Barberfellas - Barbershop Meets Jane Fonda?

So, the Barberfellas have had their first rehearsal and already have a schedule planned! The brainchild of Gareth, Hsien, James H and Jules, I guess they are carrying on the the tradition of the Pinkies by challenging stereotypes with music. My impression of barbershop singing is that it is very much white male dominated, probably conservative (with both the large and small 'c's), so the allusion to Jane Fonda at her B-movie best is quite the juxtaposition.

Interestingly, despite all being Pinkies, the Barberfellas are, at the minute, taking some pains to make sure they are not too closely associated with the Pink Singers themselves. A new genre and a new repertoire means the standards aren't quite up to the quality you get from the main choir, but who knows what the future brings? At the moment, the Barberfellas are just a fun musical experiment.

The Pinkies do make a justified deal of the musical variety in our repertoire. This season, for instance, we are covering everything from classical to jazz, from doo-wop to pop. In the past we have done a few SATB numbers which are like barbershop singing, but never barbershop itself. Indeed, barbershop singing has its own codified style. In which other choral genre for instance, is the tenor supposed to sing softly at the very top of his range, and loudly at the bottom? Against the very fibre of being a tenor, he has the quietest voice part of the four, and, to top it off, has to sing in falsetto too. In musical theory as well, the tuning of notes is Pythagorean, and in the chords you are looking for that "ring" in your "tag", amongst other barbershop-specific terminologies.

The Pink Insider wishes them all the best of luck. After all "you got to give a little, take a little, and let your poor heart break a little..."

P.S. Incidentally you can also follow and interact with them on twitter here.