CASA - The Contemporary A Capella Society

Auditions:
To help your group get off the ground, find some core members before you begin the audition process. Ask around to find these membersgo to your schools music department and scope out prospective singers, talk to your schools choral directors and get their roster, invite friends who you know can sing. Working with this initial core of four or five members, youll want to make a massive advertising blitz of campus: leave no building un-postered, nor any cement un-chalked. Make sure to be active in your recruiting and approach people directly, telling them how excited you are about this new group and why they should try out. Passively leaving out a paper sign-up sheet will yield a low turnout. Youll get some great singers, some average ones, and some bad ones. If your talent pool at auditions is limited, look especially for singers who seem really passionate and dedicated. The first couple months might be rough, and youll need members who are going to make it through the long haul.

Arrangements:
Once the group has formed, buy some arrangements. Get one of the Contemporary A Cappella Songbooks (http://www.a-cappella.com/catalog/sheet-music/cat_songbooks.html), ask other groups on campus or nationwide (tons of groups will give away their arrangements for free, I give mine away on request), or contact the Ultimate A Cappella Arranging Service. Get a couple members to look for and study these arrangements and as the semester goes on let them try their hand at arranging a song. Learning to arrange can be a slow process, but its important that a core group of members invest time in making the groups own music. Many who sang or played a musical instrument growing up will find they have a natural ear of how a song should sound.

Rehearsal and Government:

Learning a cappella is not a linear process: the more you rehearse the exponentially better you will sound. Once a week rehearsals will yield slow growth, and twice a week rehearsals may as well. Try to rehearse three times a week if the group is willing to make that commitment. This might sound like a lot to new groups, but it will yield much faster results (its also the minimum amount that most college groups rehearse). In terms of government, find someone who has a strong musical background and has an ability to teach and elect them to be music director. Meanwhile, let one or two other people handle the business side of the group as president and business manager. While many new groups drift towards a democratic structure where everyone gets equal say, the fastest way to success will be through some sort of formal government. Indeed, a new group will mature fastest with one person teaching the music and one or two people handling all the non-music business. Group members should understand that this system is in place because it accelerates the pace of learning for the group: almost all top-notch groups use this system of officers elected by members of the group.

Gigging:

Once youve begun rehearsing and have a few solid songs, start gigging. Your sound will tighten exponentially once you start singing for other people. A cappella legend Deke Sharon once told me that you learn as much in 1 gig as you do in 3 rehearsals, and I think thats definitely true. Gigging also gives the group short-term goals and makes rehearsals focused. Sing on the street, contact administrators on campus, go to a high school, go to a nursing home - there are many places at which you can sing, and once you start gigging it becomes easier and easier to land more gigs. Not to mention that singing for other people is the most fun part of a cappella!

Get Help:

If you listen to nothing else I say here, listen to this one: no matter how fast or slow your group is growing, it helps to bring in an outside consultant to push the group along. This can be in a workshop or in a one-on-one with the whole group, anything to help you tighten up music, put together a show, and overall just show you the potential your group has to succeed. There are tons of people around the country who want to helpcontact your CASA ambassador and theyll put you in touch with the right people. Or just browse the CASA website (www.casa.org) to find workshops. Many will cost money, but liken it to investing in stock: though you put some money down at first, it will yield huge dividends. I cant imagine where my group would be today without the help of people in the a cappella community.

Study and Borrow:

Watch other collegiate groups, and borrow from what they do well. Go see performances of groups from other colleges, or go watch the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCAs) - http://www.varsityvocals.com/icca/. Watching established groups perform may help you develop some of your own fresh material. And feel free (with the groups permission) to borrow any cool choreography or skits you see.

Losing members:

Turnover is a huge part of collegiate a cappella and can be particularly disastrous to new groups. Losing one or two key membersoften during the middle of a semesteris likely to happen. Realize this ahead of time, be prepared for that adversity, and get the group to rally around the remaining core members.

Before you dive into starting a new group, take a step back and craft a vision of where you want your group to go. Do you want to be a top-notch college ensemble, making the Best of College A Cappella (BOCA) - http://www.varsityvocals.com/boca/ - series or doing well in the ICCAs? Do you want to be less serious and just perform casually? Most of the decisions you makethe members you accept into the group, the time you invest in building the group, the commitment you will require of your memberswill rely on this initial vision and plan. In my mind, succeeding in college a cappella is simply 1) envisioning the kind of group you want to be; 2) having the dedication, patience, and sacrifice necessary to realize that vision; and 3) having fun in the process.

Best of luck in your a cappella adventures!

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Ian Goldstein is the founder of the Back Row, an all-male a cappella group at Colorado College. Currently a Junior at CC, Ian was awarded best college and best public domain arrangements at the recent Contemporary A Cappella Arranging Competition.