CASA - the contemporary a cappella society - Ascending New Height In High School A Cappella

Ascending New Height In High School A Cappella

Written by Mike DeLaura

Friday, 21 October 2005

How many vocal groups are able to release a solid album, win the Contemporary A Cappella Publishing contest for the second year in a row, and perform live with Deke Sharon in the same year? Not many - and at the high school level it seems almost unheard of. For Ascending Height, this is a reality.

Ascending Height is a vocal band from Ithaca, NY made up of five 16-17-year-old guys in no way affiliated with their respective high schools. And based on the sound of their new album “if this is right”, referring to this group as semi-pro is no stretch. Music Director Robert Dietz is definitely an all-star on the disc, providing 8 of the 10 arrangements, doing all the vocal percussion, and penning the album’s only original song. Dietz’s arrangements are generally well-voiced and textured, making his 2 back-to-back arranging awards very well deserved. Coupled with Tat Tong’s production work, tracks like Five For Fighting’s “Superman”, and Aladdin’s “Friend Like Me” really shine and rival some of the best collegiate tracks out there. I would not be at all surprised if these receive recognition come selection time for the Best of High School A Cappella compilation album. Also worth mentioning is the solid foundation that bass Crawford Doran lays down on all of the tracks – providing a warm, round sound beyond his years.

Purists beware; the voices are generally heavily processed and tuned – although mostly to positive effect. My biggest pet peeves, however, are the reverb-heavy mix of most of the tracks, and the overly-sampled vocal percussion. The reverb created the proper atmospheric feel for tracks like “Superman”, but a crisper approach would’ve been appreciated for the more up-tempo rockers like Maroon 5’s “Harder to Breathe” and Eric Clapton’s “Layla”. Also, on their next release, I’d like to hear a greater use of “live” vocal percussion mixed in with the drum machine-like precision of the sampled sounds.

All nitpickiness aside, this album represents the very bright future of collegiate (and hopefully professional) a cappella. If you want to hear some of the very best that recorded high school a cappella has to offer, pick up a copy of “if this is right”.