If you venture to downtown Salt Lake this week, don't be surprised if you see, well, hear strangers greeting each other and breaking into song.
This week, it's all about the harmony, at the annual Barbershop Harmony Society Convention.
"Rather than using music to make it happen, we use voices to make it happen," said Alan Gordon, baritone for Gotcha!, 2004 international gold medalist quartet.
"It's a style of music that relies on each others' voices more than any other a cappella style," Gordon said. "It's an easy style to listen to."
Dozens of people attended "Taste of Barbershop: July 4th Party on the Plaza" at the Gallivan Center on Monday.
The event kicked off the Barbershop Harmony Society's weeklong annual convention, in Salt Lake for the first time since 1996.
"It doesn't matter how old you are, it's just fun," said Julie Siepler, spokeswoman for the society.
The style is known for its four-part harmony, and "ringing the cord," which Siepler described as an expanded sound created when all four singers are on pitch, making it seem like there are more than four voices.
Siepler said the music is "G Rated," and family oriented — a Disney quartet will be performing at Thursday's Association of International Champions show.
Linda Muise of Dover, N.H., is a member of an all women barbershop quartet, and says she attends the men's convention to "watch and learn."
Muise said she's been a quartet singer for 26 years for the music and the camaraderie.
"It's a sisterhood," Muise said. "We really are family."
The convention brought together Phyllis Fox of Penn Valley, Calif., and Cheryl Norman of American Fork, who attended high school together.
"I think it's awesome," Norman said of the music. "Nothing is richer than four men signing together."
"That's right, in four part harmony. . . . it's a style of singing all it's own," said Fox, whose husband sings in a quartet.
With more than 30,000 members in 800 chapters in the United States and Canada, the Barbershop Harmony Society, based in Kenosha, Wis., is the world's largest all-male singing society.
The style is uniquely American, originating as a form of recreational singing in the 1890s, Siepler said.
The society was established as The Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America Inc., by two businessmen who missed social singing, she said. The first meeting was in Tulsa, Okla., on April 11, 1938.
Here's a list of some events open to the public. Ticket information and a full schedule is available online at www.spebsqsa.org/saltlake.
Tuesday 8 p.m. Harmony Foundation Presents . . . Chanticleer, with special guests Gotcha! and the Denver A Cappella Project, LDS Conference Center. Tickets, $25-$75.
Wednesday 10 a.m. Opening Ceremonies, followed by 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Quartet Quarterfinals, LDS Conference Center. Tickets available to Utah residents.
Thursday 9:30 a.m. Gospel Sing, the Cathedral of the Madeleine. Free. 11:30 a.m. MegaSing, Gallivan Plaza. Free. 7 p.m. Association of International Champions (AIC) Show, special guests Dapper Dans of Disney World, LDS Conference Center. Tickets, $15-$75. 11 p.m. Mixed Harmony Showcase, Grand America Hotel. Free.
Friday 11 a.m. MBNA America Collegiate Barbershop Quartet Contest, LDS Conference Center. Tickets $15. 2:30 p.m. World Harmony Jamboree, Abravanel Hall. Tickets, $40.
Saturday 10:45 a.m. Chorus Finals, and 7 p.m. Quartet Finals, LDS Conference Center. Tickets available to Utah residents.
Sunday 10:15 a.m. Sacred Gold Concert, featuring the Gold Medal Chorus and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, LDS Conference Center. Free.
E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com