Stackapella Open the app

A Plus course · 16 lessons

Make a chord ring.

Four voices, tuned so close the chord hums. Learn to hear the ring and lock your note into it, sing every seat in a quartet, and finish with tags: the short, ringing endings barbershoppers sing just for the chords.

  • 16 lessons, a few minutes each
  • Headphones on
  • No reading music

Try the first lesson free See the lessons

Tonight's bill

By the last tag, you can

  1. No. 1Hear a chord beat, then tune your note until it rings.
  2. No. 2Place the third and the seventh where barbershop does: lower than the piano.
  3. No. 3Sing every seat in the quartet: lead, tenor, baritone and bass.
  4. No. 4Sing a swipe, hold a post, and stack a tag in two voices, both yours.

The ring

Ringing, not beating

When two notes are a little out of tune with each other, the sound wobbles: you hear beats. Tune one of them and the wobble slows, then stops. That's the ring.

  • 14centsThe third, below where the piano plays it
  • 31centsThe seventh, about this far below the piano's

Barbershop tunes its chords closer than a piano can. The third sits 14 cents below the piano's, and the seventh about 31 cents below (a cent is a hundredth of a semitone). The course hears how far you are from the ring, and which way.

Beating: a little out
Ringing: locked

The four chairs

Four seats, four jobs

  1. Tenor

    Floats above the lead, light and soft: the quietest voice in the quartet.

  2. Lead

    Sings the tune, the second voice from the top. The other three tune to the lead.

  3. Baritone

    Sings the note the chord still needs, crossing the lead: above it one moment, under it the next.

  4. Bass

    The floor: roots and fifths. Never pushed down for depth, chin level.

In unit 3 you sing each seat in the chorus of Down by the Old Mill Stream, with the other three as guides.

The set list

From one chord to a tag of your own

4 units, 16 lessons

  1. Stage 1Set 1

    Make it ring

    Hear a chord lock, sing on a straight tone, and find the voice that's out.

    1. A chord that rings Free
    2. Straight, not squeezed
    3. Who's out?
    4. Every seat

  2. Stage 2Set 2

    Build the chord

    Build a chord from its floor up to the barbershop seventh, tuned low.

    1. Octave and fifth
    2. The hunt
    3. The barbershop seventh
    4. One line, four chords

  3. Stage 3Set 3

    The four parts

    Lead, bass, tenor and baritone, each in turn, then a seat with no practice first.

    1. The lead
    2. The bass
    3. The tenor
    4. The baritone
    5. Your seat

  4. Stage 4Set 4

    Tags

    A swipe, a post, and a tag where both voices are you.

    1. The swipe
    2. The post
    3. Two of you

Warm-up

Find the ring

Two minutes, one held note to tune to: a keyboard app, a drone from a tuning app, or a friend humming.

  1. Start here. Play or hum a low note and keep it going. Call it do.

  2. Sing mi, the third note of do re mi, on a straight "oo" with no wave in your voice.

  3. Listen for a slow wobble in the sound. Slide your note down, very slightly, until the wobble slows and stops.

  4. That stillness is the ring. Hold it for a breath, then rest.

Lesson 1 does this with three tuned voices around you, and tells you after each hold how close you came, in cents.

What the app hears

The app hears how close each held chord note sits to where it rings, in cents and which way, and your part's notes on pitch. Vowels and tone are yours to judge.

Up to three stars and XP for how close your held notes come to ringing, or for a part half on pitch and half ringing. The piano's third never earns ring stars.The same take says it plainly, like "6 cents high: let it fall", with no stars or XP.

A chord that rings, the first lesson: hear four straight voices ring, then a hole in the chord where the top note, mi, is yours. A chord that rings, the first lesson: hear four straight voices ring, then a hole in the chord where the top note, mi, is yours.
Holding mi until it rings: 100% on pitch, a steady A3 for five seconds, and Hear it together with the chord. Holding mi until it rings: 100% on pitch, a steady A3 for five seconds, and Hear it together with the chord.

From the shop

Three things barbershoppers know

House rules

Before you sing

Who it's for

  • Singers who've sung a harmony part before, in the free course or anywhere else, and want their chords to ring.
  • Choir and a cappella singers who'd like to try every part of a quartet, not just their own.
  • Anyone curious about barbershop who has never had three other singers to try it with.

What you need

  • Headphones. Ringing needs them: through a speaker, the mic hears the chord too.
  • A quiet spot and a few minutes a day.
  • No reading music: you learn every part by ear, from a guide voice.

Singing it safely

  • Straight, not squeezed: sing medium-soft, and if your throat tightens, let a little wave back in.
  • The tenor stays light and soft; the bass never presses down, chin level.
  • Wear headphones: through a speaker the mic hears the chord too. Stop if anything hurts.

The songs

  • Down by the Old Mill Stream Song from 1910, its chorus, public domain; the barbershop parts written for the course
  • The swipe, the post and the tag Written for the course

The fine print

Questions

How long does it take?

16 short lessons. At one or two a day, you're singing tags in about two weeks.

Do I need three other singers?

No. The app sings the other three, tuned to ring. In the last lesson, two of the voices are you.

Is it safe for my voice?

Yes, sung the course's way: straight, not squeezed, medium-soft, in short holds. Stop if anything tightens or hurts. It isn't a voice teacher.

Do I need to read music?

No. You learn each part by ear from a guide voice, and see its notes as shapes.

What does it cost?

Lesson 1 is free, with no account needed. The rest is part of Plus; saving your progress takes a free account.

Encore

Pull up a chair.

Lesson 1 takes a few minutes: three voices tuned and waiting, and a gap in the chord that's yours to fill.

No account needed to try it. Saving your progress takes a free account.

Try the first lesson free See Plus

Also on the bill

All courses