Hanger (barbershop music) Hanger (barbershop music) A hanger, or a post, in barbershop music is a long note, held by one of the voices in the quartet, while the other voices are free to change notes, and even breathe. Hangers usually occur in the tag of a Barbershop song, although they may occur anywhere. The held note is typically the tonic note of the song (e.g. if the song is in G Major, the hanger is usually a G). Any one of the four voices can have the hanger, although the hanger is typically a high note, therefore it is usually assigned to
Barbershop quartet below the lead singer. Quartets can be male or female, but are generally not mixed male and female. A female barbershop quartet may be referred to as a Sweet Adelines quartet (taking the title from the barbershop classic "Sweet Adeline"), and the vocal parts have the same labels, since the roles perform similar functions in the quartet even though the vocal ranges are different. Most barbershop quartets are male. Barbershop singing originated in the late 1800s and early 1900s of America, a hybrid of both black and white expressive cultural forms at the time. The African-American influence is sometimes overlooked,