It’s not uncommon to hear the rumor that the musical comedy film “Pitch Perfect” was inspired by Northwestern’s own a cappella scene from tour guides and a cappella groups.
“The tagline for Northwestern a cappella is that we are the school that ‘Pitch Perfect’ is based off of,” said Communication senior Gavin Shaub, the co-president of Asterik, NU’s all-male a cappella group.
Asterik is one of the a cappella groups on campus gearing up for the school year. Shaub said the group specializes in singing tenor, baritone and bass parts.
The group practices three hours a week and spends time with one another outside of practices, Shaub said. Through this, the group hopes to foster community between their members.
“Just by the nature of (Asterik) being all male, we do provide that healthy male space that I think is really needed for identifying people,” Communication junior and Asterik co-President Oliver Tam said.
This year, the group will perform at Acapalooza, an a cappella performance during Family Weekend that will raise money for NU Dance Marathon’s beneficiaries. In addition to their quarterly concerts, they also plan to go on tour to Montreal in mid-December.
X-Factors, one of NU’s co-ed a cappella groups, plans to go on tour to New Orleans in the winter.
The group is known for wearing pink at their concerts.
“X-Factors is an a cappella group, or an all-gender pink a cappella group, so we just like to wear pink,” Communication sophomore and X-Factors President Lucie Saint-Denis said. “We’re just like a group of friends who love each other and love to sing.”
The group is also the only a cappella group on campus that guarantees each of its members a solo, Saint-Denis said.
Extreme Measures, another co-ed a cappella group, plans on hosting shows during the academic quarters. They also plan on performing in an East Coast city during Spring Break, SESP senior and Extreme Measures co-President Valerie Lippin said.
The group rehearses six hours a week to have successful performances, Lippin said.
“We work really hard to write performance arrangements for our friends and family that come to shows,” Lippin said. “We hope to go into those shows confident and well-prepared and want the audience to enjoy what they’re hearing.”
Brown Sugar is also a co-ed a cappella group. They are NU’s premier South Asian interest a cappella group, aiming to showcase South Asian culture at NU.
The group also aims to foster diversity, McCormick junior and Brown Sugar President Rohan Sohini said.
“We are not limited just to South Asian people,” Sohini said. “We try to create a diverse set of people, but it’s more so sharing the culture amongst ourselves, especially with music.”
Sohini said the group is preparing for one of their larger shows, which occurs during Winter Quarter.
Treblemakers, another identity-based a cappella group at NU, specializes in East Asian interest music.
This year, the group will travel to Singapore for a tour, Communication senior and Treblemakers music director Sofi Pascua said.
In Singapore, they plan on pairing with other collegiate a cappella groups and doing workshops with high school students.
The group performs throughout the year, ending each quarter with a show. Through these shows, the group hopes to embrace their identity.
“We really try to celebrate that we are East Asian and bring out our identities,” Pascua said. “In the performing arts especially, East Asian populations are a lot less represented. It’s really important to us that people see us out there.”
As a competing a cappella group, Pascua said that “Pitch Perfect” is an accurate representation of the a cappella group experience.
“It’s not too far off in terms of what it looks like to prepare for an a cappella competition and what it looks like to perform at an a cappella competition,” she said.
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Related Stories:
— The academic handbook: Your guide to NU’s 12 a cappella groups
— Find your tune in Northwestern’s a cappella scene
— Q&A: Jason Moore, Northwestern alum and ‘Pitch Perfect 2’ executive producer
