A Weekend of A Cappella

Have you ever been to a pop a cappella concert? No, going to see Pitch Perfect doesn’t count. A live a cappella concert is much more amazing! I had the pleasure this weekend of going to two pop a cappella concerts, and what a great weekend it was.

Me and one of my friends
during an a cappella performance!

            For those that might not know, a cappella music is music that is created only with the human voice and mouth. Barbershop quartets do this, and there are some classical choirs that also sing a cappella. But with the rise of pop music, a cappella groups formed to do covers of songs they heard on the radio, only with their voices and a beatboxer or vocal percussionist who creates the drum sound with their mouth.  It might sound strange if you’ve never heard it before, but when a cappella music is done well, it leaves you in awe at the excellent musicianship, balance, and creativity that goes into it, and the powerful sound that you hear.

2013 Vega walking the streets of
NYC after a magical weekend.

            A cappella groups was just becoming popular for high schools to create when I was a timid little freshman. I loved to sing and I loved pop music, so when I heard my school’s group perform at a welcome event to incoming students, I knew that it was something I wanted to do. I auditioned, and I got lucky enough to make the group! Honestly, this changed the course of my high school career in the most positive way. I loved every second of being in an a cappella group. It is where I met and made by best friends, that I am still best friends with to this day, where I learned and grew the most in my skills as a vocalist and musician, and what gave me the most incredible opportunities that I never even dreamed of having in high school, such as record a CD and take a trip to NYC. The group that I was in, Vega, competed in the Varsity Vocals Competition, the International Championship of High School A Cappella (ICHSA), for the three years that I was in it. We worked so hard, and twice we won our regional competition and made it to the National competition held in New York City. I got to sing onstage in New York City with my best friends! One year, we actually won the title of second in the nation, and it was astonishing. To say the least, I loved my a cappella experience, so much that this summer me and some of Vega’s current members, and alumni members from my Vega years, all joined together and made a group together, Lyra. We actually competed in a regional competition, the “open” version of the Varsity Vocals’ competition, and we won 3^rd place! Most wonderfully, I got to sing with my best friends again.

2014 Vega after winning
              2nd at nationals!

A cappella has had an incredibly positive effect on my life, and now two of my younger siblings have gotten involved with a cappella as well. My brother was in Vega with me for a year as the vocal percussionist and has gone on to create, direct, arrange for, and perform in his own group, FreeVerse, as well as go to prestigious a cappella camps. My sister just joined the group that my brother created this year, and one of the concerts I went to was their ICHSA competition, where Vega and my high school’s other a cappella group, Phoenix also were competing. I got to listen in on sound checks, and give the groups a couple last minute tips and words of encouragement. I was truly blown away by each performance, and felt so proud to see my sister, and some of my good friends onstage being able to bask in the electrifying feeling that a cappella competitions have. Vega won first place, and Phoenix won third! Both were well deserved.

Lyra after winning 3rd at the regional
                 competition! This group contained
                   members from 3 generations of Vega.

Along with that, this weekend, only a few days after the competition as a kind of celebration, my high school hosted an a cappella concert where Vega and Phoenix performed again! Also there, was a college group from Ohio State, which two Vega alumni now perform in. In short, it was a weekend filled with awesome music and reuniting with some family and friends.

            If you’ve never listened to a cappella music, I highly recommend it. It’s a whole new way to experience music, and it is filled with creativity. Even better, if you have the chance to go to an a cappella concert, take advantage of it! The energy of live singing is already worth the experience, but with the combination of all the different sounds, feeling the bass and percussion in your chest (but its coming from a person?!), and the visual pictures groups create with choreography, it’s a unique form of entertainment. If you want to check it out, I’ve linked some videos throughout this post. Happy aca-listening!