A Capella; They got Pitch!
You don’t necessarily need a microphone but you do need good pitch for A Capella…
Author: ArtsyChowRoamer
A Capella Music
THEY GOT PITCH!
Got music? Got pitch? If so then A Capella might be your game cause if you’re into music like me, you’ve probably noticed the up tic in interest. This post we delve into a little history, some fun facts and why this kind of music is back in fashion again.
WHERE IT STARTED
Italian for “in the manner of the chapel”, this music is specifically group or solo singing without instrumental accompaniment.
It was originally used in religious music. Gregorian chants and secular music from the Renaissance are examples of this kind of singing.
You don’t fully feel that the singers aren’t accompanied when listening however because of certain techniques they use to imitate the sound of instruments and percussion with their voices; layering in sounds that mimic while the others sing.
While I do carry some vague memory of dating someone in college who was in such a group, I really started my journey with the music about ten years ago when a niece entering Emory University decided to try out for a coveted spot in their well known program.
Auditions for Emory’s A Capella program are intense, scary and competitive….
EMORY’S A CAPELLA PROGRAM
While collegiate A Capella is quite popular, no one can really say for sure when and how it got started. There are groups dating back to the early 1900’s. Modern versions of it include barbershop and doo wop.
Emory’s program is comprised of eight groups; some male, some female, and some co-ed offering a real range in musical styles (Aural Pleasure for example professes, “This is NOT your Mother’s glee club!”).
AHANA A Cappella, is known for its R&B focus. Aural Pleasure is Emory’s oldest co-ed group. Chai Tunes, is a culturally Jewish group and Dooley Noted, is the most service-oriented of the groups. The Gathering, is an all-female identifying group, No Strings Attached, an all-male group, Oxapella, is Oxford College’s group; and Suri, is a South Asian a cappella group.
They all take the program very seriously from a musicality standpoint. It is fun and full of camaraderie but it is intense and the tryouts are both grueling and scary covering a very long two day process.
The first day is spent with each person getting to know what basic musical skills they have and what their voice range is. Then if they make call backs, the real test becomes how they fit in with the group and how quickly they can learn the individual pieces.
The tryouts are competitive and difficult with only 5-6 out of every 100 getting an invitation to join one of the groups. Think Greek life on musical steroids! We were both proud and excited when my niece was extended an invitation.
Dooley Noted of Emory University rockin’ the house with perfect pitch…
ROCKIN’ IT WITH DOOLEY NOTED
My niece hung in there with good knowledge of music and drama from an intense program at Pace Academy and it got her a coveted slot in Dooley Noted.
Dooley was founded in 2006 doing pop and alternative music renditions of songs; digging into the meaning, dynamics and musicality of their versions.
They learn quickly and move on to the specific choreography and vocal layering that the Music Directors write to imitate instrumentation.
That’s what provides the WOW factor when watching and listening to modern A Capella. Dooley is also a service oriented group performing free for many events such as the Egleston Children’s Crisis Center.
They also participate each year in the Bare Naked Voices concert that happens in April benefiting Emory Counseling Center and Helpline.
HOLLYWOOD TAKES NOTICE
The video above is from a recent U Tube release from Dooley Noted. As you can hear, the vocals, harmony and pitch are fantastic in this great arrangement of a popular song by Tori Kelly.
The interest in these groups made Hollywood sit up and take notice when they put out Pitch Perfect in 2012 about an all female A Capella group of nice, bad and weird gals whose only commonality existed around how well they sang together so they headed off to the college competitions.
While incredibly popular and spawning Pitch Perfect 2 in ‘15 and 3 in ‘17, Hollywood did it’s usually thing and upped the glitz, theatrical performances and high drama behind the scenes, to the point of silliness-creating unrealistic expectations for today’s groups. “Everyone is expecting fat Amy to get out there with flames in the background” noted one performer.
PENTATONIX AND HOME FREE POPULAR A CAPELLA GROUPS
Not only did collegiate groups throw A Capella into the limelight and Hollywood throw it into pop culture, but this caused several groups to rise into the higher levels of main stream musical success.
The country singing Home Free won the fourth season of Sing Off in 2013 to land a contract with Sony. Pop singing, Grammy winning Pentatonix’ album, That’s Christmas to Me, went platinum.
While the style can have variation and can be used in a lots of genres of music, every group comes together in an authentic way allowing individual voices to shine through while creating beautiful music that actually sounds like an instrumental song.
Co-ed groups pull in the low voices and sounds providing interest in a different way than all female groups with a higher sound. The smiles on the performers faces tell you how much they enjoy what they are doing; they know when they have hit it outta the ballpark and you find you can’t help but smile along with them!
JUST SING
Emory’s A Capella program does several concerts a season with all eight groups performing. It is an enjoyable evening with many twists and surprises. Most of the groups make and sell their own CD’s at these events to help offset expenses.
Even though my niece has graduated I still listen to their CD’s regularly and…errmm…sing along….cause it is a shower ritual done by car usually. I’m pretty sure I don’t sound nearly as good as I think I do in my own head! 🤣 But at least I know I got pitch and it is great fun!
Everyone is a rock star…right?
CONCLUSION
Home Free is coming out with a new CD in early November which will be a Christmas album and they also plan a special. Check out their video to see more info.
I also leave you with the haunting version of Hallelujah by Pentatonix from above. If this doesn’t give you cold chills and make you an A Capella fan…well…nothin’ probably would.
If you would like to read about other artsy things, look under Artful Ideal and hey don’t be a stranger! Let me know if you enjoyed learning about this unique music and tell me more about your artsy interests OK? Keep listening and keep singing! Until next time…
Cheers,
ArtsyChowRoamer
TO MY READERS: This post was updated with more info, pics and video on 10/11/29
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