Download A Cappella Style Guide

A Cappella Style Guide
Confused about the difference between barbershop and contemporary a cappella? Gospel
and classical a cappella? Here is a brief guide to the various styles of all-vocal music.
Barbershop originated in the U.S. between 1890 and the 1920s, and was revived beginning
in 1938 by US-based SPEBSQSA. Barbershop always has four parts (tenor, lead, baritone &
bass). There are well-defined rules about what is and isnt barbershop: the melody is almost
always in the lead; songs have easy-to-sing melodies, wholesome themes and heart-felt
emotions; harmonies are marked by barbershop seventh chords (at least 30%) and resolve
around the circle of fifths. For the most parts all the singers sing all the words together, with
occasional stylistic echoes and tags. Starting as an all-male quartet style, barbershop is now
sung by all-women and mixed quartets and choruses as well. Barbershop organizations in
North America have about 30,000 men and 30,000 women members. The mens barbershop
competition ends in a convention with about 10,000 people gathering around the Fourth of
July. Quartets and choruses typically mix in songs outside the strict barbershop style
(barberjazz) in their repertoire. The top groups benefit from sophisticated arranging, intensive
coaching and well-developed educational techniques for overtone production, precise tuning
(just intonation), vowel modification, blend and balance. Popular groups include Acoustix,
Ambiance and The Vocal Majority.
Classical music covers a whole millennium of music, from the earliest of Gregorian chant to
modern serious music from the 20th and 21st centuries. The performers generally sing using
Bel Canto technique developed through extensive vocal training. Sometimes they eliminate
vibrato when stylistically appropriate (as in some Renaissance polyphony or Gregorian
chant), but more often they have a full and free vibrato. Rhythms are performed without swing
- and sometimes the singers are swing-challenged when they take on pop songs. The
repertoire includes folk songs, church music and the occasional jazz standard, but the
rhythmic interpretation and vocal tone of classical singers generally sets them apart from
world, gospel and jazz groups. Popular groups include The Kings Singers, Chanticleer and
groups directed by the late Moses Hogan.
College a cappella generally covers groups that sprang from the tradition started by the Yale
Whiffenpoofs in 1909. Groups typically have a dozen singers (ranging from 8 to 22) so that
multiple voices cover each part (unless there are 12 different parts, which sometimes there
are!), but the groups are smaller than a typical chorus. They often sing in a horseshoe
formation but with occasional choreography the look can be varied. The styles of songs can
vary widely - from barbershop to contemporary rock to Christian, Jewish and world beat - but
the majority of groups sing popular music. Vocal percussion has spread across collegiate a
cappella - not universally but broadly. With the decrease in expense of digital studios,
collegiate a cappella CD production can match the quality of professional contemporary vocal
bands. Popular groups include the Yale Whiffenpoofs, James Madison U Madison Project
and The Hyannis Sound as well as the Best of College A Cappella (BOCA) compilation
series.
Contemporary or pop/rock a cappella had its early roots with The Persuasions singing songs
by The Temptations in the 1970s, grew with The Bobs, The Flying Pickets and most notably
The Nylons in the 1980s. Then came Rockapella in Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego
and The House Jacks with a dedicated vocal percussionist in the early 1990s, and a cappella
would never be the same. Today these vocal bands are typically five guys including a
dedicated vocal percussionist and a bass emulating a rock bass guitar, singing a mix of
mostly original tunes as well as some covers (songs originally performed by other groups).
Background vocals will often emulate instruments or provide rhythm through nonsense
syllables that are more instrumental than the doo-wop shoo bop from earlier generations.
Each singer uses a mic, and a great deal of attention is paid to audio engineering (EQ and
effects). Popular groups include Rockapella, The Nylons and Toxic Audio.
Doo-wop or streetcorner Acapella (their favorite spelling) originated on the city streets of
New York and Philadelphia in the 1950s and early 1960s (pre-Beatles), and today doo-wop
groups focus their repertoire on popular songs from that era. Often a soloist is backed up by
performers singing simple oos and aahs or fun nonsense syllables like doo-wop diddy and
ram-a-lam-a ding dong that provide extra rhythm. Very often the arrangements are worked
out by ear, with nothing written down (in contrast to the sophisticated arrangements typical of
contemporary and barbershop). Intonation is often sacrificed in favor of soul, the opposite of
the trade-off barbershoppers often make. And in many cases, the singers are as old as the
songs, leading to heavy vibrato. Popular groups include The Persuasions (they have a
streetcorner sound on an eclectic repertoire), The Alley Cats and The Mighty Echoes.
Gospel a cappella CDs all focus on songs from the Christian faith, but they vary a great deal
stylistically. Early black gospel spawned doo-wop and rock & roll and shares roots with
barbershop - it is impassioned, soulful music with relatively simple, mostly aural
arrangements that have lots of call and response and basic harmonies. Southern (white)
gospel is a bit more modern but still traditional sounding - and often featuring a very low bass
in the most popular groups. Contemporary Christian music add pop/rock styling to often
evangelical lyrics. The groups tend to be all-male but a few womens groups have been
recorded. Popular groups include Acappella, GLAD and Take 6.
Vocal Jazz is our least a cappella section, in that some of best close harmony vocal jazz
includes instrumental accompaniment. Early vocal jazz was the popular music of the day (the
1930s and 40s), while more modern vocal jazz ensembles perform complex jazz harmony
arrangements, mostly of standards. Unlike instrumental jazz, where improvisation dominates
performance time, vocal jazz only occasionally features scat (vocal improvisation). Like
instrumental jazz, the vocal jazz ensembles we carry often fuse other styles in their musical
melange - pop, classical and world. Popular groups include The Real Group, The Swingle
Singers and Singers Unlimited.
World a cappella has lots of distinct styles thrown together to keep from overwhelming you.
Some of the music is indigenous or folk - Tuvan throat singing, South African Isicathamiya,
Native American, Bulgarian village music, Celtic folk songs. Each of these styles is very
distinctive. We also include some specialized religious music in this cateogory - American
shape note singing (18th and 19th century), Jewish a cappella (in many different styles),
Lebanese Orthodox. There are also some new age, progressively political and just plain hard
to categorize groups thrown in. As such this grab-bag category is harder to understand, but
there are rewards aplenty for the musically adventurous! Popular groups include Artisan,
Sweet Honey in the Rock and Ladysmith Black Mambazo.