At the heart of barbershop harmony is the 4 voice parts - Lead (melody), Tenor (top harmony), Bass (bottom harmony), and Baritone (middle harmony). When all is said and done, quartets are basic to the barbershop artform and it is easiest to create the ringing overtones and, once in a while, undertones, with only 4 people singing.

In essence, a chorus is made up of many quartets. But anyone who sings barbershop knows that ringing overtones is something everyone who loves harmony should experience in a quartet to get the most fun out of this great hobby! The sound and blend created by just four voices is UNIQUE to each quartet and can change dramatically by just changing one voice in the quartet.

Singing with three other individuals - especially three other women - for any length of time means sharing, compromise, cooperation, collaboration, friendship, and getting to know the people behind the voices. Singers must work out many things so they sound like a unit musically: how to interpret the message of a song, the timing, how to match vowels, blend voices and balance chords so the melody comes out.

In the end, you've actually created something together that's very uniquely YOURS - and it belongs to ALL FOUR OF YOU ... TOGETHER.

If you love harmony, give "woodshedding" - aka "barbershop harmony" - a try!