Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Harley, Heidi

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

Barbershop harmony is an acapella subgenre primarily marked by the heavy use of the dominant seventh chord, expansion of sound (achieved through just intonation between singers) and the resulting production of choral overtones. An empirical exploration of barbershop is long overdue, with most previous work being musicological review or ethnographic evidence. This study uses a lens of musical enculturation to determine what sets barbershop singers apart from other choral singers, as well non-musicians. In Study 1, an anonymous survey was distributed via social media to ascertain the relevancy of past barbershop literature. Results from 14 respondents revealed that present day barbershop singers still share similar values (community, identity with singing, and being in tune with fellow singers) and view the previously established central musical aspects as important. Study 2 used a comparative approach with a new choral overtone detection task, a tuning systems preferences task, and an isolated chord perception task (as well as several self-report elements) to explore the possibility of musical enculturation effects with barbershop singers. Results from 12 participants (4 barbershop singers, 4 choir singers, and 4 college student controls) were mixed in terms of confirming hypotheses based on musical enculturation. While barbershop singers did, as expected, prefer the dominant seventh chord more than did other groups, they did not prefer equal temperament over just intonation. This unexpected result may be due to the ubiquity of equal temperament in our musical culture, however, as opposed to a lack of musical enculturation. Finally, all groups performed similarly on the choral overtone detection task, likely because this task was a novel one that still requires honing to make it more useful for ascertaining its specific role in relationship to barbershop singers. Because of unforeseen limitations like small sample size and challenges with inconsistent technology, mostly due to COVID-19 restrictions, the results from this study should be viewed as preliminary. However, the study serves as a valiant first attempt to investigate psychophysiological musical enculturation in barbershop singers and can serve as a guide for future work in this area.

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