Dictionary of Barbershop Terms
A & R
Analysis and Recommendation, often called Aggravation and Ridicule.
Afterglow
A cast party after a show.
After-Afterglow
A smaller, more private party that takes place after an afterglow.
AHSOW
Ancient Harmonious Society Of Woodshedders.
Ambigesturous
The ability to perform the choreo moves from either side of the risers.
Barbershop 7th
A flat 7th chord used frequently in barbershop arrangements. Example: C - E - G - Bb
Barbershop Brats
Children of barbershoppers, which often become members, a precious commodity.
Barbershop Squat
A physical stance at the end of a song that looks amateurish and hokey.
Barbershop Widow/Widower
The spouse of a very active barbershopper, who doesn't participate in the hobby.
Barberteens
Teenaged children of barbershoppers, the smartest of all.
Barbertots
Young children of barbershoppers, also a precious commodity.
Bell Chord
Notes sung on successive beats as in "Bye Bye Blues" by the Suntones.
Belt
Sing loudly.
Bipartite/Tripartite
Able to sing multiple voice parts.
Bisectional
A person that can sing more than one voice part...hopefully, not simultaneously.
Blead
A fifth voice part consisting of part lead and part baritone, usually sung by a member who has been absent for a while.
Borneo Barbershop
An exercise where the bass is sung an octave high OR the tenor an octave low.
Breathing Dips
Singers who breathe where they are not supposed to.
Bust a Chord
Same as peeling paint.
Car-Toy
The cassette tape one carries in the car to learn ones part.
Cascade
A musical device where a unison note spreads to form a chord, also called "waterfall".
Chameleon
A person who can sing all four parts.
Chestnut
An old familiar favorite song.
Chinese Seventh
The second inversion of a 7th chord, where the tenor note is under the lead note.
Chordgasm/Chordasm
The climax of musical stimulation often resulting in goosebumps and raised hairs. See Eargasm.
Chorditorium
A convention afterglow where non-qualifying quartets can strut their stuff.
Chordus Interruptus
When the director stops the chorus just before a paint-peeling tag.
Chordworship
Holding a chord longer that necessary just to enjoy it.
Chorus Dips
Singers who do exactly the opposite of what the director asks.
Coning
Adjusting volume inversely with pitch to balance a chord.
Cookie
A pitch-pipe.
Crank
Sing loudly.
Crow
A self-confessed non-singer who performs mundane chores nobody else wants to do. See Invaluable.
Diction Dips
Singers who exaggerate the hard consonants.
Diphthong Dips
Singers who over-emphasize the diphthongs.
Eagles
A politically correct term for "Crows".
Ear Candy
An audible overtone or harmonic.
Eargasm
The climax of musical stimulation often resulting in goosebumps and raised hairs. See Chordgasm.
Fettucine Singing
Sliding between notes when clean intervals are dictated.
Fifth Wheel
Uninvited singing along with/near a quartet, considered poor manners.
Float
Blending a part into a chord gracefully, usually tenor.
Gang Singing
A collection of singers that are not an organized unit.
Garbage Part
A negative term for the baritone part.
Glimmer
An after, after, after-glow.
Groaner
A bad joke, story, or pun.
Grundy
Same as Scissors Movement.
Gut-Buster
A robust up-tune.
Hang Ten
Standing on the risers with ten toes over the edge.
Honker
a person who sings loudly and/or in a garish manner, often a bass singer.
Hospitality Room
A party room at a convention for informal entertainment, socializing, and stale pretzels.
Hum Spot
The placement of one's voice that makes the mask resonate.
Kibber
An endearing term for a barbershopper that prefers to Keep It Barbershop!
Laser Lungs
A singer, usually a tenor, who sings high notes very loudly and out of balance.
Lead Dodging
The art of woodshedding the baritone part, also called Lead Avoidance
Leaner
A person that does not have the courage or ability to sing on his/her own, or is not well rehearsed in the music.
Mic Testers
A quartet or chorus which sings at the beginning of a contest to ensure the sound systems performance.
Oh Yeah
An utterance from the chorus, when the director says "for the 2000th time, you're supposed to get soft here".
Oh Yeah Song
A song with an unfamiliar verse and a very familiar chorus. Refers to audience's comments as chorus begins.
Onion Skin
A minute adjustment in pitch.
Opus Interruptus
When the hotel security guard stops you in the middle of a song, usually at 3am, Sunday morning.
Overtone
A harmonic produced by proper intonation, tuning, and vowel formation.
Patter
A verbose variation on the theme of a refrain as in "Down Our Way", also jokes and stuff between songs.
Peeling Paint
Locking and ringing a chord.
Pick-up Quartet
Any four singers, not an established quartet, singing a song they commonly know. I.E. Barberpole Cat song.
Ping
Focused, bright ringing sound.
Polecat
Referring to a BarberPole Cat song, a collection of common songs for any/every Joe Barbershopper.
Post
A note, long in duration, sung usually by a lead singer, around which a tag is formed.
Riser Rat
Any chorus member who is not in the front row.
Round Robin
An activity wherein four or more woodshedders sit in a circle and progressively rotate voice parts.
Scissors Movement
Two voice parts that cross each other, while the other two voice sustain, leading to an inversion of the chord.
Shoulder-Raiser
A listeners physical reaction to a singer who doesn't quite reach his/her note.
Singlish
A method of singing a song as if one was speaking the part, phonetically connective.
Skunk Song
A melody essentially useless for woodshedding purposes, because of an existing familiar arrangement.
Slab
To sing slowly through a measure chord by chord, also called blocking.
Singing Around
Secretly singing with three other people in order to establish a new/better quartet.
Spank
Great vocal execution as in "Boy that lead spanks!"
Tag
The ending of a song, too often over-arranged.
Tag Quartet
Four singers begin a song and one by one are replaced by a new singer, tagged out if you will.
Tear-jerker
A tender, sentimental ballad that evokes emotion.
Tiddly
A musical embellishment, usually by a baritone.
Toe-Tapper
An up-tune with great rhythmic pulse.
Train Wreck
When one or more parts sing a wrong note and the resulting chord sounds like a railway calamity.
VLQ
Very large quartet or mini-chorus, if you will.
Wall of Sound
Seamless, continuous vocalization.
Whomp-Ping Ratio
The ratio of resonance to ping in the voice.
Woodshed
To improvise your part in a song, hopefully not melody.
Yawner
A very boring and poor performance of a song.
Yodel-Chord
A phenomenon in woodshedding, where two voices land on the same note and simultaneously move to the missing part.
This page created by Keith Eckhardt. All comments and corrections to
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