Four Parts, No Waiting: A Social History of American Barbershop Quartet
by Gage Averill
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Four Parts, No Waiting investigates the role that vernacular, barbershop-style close harmony has played in American musical history, in American life, and in the American imagination. Starting with a discussion of the first craze for Austrian four-part close harmony in the 1830s, Averilltraces the popularity of this musical form in minstrel shows, black recreational singing, vaudeville, early recordings, and in the barbershop revival of the 1930s. In his exploration of barbershop, Averill show more uncovers a rich musical tradition--a hybrid of black and white cultural forms, practiced byamateurs, and part of a mythologized vision of small-town American life. Barbershop harmony played a central -- and overlooked -- role in the panorama of American music. Averill demonstrates that the barbershop revival was part of a depression-era neo-Victorian revival, spurred on by insecuritiesof economic and social change. Contemporary barbershop singing turns this nostalgic vision into lived experience. Arguing that the "old songs" function as repositories of idealized social memory, Averill reveals ideologies of gender, race, and class. This engagingly-written, often funny bookcritiques the nostalgic myths (especially racial myths) that have surrounded the barbershop revival, but also celebrates the civic-minded, participatory spirit of barbershop harmony. The text is accompanied by an audio CD. show lessTags
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Academic-level history of barbershop music in America from its roots in African American music and other close harmonies. Seems to particularly focus on men's barbershop and the SPEBSQSA.
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2 Works 45 Members
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Four Parts, No Waiting: A Social History of American Barbershop Quartet
- Original publication date
- 2003
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- Members
- 21
- Popularity
- 1,229,977
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (4.50)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 5
