A cappella has taken over Northwestern. At this very moment, there are 12 a cappella groups operating on the NU campus, averaging 15 members each — and that’s not even including groupies, occasional a cappella listeners, and those who liked that period in the ’80s when Billy Joel did “The Longest Time” and Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” topped the charts.
Just think, when was the last weekend there wasn’t an on-campus a cappella performance?
Less than a week ago Melodius Thunk gave us “Nightmare on Thunk Street,” and Nov. 8 Purple Haze puts on BOTM (“Best of the Midwest”), a veritable a capellooza of singing groups from Midwestern colleges. And those shows constitute only a fraction of the vocal stylings NU students have to offer.
“The number of a cappella groups on this campus is just insane,” says Dave Murphy, a Medill sophomore, business manager and member of Freshman Fifteen, an all-male a cappella group. “I really hope we don’t get any more.”
“It’s great to have diversity, but now it’s gotten to the point where having so many groups just detracts from the whole,” he adds. “I mean, I love a cappella and I would never go to all of these shows.”
A cappella, Italian for “in the manner of a choir,” has, in recent decades, become as much a part of the collegiate experience as underage drinking and frat guys in visors. Nearly every college in the nation boasts at least one group, usually two or three, but NU’s 12 is above the average.
This “a cappella balloon” is seen by many as an outgrowth of NU’s musical theater program. Eighteen-year-old Medill freshman Tiffany Braxton put it simply: “[The large number of a cappella groups] is because our theater program is so good.”
Although theater and voice majors often make up the core of larger, more established groups, it is often “just people looking for a really fun outlet,” according to Communication sophomore Megan Duffy, who is in the minority as a theater major in her group, Aural Fixation. She sees a cappella as “a way to sing without a lot of pressure.”
“It’s a very self-motivating experience when you’re just doing your thing with your friends,” she says.
Each group offers its own unique spin on the genre, and with an ever-increasing interest in the program, NU’s men and women of a cappella have gained cult-like status. Their members, laughed off in high school for their rhythmic and vocal talents or their uncanny abilities to beat-box, are now increasingly sought-after. Next stop, world domination.
“I wasn’t a big fan of a cappella before I came here, but there’s so many good groups I’ve kind of been converted,” says Weinberg sophomore John McGlothlin, who is just one of many “converted” who see the inherent beauty of men singing in falsetto over catchy bass lines.
Others, like Music sophomore Tristan Arnold, think differently. “None of the a cappella groups try anything new or original,” he says. “They just cover songs from the radio — and usually not very well.”
Regardless of one’s feelings about the musical merits of a cappella, the ever growing number of groups and the ever increasing interest all points to one thing — more a cappella.
“There’s definitely a need for more groups,” says Weinberg junior Katie James, the general manager and one of the founding members of the Undertones. Three years ago, James and a few friends started the Undertones because they perceived a lack of groups performing “madrigal or old style music.”
It is in their variety and sheer numbers that the a cappella groups on campus really find their strength. A group’s uniqueness is not even bound by its repertoire, as Asterik and Freshman Fifteen are the “only all-male” groups on campus, Harmony in Sprit is “the only Christian a cappella group,” ShireNU is the “only Jewish a cappella group,” and Significant Others is the campus’ “only all-female a cappella group.”
“You can take your music wherever you want to go,” says Prashanthi Rao, an Education senior and president of Brown Sugar, “the nation’s premiere co-ed South Asian a cappella group.” “Each group has its own distinct mark, and niche in the a cappella world,” she notes. “Because of that, it tends to be somewhat of a unifying quality when one individual finds out that another one is in an a cappella group.”
It is perhaps this a cappella camaraderie that many, like Communication freshman Spencer Silna, seek when they try to join one of the groups. “There’s a lot of people that like to sing,” Silna says. “Everyone wants the opportunity.”
Even more likely, however, for men like Silna, are the groupies.
Medill sophomore Erica Futterman is, admittedly, a “superfan” of the Freshman Fifteen. “I don’t really like the term groupie because it has hippie connotations,” she says. Hippie or not, “I’ve been to every one of the F15 performances since I’ve been here,” Futterman says, slightly embarrassed. Her “superfan” duties include making signs for performances and occasionally baking cookies. But really, it’s all about the music.
With or without the superfans, singing in an a cappella group is not as glorious as it may seem. Oh, wait — yes it is.
“It’s definitely great to have the superfans, the people that make signs and go to all the shows,” Murphy says with a smile, “To look out and see that people are really enjoying what you’re doing…”
Murphy leans back in his chair as he says this, hands resting behind his head as his words trail off. He looks up at the ceiling, probably reliving a glorious a cappella moment. Laminated posters made by several “superfans” hang from his dorm room walls. One sign reads “Murph Makes Us Melt” in bold Crayola marker color. He knows all the words to “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.” He is confident, he is relaxed and he is in an a cappella group — and at this school, that means he’s a star.
