Barbershop quartet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A barbershop quartet is an ensemble of four people who sing a cappella in the exacting barbershop music genre.
While the form is accessible to nearly anyone who can carry their part, the best quartets are formed of singers with a very uniform sound, particularly for vowels. With few exceptions, quartets are all-male or all-female in order to better match voices. Often siblings are naturally well-matched, as they grow up using the same accent. In other cases, disciplined practice over time yields consistent use of the same vowels.
In North America most male barbershop quartet singers belong to the Barbershop Harmony Society, while most female barbershop quartet singers are in either Sweet Adelines International or Harmony, Inc. Similar organizations have sprung up in many other countries (see barbershop music).
Most barbershop quartet singers also choose to sing in a barbershop chorus.
