<p>My D has expressed interest in joining such a group next year as a freshman.
She has a nice singing voice and was in a school chorus for several years until she dropped out because the senior chorus leader-teacher was such an unpleasant person and vehemently anti-American (we are in Europe). D plays an instrument and reads music but has no a cappella experience or voice training. Would she need to prepare herself in any way to be accepted in an a cappella group? Her college has several. What would she likely have to do for an audition?</p>
<p>Reading music will be a help, but admission to specific groups can be very competitive. Both my children, who had been in a cappella groups on high school, auditioned unsuccessfully in college. As I recall, they had to sing pieces selected by the groups, both as solos and with other group members, to give an idea of how they would sound both alone and in combination with others. They also had to sing a song they had selected; I don’t quite recall the sequence now but it may be that the self-selected piece came first and the groupo-selected piece came at a later stage of the process.</p>
<p>The fact that your D’s college has several ac groups wll be a help: there probably is one that is most desirable, with others (usualyl also very good) available for those who don’t get in to the first. There are some amazing voices in college ac groups, and I imagine many of hte kids do have voice training, but a great untrained voice might very well trump a trained mediocre one. Also, because performing in a small group is also such a social activity, the general fit is important too. At some schools the single-sex groups are the prestigious and competitive; there are other schols where the mixed groups are the best regarded. In any case, good luck to your D next fall.</p>
<p>pyewacket…fyi, here’s a thread I started a while back regarding which colleges have good a capella groups…not directly on your question, but there may be some interesting tidbits in the posts:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=92660[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=92660</a></p>
<p>On your question, I’d suggest your D track down the college web sites for her college’s groups and email the leaders with her situation…I’d bet she would get some positive response. My S, an a capella singer, emailed (on his own initiative!) a number of college groups last summer looking for interesting arrangements, and he received a surprisingly large & open response. I’d think that with your D’s musical and choir background, she could find a group that wants her, especially if she starts making the connections to her college’s groups prior to next fall.</p>
<p>There are 11 groups at my d.'s school (plus two a capella Renaissance music groups.) One is called “Crapapella”, which is extremely competitive - they take only the worst of the worst, and can spot a fake a county away!</p>
<p>Pyewacket: a capella groups are very popular at colleges; whatever number the school has now will probably increase next year as more groups are started. She might even start one of her own.</p>
<p>Vocal auditions vary depending on the director. At a minimum, I would expect that she would have to warm up on scales and arpeggios, demonstrate her range, sing a solo and sing some selections with the group. In addition, there may be some ear training exercises, e.g. repeating a sequence of notes played on the piano and picking a specified note out of a chord. There could be a sight-singing test if the group normally learns from sheet music. She might also be asked to do some improvisation, either alone or harmonizing with a well-known tune.</p>
<p>On some campuses, a capella is very big and competitive to get into. Some schools have many groups and so some groups may be harder to get into than others. I think there is a lot of variation out there. Depending where your daughter is heading, it will vary. If a capella is not huge, it may be easier to get in. If there are MANY groups, then some might be more selective than others or at least a variety of chances for her to try out for. So, I think the answer will depend on the school and/or the group. </p>
<p>It sounds like your daughter has a strong music background…she can read music and plays it and has experience singing in a chorus. I imagine that is the experiential level of many kids in some a capella groups. In others, there may be students with more vocal training. So, there likely is a place for her, but hard to say without knowing the situation at that school. The idea to write the heads of these groups at her new college and ask about it now is a good one…she can find out what is involved, how competitive it is to get in, the various options out there, what the auditions involve, etc. She may even opt to work on some songs to audition with before she goes. </p>
<p>One of my kids goes to Brown and a capella is very big there. I have seen many groups perform there and have heard many of the groups’ CDs (my D has copies of them all). My younger D got real interested in a capella groups when we saw them at Brown where older D attends. In our HS, a capella is just classical type stuff, nothing like what we saw the groups at Brown doing. It is basically an honors choir in an acapella style, that’s all (she was in it but the music was rather boring). Last year, my high schooler choreographed a tap dance to a Brown a capella group’s CD here at her dance studio that was performed around our region, as she liked the Brown a capella music so much. An aside is that she actually has a friend in that particular Brown group from her theater camp days and he JUST got cast as the lead in the RENT tour! </p>
<p>So, this year, when younger D went off to NYU, she was dying to be in a capella. There is a well known coed a capella group at NYU/Tisch. They are all contemporary style music. She said hundreds were trying out for five openings. To her delight, she was one of the kids chosen and so she has just finished her first semester in this group, which is called The N’Harmonics and I’ve seen them perform once so far. They are great. She LOVES being in this group. They performed at Georgetown in November and were a hit there apparently. Ironically, they are competing at her sister’s school, Brown, in March, and also performing at Smith in February. They also have performed at a well known club in Greenwich Village this fall. Just today, my daughter (who is home for one week) was transposing a song by ear at piano, a new song for the group that she is arranging (she is assistant musical director now). I think this group was hard to get into given how many performing arts students there are at Tisch and NYU, so I would not go by this experience as a measure. It may not be hard at some schools to get in or else there may be a plethora of groups of various degrees of selectivity. For instance, at Brown, while many groups are very selective, my older D’s roomie is in a coed group that is more “fun” than requiring top voices (I do not think her roomie has any background really in singing…maybe chorus) but it is all about Pirates and is called Argh! So, at some schools, there are opportunities to participate without being a “trained” singer. The kids in my other D’s group, NYU’s N’Harmonics, all have really good voices though. </p>
<p>I think your D surely should go for it and should look into it by talking to kids currently in these groups to learn more about the opportunities and situation at THAT school. </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>PS…I forgot to say that at her auditions, she had to sing songs of your own choosing…a capella of course…a ballad and an upbeat…then callbacks, new songs for that…no Broadway tunes.</p>
<p>Soozievt: you are so right about the wonderful a capella groups at Brown. Our favorite thing to do on Parents’ Weekend was to go to the “Brown Derbies” concert, which also usually featured another group as well. Their CDs are fantastic…my son’s high school friends all became fans through him due to his visits to see his sister. Harvard also has some terrific groups, but according to my son, none of them rival the Derbies!</p>
<p>I agree that they are great at Brown! It is kinda funny that my younger one got turned onto these college a capella groups at Brown and now she is going to compete against them AT Brown this semester. We’re not sure yet if her sister will even be on campus for that event then which would be a shame but she may have left for collegiate ski race Nationals with the Brown team which start that same week. I could end up going to Brown to see my NON Brown kid perform, ironically. </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>That’s funny…sounds like an a cappella competition would be a terrific thing to watch. Good luck to your daughters!</p>
<p>Just a few notes about college a capella groups…as many have mentioned, the popularity of a capella greatly varies by campus. On some campuses it is HUGE, while on others it is not as known. They each have different personalities too, which can be important. It is also important to remember that many a capella groups are completely student run, meaning they have nothing to do with music departments at all. They function essentially as student clubs. This means that in terms of experience, they are looking for people with music backgrounds (someone has to do the arrangements, run rehearsals, etc.) and reading music helps, but they are also looking for people who can blend with the group. Someone may have a great solo voice, but may not be able to sing well in a group or hold a part when singing harmonies, which is essential in an a capella group. We never had people sing a solo alone when they auditioned(at least I don’t think we did), but instead taught parts of a song and had them audition singing their parts with current group members to see if they could hold their part. We also had them do scales and other vocal exercises to hear their voice, and we did look at their resume to see if they had musical experience. This is my experience. Being in an a capella group is a lot of work, and for many students it is a different musical expererience from those they had in high school, but it is so much fun!</p>
<p>I saw a piece on TV about the huge a capella scene at Yale. There they have a tryout system that runs much like a frat/sorority rush. For several weeks, candidates audition for one or more groups that they are interested in joining. The groups take notes and hold meetings to rank the candidates and decide whom they really want.</p>
<p>At the designated time one night, the current members of the various singing groups assemble outside the closed main gates of the university. The candidates wait nervously in their dorm rooms. At the appointed hour the gates are thrown open and the kids run to their assigned candidates and put dibs on them by giving them official invitations to join. The fastest runners in each a capella group are assigned to dash to the rooms of best singers among the candidates - sort of an Oklahoma land rush. I thought the whole thing was kind of cute.</p>
<p>As a recently inaugurated member of an a cappella group on my campus, i think i can shed some light.</p>
<p>my audition was two rounds (as it is for all of the groups here). The first round I prepared a solo, demonstrated my range, and did this exercise to pick out certain notes in a chord. sort of difficult. </p>
<p>the second audition was a call back, and was much less formal. I sang a little bit more, a new solo and a little more with the group, but other than that it was mostly like an interview. they were gauging personality. most a cappella groups have a certain personality about them, a sense of humor, so i think it is important to visit the websites (if they have them) and to watch them perform at least once before you audition. </p>
<p>it is also important to determine if you want a single-gendered or co-ed group. the sound is different, but both tend to be good options.</p>
<p>Pyewacket, what college are we talking about?</p>
<p>pyewacket, everyone has given sound advice. I think BassDad has hit it all above. From what my son has experienced, they mostly go like this: - 1) establish vocal range 2) solo - she should polish one uptempo and one ballad that showcase her voice’s best features AND that are an optimal emotional expression for her voice type (e.g. Dolly Parton shouldn’t choose “Piece of My Heart”) 3) sight-reading and/or “quick-on-the-uptake” (sing note phrases played on a keyboard) and 4) singing with one or more group configurations to determine blendability.</p>
<p>IMO, vocal sight-reading is rarely all that useful, even though All State -type competitions place a high value on it. The reality is that you can usually either learn your part on your own or pick it up with other members.</p>
<p>I would say that if she wanted to take the time to bone up for a competitive audition, she should put her emphasis on the solo(s), followed by some practice with singing phrases after they are played.</p>
<p>I sing both professionally and with a couple of select amateur groups, and I have also directed. Vocal sight reading was one of the best skills I picked up in college. While most a capella groups eventually memorize their music for performances, many use printed scores for rehearsals. The ability to spend time on polishing and fine tuning the presentation rather than on learning the notes is priceless to a director. </p>
<p>You can work around the lack of this skill if your singers are willing to put in the required time outside of rehearsals, but sight reading allows the group to try a lot of new repertoire early in the rehearsal process. It becomes much easier to weed out the pieces that are not going to work for the group without having to invest a lot of rehearsal time on stuff that you will never perform.</p>
<p>This is somewhat off subject, but…</p>
<p>I have had zero experience with a capella groups, either personally or through S and D. However, last spring while in Miami for a conference we were walking around the street “mall” where all the outdoor restaurants are (can’t remember the name) and were entertained for about 1/2 hour by a wonderful a capella group. Many people listening put money into the hat when they passed it around.</p>
<p>I got to talking to one member of the group and they were from a school in the northeast on spring break in South Beach and were singing for about 1 hour per evening to jointly finance some of their spring break activities. Two things struck me - one, that they all liked each other enough to travel on spring break together and two, they were very good</p>
<p>Bassdad, I was interested in your perspective on sight singing. My daughter tends to be a “leader” in her choral groups, and I think it is in large part because she has very strong sight-singing skills. She not only hears the notes in her head (although she doesn’t have perfect pitch), but she also can hear and see the relationship between each note. I’m always amazed when she picks up a piece of music for the first time and can hum it to me. Me…I just see black blobs all over the paper!</p>
<p>Mezzomom,</p>
<p>In my experience, sight-reading is a bit like touch typing. Before you learn, you think you can get by with two-finger hunt and peck. Afterwards, you wonder how how you ever survived without that skill.</p>
<p>Having lots of natural talent will get you far, but development of that talent through hours of hard practice will get you farther. In other words, you can get into a great A Cappella group (like I did) with little-if-any specified training" (like I did), but working on that musicianship will get you even farther. On the other hand, however, I you have little-to-no natural musicianship, getting into a selective group will prove virtually impossible, no matter how much you sing.</p>
<p>In other words, there are some people who can’t sing. Signs that you have some ability include, but aren’t limited to:</p>
<p>-Good sight reading of music you have never seen or heard VERY quickly (as in on first or second try)
-Near-immediate recognition and response to chords, key signatures, and time signatures
-Good vocal blending with group members you have never sang with (much less even MET) before, as occurs in nearly EVERY selective a cappella audition in high schools and colleges.
-being able to take note of dynamic and tempo changes
-Overall musicality (phrasing, accents, breath-placing, etc.)
-Good pitch</p>
<p>Many of the above skills cannot be learned (or can be learned, but only to an EXTENT). Such things, such as true perfect pitch, you are born with.</p>