barbershop

n.

The place of business of a barber.

adj.

Of, consisting of, or relating to the performance of sentimental songs for unaccompanied, usually male voices in four-part harmony: a barbershop quartet.

Origin: 1910

Once a staple of America's main streets, the barbershop (1832 has generally given way to the hair salon. Like as not, it's in a mall (1958) or minimall. But barbershop quartet music lives on under the aegis of S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A., or the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc., founded in 1938. It is also exemplified in the Broadway musical The Music Man. In the original production, the Buffalo Bills barbershop quartet sang such well-known pieces as "Ida Rose" and "Sweet Adeline." Women officially took up the practice of barbershop music in the 1940s with the establishment of Sweet Adelines, Inc., their counter to S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A.

This distinctly American form of unaccompanied singing derives its name from the place where its practitioners supposedly performed, the barbershop. We find the musical use of that word as early as 1910 in a song by William Tracey titled "Play That Barber Shop Chord."

Barbershop is characteristically performed by four singers, each with a distinct lyric. In the male version, the melody is accompanied by bass and baritone voices at a lower pitch and a tenor higher than the melody, thus creating a close harmony. Baritones sometimes sing above as well as below the lead to make the chords so often associated with barbershopping. No notes are sung unaccompanied. However, the harmony may be intentionally shifted while a single note is sung. The songs are usually sentimental to the point of being corny.

A possible origin of barbershop singing is barber's music, noted in 1660 in the diary of the Englishman Samuel Pepys. It is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "harsh and discordant singing by those waiting to be served."

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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: a shop where men can get their hair cut

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - frisørsalon, barbersalon, barbershop
adj. - barbershop-

Nederlands (Dutch)
herenkapperszaak, close-harmony zang

Français (French)
n. - salon de coiffure (pour hommes), (Mus) mélodies sentimentales
adj. - chantant à capella

Deutsch (German)
n. - Friseursalon
adj. - Barbershop-

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - κουρείο, μπαρμπέρικο
adj. - (για μελωδίες) μελιστάλαχτος

Italiano (Italian)
salone di barbiere, di pettegolezzo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - barbearia (f)

Русский (Russian)
парикмахерская, слащавое мужское пение

Español (Spanish)
n. - barbería, peluquería, cuarteto de voces masculinas
adj. - relativo a la barbería

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - frisersalong
adj. - (mus.)barbershop-

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
理发店, 剃头店, 有男声合唱之和声的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 理髮店, 剃頭店
adj. - 有男聲合唱之和聲的

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 이발소
adj. - 남성 합창이 잘 맞는

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 理髪店, 床屋
adj. - 男声の密集和声の

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) صالون حلاقه (صفه) على طراز محلات الحلاقه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מספרה, שירה בארבעה קולות, שירת הרמוניה‬
adj. - ‮מספרה, שירה בארבעה קולות, שירת הרמוניה, מאפיין שירה בארבעה קולות‬

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