BARBERSHOP HISTORY QUIZ

author: Mark Axelrod, editor of "Blue Chip Chatter," Teaneck, NJ.

QUESTIONS:

1- Name a European form of four-part men's choral singing sharing many characteristics with barbershop harmony.

2- Describe a noteworthy shared characteristic.

3- Describe another shared characteristic.

4- What do these European singers call an audible overtone?

5- Is this type of singing performed by quartets?


ANSWERS:

1- "A Tenore" singing from the Italian island of Sardinia.

2- Chords lock in and ring. Pure - not tempered - tuning rules the roost, in other words, just as in barbershop.

3- The melody is sung by the second highest voice part, not by the tenor.

4- La Quintina. Literally, the little fifth.

5- My source did not indicate. If any reader of this quiz knows the answer, please enlighten me.


 

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