Four Parts, No Waiting : A Social History of American Barbershop Harmony Hardback
by Gage (Professor of Ethnomusicology and Chair of Music Department, Professor of Ethnomusicol Averill
Part of the American Musicspheres series
Hardback
Description
Four Parts, No Waiting investigates the role that vernacular, barbershop-style close harmony has played in American musical history, in American life, and in the American imagination.
Starting with a discussion of the first craze for Austrian four-part close harmony in the 1830s, Averill traces the popularity of this musical form in minstrel shows, black recreational singing, vaudeville, early recordings, and in the barbershop revival of the 1930s.
In his exploration of barbershop, Averill uncovers a rich musical tradition--a hybrid of black and white cultural forms, practiced by amateurs, and part of a mythologized vision of small-town American life.
This engagingly-written, often funny book critiques the nostalgic myths (especially racial myths) that have surrounded the barbershop revival, but also celebrates the civic-minded, participatory spirit of barbershop harmony.
The text is accompanied by an audio CD.
Information
-
Out of stock
- Format:Hardback
- Pages:248 pages, 9 line illus & 16 halftones
- Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc
- Publication Date:03/04/2003
- Category:
- ISBN:9780195116724
Information
-
Out of stock
- Format:Hardback
- Pages:248 pages, 9 line illus & 16 halftones
- Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc
- Publication Date:03/04/2003
- Category:
- ISBN:9780195116724
