Smile (Original Tag) [Multitrack Barbershop]

[musicmakerscott]

Which voice part do you consider yourself? Those are some juicy chords!

[TheMende01]

There are no rules to music, brother. Create new style barbershop, thats what I'm into..

[MusicGuru12]

Brilliant tag. Love the chords, especially the chord at 0:21 - That major 7th was really nice.

Great job!

[MusicAddict5]

What happened to your voice? ;-P You were way better than that when we still had OUR quartet!

[mariuszny]

Nice cords,

but the last E-flat out of your range :)

[Murjoe16]

Not too shabby!

[nyx1331]

agreed

[DanishCartoonist]

Not sure how to classify it... but I liked it!! :)

[mcfarlane32]

wave your hands a bit more furiously

i am not entirely convinced that you are certifiable yet

[bluesmasterelf]

Reminds me of the Beatles. Lennon on acid after hearing the Four Freshmen or something.

[coolsinger016]

nasty tag. gotta love the 9h chords.

[7zippos]

whas with ur hands?

[COMALiteJ]

I have the solution to the whole KIBbers vs. Progressives war:

Notice how most other genres of music have a "Classic ___" subgenre? Classic Rock? Classic Country? Even Classic Hip-Hop?

Why not let the term "Barbershop" include most any four-part a capella with Tenor above the melody, but to earn the term "CLASSIC Barbershop" it must follow all of the other rules as well?

[chrisrishel]

The problem for me is not just a semantics issue. The international contest stage is really THE event that gets the most exposure for quartet singing.

[chrisrishel]

Although I love modern a cappella, and put much more of my energy towards that style (most of my arranging, performing, recording, etc.), it doesn't really appreciate the acoustic bright ringing chords the way barbershoppers do (quartets don't really do all that well when they try to compete against the more modern style in less restrictive competitions).

[chrisrishel]

I'd be all for changing the rules for the college and big boys contest to be more open, and let the seniors contest keep whatever restrictive rules they want (aka classic barbershop). However, I don't see that happening anytime soon...

[COMALiteJ]

I was talking more about recordings for sale. There could be an official Classic Barbershop logo seal that only Burt Szabo and his posse could award.

That way, those who want to buy only KIBber-approved CDs would know what they're getting.

[chrisrishel]

Haha, I'm totally fine with that, but I don't know of a CD that has come out in a long time with every track being KIBber-peachy. That might be just about the least frequently used seal ever. :-P

[COMALiteJ]

It could also be used for arrangements (sheet music). It might find more frequent use there.

All too many KIBbers aren't REALLY interested in keeping Barbershop at its roots. They only want to preserve their own youths — Barbershop as THEY remember it. The ORIGINAL Barbershop was very different from what most KIBbers propose. For one thing, it was often accompanied (usually guitar).

[chrisrishel]

Sure, why not stamp the charts while we're at it too...

Where I have a problem is that they also want to keep the rules for the contest as they remember them too. I wanna sing more chord extensions than the occasional 9 in the melody...

[COMALiteJ]

So many want to go back to the six-category scoring system. Few propose going back to the way O.C. Cash did it, and fewer still seem to remember that O.C. Cash didn't INVENT Barbershop, he merely REVITALIZED it. It predates him by a LONG time.

Actually, if you want to hear REAL Barbershop, you pretty much have to catch one of those tribal documentaries on the Travel or NatGeo or Discovery channels, since Barbershop harmonies come from tribal African chants.

[COMALiteJ]

Ooops! That should've read, "...REAL *ORIGINAL* Barbershop..."

[COMALiteJ]

Just realized I haven't said it yet: good job on the video!

[gotchabari]

Yeah, but even progressives wouldn't go that far. There comes a point where it is just vocal jazz. It's nice ear candy to play with, though.

[ngordon88]

Listen fudge dragon! The "stupid rules" are there for a reason! Thats what makes barbershop different from any other style.

[chrisrishel]

Haha... fudge dragon....  Anyway, there are aspects of the preservation of style that make sense to me. For example, having the tenor voiced above the lead for the majority of the arrangement makes sense. Also, excluding vocal percussion makes sense too.

[chrisrishel]

However, when you start getting into issues of literally counting dominant 7ths or "illegal chords" and start determining arrangement legality over that, there is a problem... Specifically, very few songs written in the last 30 years that anyone enjoys actually follows a harmonic structure that is barbershop arrangable.

[chrisrishel]

Face it, the society must evolve to attract younger members, or it will die out. I have great appreciation for the ringing chords of the barbershop style, but how many 20 year olds do you really think like singing My Wild Irish Rose? How many modern (im not talking about hip-hop, think Marc Broussard, Jason Mraz, whatever) songs can be arranged for barbershop because of these requirements? Virtually none!

[chrisrishel]

I've had a lot of conversations with barbershoppers in their 30s from the new tradition chorus, and most of their favorite songs of the 70s that they would live to sing are totally illegal in the society's views. In my opinion, David Wright is about as good as it gets when it comes to taking new stuff and making it contestable, and it seems even he finds himself limited to Disney, showtunes, and rehashing old songs.

[chrisrishel]

Also, if you look at a lot of his contestable arrangements of today, and imagine them being sung on a contest stage 20 years ago, the quartets would've been completely disqualified. The only reason he's been able to accomplish what he has is because he's earned a strong reputation, and the society is willing to more or less let anything that he decides is contestable be contestable. Over time, he's been able to push the society a long way, but I really think it needs to go further.

[chrisrishel]

Look at albums released by some of the top quartets recently. Maybe only 25% (at most) of the album consists of contestable material, but if you played any of the album to an inexperienced ear, they would still describe it as barbershop.

[chrisrishel]

I'm not arguing that the society should base it's rules on what the public thinks, and I understand the kibbers loved the society of yore, but the next generation of barbershoppers need a society they can relate to as well. If the (stupid) rules don't change to accommodate them, the whole society will suffer.

[chrisrishel]

Sorry for the long rant :-P

[vanceperry]

Nice!

[OMGSTREETFIGHT]

man, id actually really love to see the music for this tag.

my quartet would easily love to belt this out each day :)

[chrisrishel]

Done. Check the About This Video section.

[bellicosejason]

Nice low bass note!

[hardtruck]

nice.little bit of everything.pretty kool.like it.

[daughtryrocks]

I wouldnt say talented but definatly different. The Video is , not the music

[daughtryrocks]

Very Cool. Good job man