High School Barbershop Festival

We're VERY excited to be hosting the Girl's High School Barbershop Festival Saturday, April 14th at Portsmouth High School!

Following are answers to some questions you may have.  If you still have questions please send an email to director@soundsoftheseacoast.org.

DOES IT COST ANYTHING TO PARTICIPATE?
There is no cost to participate.  Sounds of the Seacoast will provide each student with music and learning tracks free of charge.
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WHAT TIME DOES THE FESTIVAL TAKE PLACE?
The Festival day will run from 10AM to 4PM with breaks.

WHAT DO I NEED TO BRING WITH ME?
Students will be asked to bring their own snacks and lunch.  We will have water and provide pizza for dinner so you don’t have to leave the school.  And please bring your music!

WHAT WILL WE BE WEARING?
  • Dress is casual for the day.  Plan to wear comfy shoes as we will be on the risers quite a bit.
  • For the performance that evening please wear all black (something nice ... slacks, blouse, dress, skirt ... no jeans).   We will have a matching colored scarf for everyone.

WHAT TIME IS THE SHOW THAT NIGHT?
The show will start at 7PM and end around 9:30PM.

WHEN WILL I RECEIVE MY MUSIC AND HOW?
Music will be mailed to your music educator along with a web address where you can download the learning tracks (at least) one month prior to the Festival.  We'll be sending it then to allow you time to work on it in advance.

DO I HAVE TO MEMORIZE THE MUSIC?
Yes.  We memorize all of our music to allow us the opportunity to perform / tell the story of each song to our audience.  It's a lot more fun that way.

CAN HIGH SCHOOL BOYS PARTICIPATE?
Because we are an all-women barbershop chorus, at this time the Festival is just for high school girls.

WHY IS THE CHORUS DOING THIS?
Although barbershop music is one of the oldest musical art-forms that originated in America, its popularity among our younger generation is growing by leaps and bounds!  There are over 1,600 choruses and thousands of quartets in the US and Canada alone, plus hundreds more in England, Australia, New Zeeland, Germany, Netherlands, Finland, Ireland, Spain, Sweden and South Africa.
 
Many of those groups host day or weekend-long youth festivals every year to show students how dynamic and FUN this incredible art form can be.  And Sounds of the Seacoast can’t wait to jump on that band wagon so we can share our love and joy of barbershop music with our local high school singers.

IS THERE AN OBLIGATION TO JOIN THE CHORUS AFTER THE FESTIVAL?
Absolutely not!  Although we would love to have you join us after the Festival, our primary goal is to introduce you to this very exciting and fun musical artform!
WHAT PART SHOULD I SING?
Barbershop harmony is unaccompanied, four-part a cappella harmony. ​The voice parts in barbershop for women have different names and functions than they do in other SSAA vocal styles.
  • LEAD is the melody and must be sung with authority, clarity, and consistent quality throughout her range. The lead is responsible for conveying the interpretation, emotion, and inflections of the song. The range is equivalent to a soprano II and is from middle C, and D above middle C.
  • TENOR is a harmony part sung consistently above the lead. The tenor should have a light, sweet, pure tone that will compliment but not overpower or overshadow the lead voice.  The range for young women is from G above middle C to high F on the top line of the clef.
  • BARITONE covers approximately the same range as lead. The baritone harmony notes cross the lead notes; primarily sung below and sometimes above, depending on where the melody is situated. The voice part is equivalent to Alto I. Baritones must constantly adjust their balance to accommodate their position in the chord. The range is from A below middle C to C above middle C.
  • BASS is the lowest note in the barbershop chord. Singers should have a rich, mellow voice and generally sing the root and fifth of each chord. The range is comparable to that of a contralto or Alto II in traditional choral music. The range is from E below middle C to G above middle C.