A while ago I was doing a web-trawl, searching for nice a cappella songs to listen to.
The vast majority of uploaded clips - low-quality recordings of live performances by school or college a cappella groups - are rather out of tune or have imbalanced parts. Although it was refreshing to hear today's chart-topping songs such as Timbaland/One Republic's "Apologize" and other familiar recent songs such as Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek" re-arranged for a cappella, I wanted to hear a live a cappella performance without, well, cringing.
The answer is obvious. Type "barbershop" into the search bar! Barbershop music, if sung well, is very lovely for its smooth chords and the way all the tones blend perfectly to sound as if each of the singers has the same voice. The singers are perfectly co-ordinated: their pronounciation, duration of each note and even their style, such as the way they lilt the notes, are by today's standards astounding. Think "Hide and Seek" without the computerised sound.
Two of my favourite quartets are the Chordettes and the McGuire Sisters.
Okay, I veer slightly off topic now. They aren't classified as a cappella groups (their chart toppers were not a cappella songs), but were two famous music acts way back in the past. When co-ordinated harmonious singing was popular with mainstream audiences.
The following is the Chordettes' hit song which most should already know:
This is the McGuire Sisters with another barbershop quartet. Try searching for "Sincerely" or "Sugartime", two of their popular hits.
Well, the following isn't barbershop per se. But it did include a short barbershop quartet prelude. Enjoy.
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