Honesty is most important. If you want to start a group, there must be reasons why. Flesh those out to the fullest extent. The first thing to concern yourself with is why. There are many answers to this, including having fun, expanding your musical abilities/talents, making new friends, getting on BOCA, winning ICCAs/Sweeps, making some money, showing off your tremendous skill, beefing up that resume for college, etc, or any combination of the above. The more upfront with yourself you are in the beginning, the quicker you will achieve your desired result.
Once you have decided why you really want to start this thing, you need to hammer out some rudimentary logistics, mainly: who will you sing with (all male/female/coed, collegiate or community, etc); what sort of stuff you are interested in singing (classical, pop, rock, religious, etc); how many people you want to sing with (four people, 100 people, etc); and most importantly, how much up front work do I want to do. Keep in mind that there is a clear trade-off: the more you do, the more individual control you have over the goals and products of your new group but you do a lot more work; get more people involved and there is less to do, but you need to share the group vision with more people.
Once you have some rudimentary ideas down, start grabbing help a partner, a few friends you wanted to start the group with, etc. Here's where your ideas really start taking concrete hold while you hash it out with your peers. Before opening up your group to the masses you should try to get down a basic charter or constitution that discusses issues like: name, size, eligibility for membership, fundraising/profit sharing, expectations for members, standards for revoking membership, group goals, etc.
After this, getting the word out early and often is crucial. The more buzz you can create about yourself the better. Use all means necessary to you: paper advertising, a cappella forums, the facebook, email announcements. Use your personal connections to talk about what you are doing, and word will get out there.
Even before holding auditions, its important to start making contacts. If you are with a school, talk to the music department or student activities to see what help they might have, especially venue use and financial support. If you are not affiliated with an entity, check out the local art guilds/clubs to get on mailing lists and community arts calendars. Also be sure to contact your local CASA ambassador. Reach out to find other performers in the area, especially a cappella groups if there are any people are always willing to help out. If you will be seeking paying gigs, its also helpful to start making venue contacts right away.
At some point you will probably hold auditions. Check back at the CASA site soon about some strategies for holding auditions.
Once you have a group, or even before then, you are going to need some things to sing. Acquiring a repertoire of music is a challenge for any fledgling group. CASA has some great resources and song books. If you ask, other groups in your area and across the country may also be willing to share their arrangements with you. Start with something easy, so that your group can polish off a song early and build on that momentum.
{mosimage}Finally, don't be discouraged. You may have to try multiple times before you meet your goals, and you will certainly not meet with success overnight. Starting a new group takes patience and a positive outlook.
As you can tell, this is in no way comprehensive. The most important thing to do when starting a group is to connect with other people who have trod the road before you for their advice and resources. Almost as important is having a clear sense of what you want the group to be before you even start - the first step to achieving your goals is to have them.
Tom Czerwinski is an avid professional and amateur vocalist in the southeast, performing both as a featured soloist and in ensembles performing a wide range of styles from classical to contemporary a cappella. He is a graduate of Emory University where he sang with Aural Pleasure, and currently reviews for the Recorded A Cappella Review Board. He lives in Washington, DC.
Click on the wrench in the upper left-hand corner to see what else you can do.