I Love That Old Barbershop Style (arr. Val Hicks): TTBB Choral Octavo

Val Hicks' arrangement captures the four-part texture and harmonic richness barbershop demands while keeping the voicing practical for groups still developing their blend and balance. The piece gives men's choruses a genuine taste of the style without requiring professional barbershop experience to sing it well.

Nostalgic and warm, with the comfortable charm of a barbershop quartet in a full four-part setting. The arrangement honors the style's emphasis on close harmony and sentimental expression while giving each voice line meaningful material to sing.

Men's choirs ranging from high school through adult community ensembles. This works especially well for groups seeking accessible barbershop repertoire that doesn't require specialized vocal training but offers genuine stylistic substance.

• Establish the characteristic barbershop vowel shape early in rehearsal. The rounded, warm resonance in the pharynx is what makes this style sound authentic, not just the harmonies themselves.
• Mark the ringing seventh chords and focus your tuning around those moments. Barbershop harmony lives in the sympathetic resonance of these intervals, so precise intonation here transforms the whole arrangement.
• Balance the lead line prominently enough that the story of the lyric comes through, but not so much that the other three voices feel like accompaniment rather than collaborative singers.
• Work the rhythmic precision of the ensemble before worrying about style details. Once the group locks together rhythmically, the barbershop character emerges naturally from the harmonic language.

Pair this with other vintage American repertoire for a concert devoted to mid-century popular song styles, or use it as a lighter moment between more serious choral works. It also serves as an excellent introduction to barbershop harmony for groups exploring different vocal styles across a season.

• Recognizing and singing characteristic barbershop seventh chord sonorities
• Tuning close harmonies with precision, especially ringing chords
• Balancing four-part texture so no voice disappears into the background
• Shaping phrasing to support lyrical storytelling rather than purely musical form
• Responding to the specific vowel and resonance demands of the barbershop idiom