Barbershop music popular with older adults, growing among youth

Barbershop music got its start nearly a century ago in, well, barbershops. Every since its inception, its unusually beautiful, all-male four-part harmonies have been delighting audiences in barbershops, on street corners, in concert halls and beyond.

Barbershop is classified by its focus on ringing chords and unique a capella harmonization, achieved by a group that consists of high and low tenors, a baritone and a bass singer. A barbershop group can consist of the traditional four men, or it can be like Lincoln's own barbershop group, the Lincoln Continentals, which has around 65 members.

The Lincoln Continentals have been around in one form or another since 1946, delighting local audiences with their take on barbershop harmonies. Today, they are a respected musical force to be reckoned with. The majority of men in the group are middle-aged or older, reflecting the main demographic of fans of barbershop. However, this demographic has gone through a change as of late.

"The outlook for younger singers is actually really good," said Ron Mays, a baritone in the Lincoln Continentals. "There's been a large movement throughout the college ranks that is bringing younger talent into the society."

The society Mays speaks of is the Barbershop Harmony Society. Founded in 1938, the society is dedicated to preserving barbershop singing as an American art form. One of the goals of the society and barbershop groups across the nation is to get more young people interested in barbershop.

"We started a program called Young Men in Harmony about 10 years ago, which is now called Youth in Harmony," Mays said. "We bring in young students and can get groups of over 300 high school kids at the singing clinics."

Part of what it takes to get more young people interested in barbershop is to change the kinds of songs the quartets have traditionally sung. Long gone are the days when "Hello! Ma Baby" could encapsulate large audiences. These are the days of the popular song barbershop arrangements.

"There's been a lot of younger guys in the society that take newer songs and arrange them into the barbershop style," Mays said. "Some of what they're doing is really fantastic."

Through clinics and new musical styles, barbershop groups have been having great success bringing more young talent into the fray. These groups are keeping the cherished American art alive, much the way they always have.

"I was once a young man," said Mays. "These guys kept begging me to sing with them, and when they told me that it was a barbershop group, I thought, ‘Oh God, why?' But once I heard what they were doing I got really interested."

Mays' fellow Lincoln Continental and singing partner Tom Tipton got his start a little later, but he was equally enthralled by the barbershop sound.

"I knew a couple of people who sang in the (Continentals), and I'd heard a couple of barbershops before," said Tipton, a bass. "The sound is just amazing. The harmonies are addictive."

Mays is optimistic about the future of barbershop and is excited about the prospective talent of young members.

"(Young people) is where the talent is going to come from now," he said. "It's by far some of the best quality barbershop around. They're doing some really amazing things."

Tipton, Mays and two other members of the Lincoln Continentals will be singing in a traditional quartet tonight at the Quilt Museum on East Campus as part of the Museum's First Friday events. The group will be performing from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Museum admission will be free to anyone who wishes to hear the quartet from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

"We know we have an older following of people who have been listening to barbershop for years," Tipton said. "But we're attracting more younger people all the time and hope to continue to do that everywhere we perform."

caseywelsch@dailynebraskan.com