Barbershops are places where people get their
hair cut. They aren't as fancy as
salons or as
health spas. They normally have a barbershop pole outside which looks like a big rotating
candy cane. They used to also shave customers and shine their
shoes, but this is becoming
less and
less common.
Barbershop also refers to a sytle of
singing that includes four men
singing simple harmonies a
capella. It consists of the
Lead who sings the main
melody,
Tenor who sings above the Lead, a
Bass who sings the bottom notes, and a
Baritone who fills in notes to make
complete chords. Called barbershop because many people sang it in barbershops, on curbs (barbershop is also known at curbstone
harmony), or wherever. Since
CD's,
8-tracks,
MP3's, and
vinyl did not exist at the time, people learned to make their own
music.
SPEBSQSA is the largest organization that promotes
barbershop quartet singing.