IT seems reality TV show Australia's Got Talent has worked wonders for the profile of barbershop music across the country.
So says Adrian Gimpel, a founding member of Perth male barbershop chorus, Vocal Evolution.
Earlier this year, Queensland's Benchmark Four - an Australian gold medal-winning group who sing a capella four-part harmonies - made it to the grand final of the popular program, propelling barbershop into the national consciousness.
“Before that, you'd mention 'barbershop' and you'd get quite a lot of blank stares,” Gimpel laughed.
Barbershop vocal harmony - as codified during the barbershop revival era (1940s-present) - is a style of a cappella, or unaccompanied vocal music characterised by consonant four-part chords for every melody note.
According to sources, the first uses of the term were associated with African Americans, with gospel quartets founded in neighbourhood barbershops.
As for Gimpel - the grandson of an operatic tenor - it seems he was pre-destined for a life in music.
“It seemed to skip a generation (with my father) but I got interested in it as a young fellow,” he said.
“I saw an ad in the paper wanting a tenor for an a cappella group and had no idea if it was barbershop, but went along for the audition.
“We sang a four-part chord and it locked, rang and produced some overtones, and I was hooked after that.”
Keen for Perth to have an A-grade male barbershop group, Gimpel co-founded the 25-voice harmony ensemble Vocal Evolution, which has achieved considerable national success, including three gold medals at the Australian Association of Men Barbershop Singers.
The group comprises singers as young as 17, while one member recently retired at the age of 72.
Gimpel said Vocal Evolution was always on the lookout for new members.
- Vocal Evolution, Perth Harmony Chorus and Alliance Quartet will perform Where Are You Christmas? at the Regal Theatre, Subiaco, on December 17