Loose Change

is known for its humorous acts and pantomimes while wooing the crowds

with delightful sounds. The North Clayton High School Chorus will also

perform.

Southland donates

all proceeds from the annual event to charity. This year the Southwest

Hospice and the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop

Quartet Singing in America's (SPEBSQSA) educational program. The SPEBSQSA

provides tapes and books to teachers which are used to teach students

some of the standard songs from their American heritage.

The Southland

Chorus repertoire will include a sampling of patriotic and religious tunes.

Tickets are on sale at the three local Gold's Gym locations and may be

purchased by calling 770-487-6772. Advance tickets are $10, students and

seniors $8. Add $2 for tickets the night of the event. The show will start

at 7 p.m.

A little background

on barbershop:

Barbershop

was originally sung in - you guessed it - barbershops! The barbershop

was a gathering place for men of the community, and while they waited

their turn they would often harmonize a current popular song. It was also

sung on street corners (it was sometimes called "curbstone"

harmony) and at social functions and in parlors. The first use of the

term "barbershop" was in a song written in 1911 that declared:

"Mr. Jefferson Lord, play that barbershop chord."

Barbershop

is a uniquely American music style/art form, created at the turn of the

century by ear harmonizers, or "woodshedders," who sang without

benefit of printed arrangements. It is largely the old songs because the

kinds of melodies that are best adapted to the style are those written

in the heyday of Tin Pan Alley, from 1890 to 1920. Most Vaudeville shows

had a barbershop quartet, although the singers did not use that name.

Barbershop

is four-part, a cappella (unaccompanied), close-harmony singing. The melody

is carried in the second voice, called the lead. The tenor harmonizes

above the melody; the bass sings the lowest notes; and the baritone fills

in the missing notes to complete the chord, sometimes above and sometimes

below the melody.

Information

from the SPEBSQSA web site:

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