Ring Lardner enumerates six deadly sins of close harmony

Who is Ring Lardner, nee Ringgold William Lardner? Well, if you’re not a culture vulture, let me remind you, courtesy of my Encyclopedia Americana: “While Lardner is thought of primarily as one of the major American humorists, critics have pointed out that his satire is caustic, often picturing his characters as unhappy, shabby, exhibitionists. His stories are read, however, for their shining humor and the excelling character delineation of the lower middle class.”

Long before our Society was founded, Sigmund Spaeth wrote a book, published by Simon and Schuster in 1925, Barber Shop Ballads. Ring Lardner wrote the introduction, which enumerated the the six deadly sins of close harmony:

A tenor who, being the only tenor, takes a high tonic instead of a third for his finishing note.

A lead who says he knows a song when he doesn’t.

A man who thinks there is nothing to baritone except winding up on the fifth.

A man who thinks bass is just the lead two, three octaves lower.

A tenor who would rather sing baritone.

And a girl who sings tenor and says it’s alto.

—Research by Tom Pearce, Charlottesville Chapter

Big D Bulletin, December 1998

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