So here are 5 tips, with plenty of time for consideration before Labor Day:

1) Gig as much as possible.

I was blessed to be in the Bubs 87-91, at which time few a cappella groups had their business machine together enough to get off campus more than once a semester, allowing the Bubs to road trip at least 1/2 of the weekends of the school year.

This may sound like a lot, but it was perhaps the best part of my undergrad experience. Seeing new cities & towns, new campuses, meeting new people, and rocking their world.

And I'm not suggesting college road trips are the alpha and omega: on-campus performances (of course), high schools, community events, etc.

Frequent gigging makes for more productive rehearsals and a tighter sound (I like to say one concert is worth 3+ rehearsals, once you've learned your music). And hearing an audience's applause makes up for many a boring meeting or other PITA.

2) Make a "real" recording.

You're pouring countless hours into your group, and one day you're really gonna want a good representation of your work. Plus, if you do it well, other people will want to purchase it as well. That's why I say "real," as a "yearbook" snapshot recording has some value to you, but little value to others. Make something you'll be proud of in 20 years, and that you can play for your kids. You don't care now, but you will one day.

Note that I didn't say album, as a video/dvd/movie can serve the same purpose.

3) Learn from others.

With over 1,000 a cappella groups and 100 years of tradition, there are many great ideas floating out there: how to organize a tour, how to establish and engage alumni through an association, how to structure your group's business, how to make money, etc.

And yet many groups are alarmingly insular (how do you do, Yale University?), and end up stuck in a rut, repeating the same mistakes year after year (hello, Yale albums...)

Learn from other groups by watching them on stage, asking how they do things. Learn from alumni, who have plenty of scrapes and scars you can avoid. And learn from professionals, both within the a cappella community and without. A few words can save you lots of hassle and money, and increase your collective happiness considerably.

4) Share the workload.

Most successful a cappella groups (top 10-20%) usually have a single person who is behind much of the excellence. And yet good ideas are not hard to find, nor is someone who is willing to work (you got into a good college, right? So did everyone around you...)

The key to a truly successful a cappella organization is a leader's ability to motivate/harness the talents of those around him/her. Can you inspire others to pick up a shovel and start digging along side you? Can you tap into various members' strengths such that one person is planning a tour, another is working on a new look, a third is arranging a song, a fourth is contacting your administration for gig opportunities, a fifth is learning how to track the group...

You can do it alone. But if you can get others on board with you, your group will be much better, much faster.

And then you can find more joy in all your hard work. Which will keep you going much farther, much longer, much more effectively.

5) Find your niche musically.

I'm not going to tell you what music to do or how to do it. Intentionally.

However, I am going to suggest that musical excellence is more than just chords sung in tune, or complex arrangements.

To be great, and really make an impact on your campus, your community, and perhaps even the jaded a cappella flunkies who frequent this watering hole, you need to strive to do something great.

It's not about a specific style of music, or a specific method of arranging, or rather you focus more on making an album as opposed to live performance.

It's simply that you give this all a lot of thought.

What do you, and your singers, want to do? What are your strengths? What are the other groups at your campus and in your area doing such that you might stand out?

And what do you love? What do you want to pour your heart into?

Many groups simply choose songs they like, arrange them however they can manage, teach them they way they were taught, and throw together a show based on how the previous steps went. I'm suggesting you can do better.

Plan a set, a show, an album, a semester from the ground up. Decide in advance what you want to accomplish, what you want people to say about your music and performance. It's always possible to stumble upon excellence, but it's far more likely that you'll do something great if you set out with that goal firmly in mind.
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