Accappology, the University’s co-ed a cappella group, will compete against five other college a cappella groups at this year’s SoJam competition, an honor they have been waiting for.
SoJam is an annual, weekend-long competition where six a cappella groups from the East Coast come together to compete and learn more about their craft.
“Friday night there’s a collegiate competition where six groups compete — that’s what we’re competing in. Saturday they have workshops for groups to go and participate in learning a lot of new techniques in a cappella music,” Megan Sadler, a senior in animal science and co-director of Acappology, said.
Jessica Lucas, a sophomore in communications and public relations, said the Saturday workshops focus on a variety of techniques, from beat boxing to solo performance.
Sadler said on Sunday the groups attend a master class where they work with a professional a cappella person.
“Someone usually from a profession a cappella group or someone who has directed a college group before — they work with us for about an hour and help us out and give us constructive feedback,” Sadler said.
“That makes a huge difference,” Lucas said.
Sadler said the winning group from the collegiate competition on Friday opens for the professional group that plays on Saturday night’s professional showcase.
“They award first, second and third prize and the group that wins first prize — Saturday night they have a professional showcase where they have two professional a cappella groups come and perform,” Sadler said. “If the chosen group from Friday night’s competition gets to actually open up for the professional group on Saturday night. It’s a really big honor for the chosen group.”
Accappology will perform “Paparazzi,” “Are You That Somebody” and a ”Bittersweet Symphony” mash-up with “Ridin’ Solo” by Jason Derulo. Lucas said the group is premiering the mash-up at the competition before their concert at the University in December.
To audition, groups send in a 10-minute video and according to Sadler, Acappology performed “Are You That Somebody?” by Aaliyah, “Paparazzi” by Lady Gaga and “Treat Her Like a Lady” by The Cornelius Brothers in their audition tape this year.
Sadler said the last two years she’s been in the group they have auditioned and not gotten in.
“We have progressed and grown so much within the last two years, it’s unbelievable. This is the year we felt like we had a good chance to get in and we did, Sadler said.
The co-ed, 12-member group practices two times a week and Sadler said they have a unique way of arranging their music.
“Normally in a cappella groups you have one person who arranges all the songs and teaches them to the rest of the group. In our case, we actually arrange based on a collaborative arrangement style,” Sadler said. “We talk about the songs first and decide generally where we want the arrangement to go and then we all sit together and listen to it once or twice and then all just kind of make up our own parts.”
Sadler said it is totally different being in an a cappella choir than in a regular choir.
“Most of the time you’re the only one on your part so it takes being really confident in making sure you’ve got your part really under control because it’s normally completely up to you,” Sadler said.
Lucas said part of what makes Accappology a great group is their camaraderie.
“We have a lot of fun on stage. Our vocals are great and our choreography is awesome, but we really have a lot of energy and a lot of fun on stage and we love to interact with one another,” Lucas said.
Lucas said her favorite part of being in the group is being able to do something that she loves, something that she is very passionate about, with phenomenal people.
“The chemistry in our group is amazing,” Lucas said. “It’s really cool to be able to do something that you’re so passionate about and have really awesome people that share that same passion.”
