he says.
“Essentially the same things that were appealing in the 30s [are] appealing now. Innovative, moving music that is actually not that hard to get a grasp of,” he says.
On a more personal level, MacMartin notes, “There is something about singing a chord so in tune and that blends so well with the other three voices that is highly rewarding. It’s the most joyous feeling, and sometimes it gets hard to keep singing and not break out into fits of laughter. It is, in my opinion, the perfect musical art form.”
“I think now, the appeal comes in the musical and performing talent that can be used to compete and entertain within barbershop,” Bocknek says, explaining that respect for barbershoppers increases with its exposure to the public, allowing a wider audience to appreciate its complexity and difficulty.
Bocknek also says there is a “huge amount of camaraderie” associated with the tradition.
“Anytime you have a ‘society’ uniting guys with a common interest, you can imagine the friendships [that] ensue. Every barbershop chorus-quartet becomes a sort of family.”
His particular quartet raises money for Harmonize 4 Speech, a charity dedicated to providing funds for treatment of various voice and speech disorders throughout Ontario.
“It’s a very easy art form to get into, and there’s a huge variety of options for one to explore,” Lindsey says. “Anyone can do it, and even sing as well as gold medal-winning champions can —maybe not for an entire song, but the feeling of ‘ringing’ a chord like crazy is physically amazing.”
And thus the art of the barbershop quartet continues on, sans boater hats but still enthralling and with that undeniable charm.