|
Dogwood Blossoms Chapter Mission Statement
"To promote and share our love of singing four-part, barbershop harmony, with women of all ages of our community and to provide a source of friendship, joy and "belonging" to those that become members of our chapter."
About Sweet Adelines International
Sweet Adelines International is a highly respected worldwide organization of women singers committed to advancing the musical art form of barbershop harmony through education and performance. This independent, nonprofit music education association is one of the world’s largest singing organizations for women.
The international membership of approximately 25,000 women, all singing in English, includes choruses in most of the fifty United States, as well as in Australia, Canada, England, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Scotland, Sweden, and the Netherlands. There are also prospective choruses in
Denmark,
Greece and
United Arab Emirates.
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.
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.
As the popularity of barbershop harmony has grown, so has the participation. Sweet Adelines began in the mid-1940’s when women wanted to share in the same unique vocal music as their husbands. 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.
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. The barbershop harmony today is a highly stylized art form requiring the same high degree of singing skill as other types of choral music.
-Information courtesy of Sweet Adelines International
|
