CASA - The Contemporary A Capella Society

ICCA/ICHSA Finals – April 18th, 2009 – Lincoln Center

A 225-Minute Timestamp, Complete with Backflips and Jumpsuits!

By: Doug Friedman

Disclaimer: Seeing as this show was unbelievably long, I’ve decided to play along with this theme and write the longest review in the history of a cappella. Enjoy!

6:55 PM – G-103, this will be my home for, literally, the next several hours. Lincoln Center’s newly renovated Alice Tully Hall looks absolutely beautiful; perfect acoustics, brilliant wood finishing, and, unlike the airline industry, lots of much needed legroom.

6:59PM – Judges take their seats quite inconspicuously, slouching into the cozy seats in front of me. They are a cast of all-stars in the a cappella world: Julia Hoffman (President of CASA), Bill Hare (President of Recording), Barry Carl (President of Deep Voice), Ben Stevens (President of Being Kind), and Amy Malkoff (President of Great Hair). The competition is in good hands.

7:05PM – Thank goodness for Dave ‘Charlie’ Brown, our emcee for the night. He is decked out in a schnazzy suit with brilliant purple accentuations, including an epic bow tie. The man screams spunk and charisma the instant he hits the stage; I could think of no one better to host this event. He warms up the crowd with self-reflexive humor and introduces the first high school group…

7:10PM – Cheyenne Mountain High School “Crimson” (West Champion)

7:15PM – It’s obvious that this group has been here before, almost too obvious. They’re sticking too much to what they think will work as opposed to taking risks on stage. These girls pack a punch with matching red/black outfits and striking red lipstick, but the visuals are almost overpowering, especially their show choir-esque choreography.

7:16PM – Whoa, ridiculous alto alert. The floor is rumbling.

7:17PM – Can You Feel the Love Tonight? It’s a rather campy song choice with rather campy syllables. The chords in this song, and all of their songs for that matter, blend really nicely with some great voice leading, but song selection often trumps the musicality of a piece.

7:20PM – Haddon Heights Baptist Regional School “Vocal Forte” (Northeast Champion)

7:22PM – There are like 3,000 people in this group. This doesn’t work for two reasons. One is because they come across as more of a choir than an a cappella group. The second, and far worse reason, is that the seven girls preceding this group brought more noise and energy than these 23 mixed voices.

7:23PM – Don’t clap in your first song, seriously. No group has earned the audience’s participatory love that early, unless you’re N’SYNC.

7:26PM – Beautiful Josh Groban solo (You Raise Me Up). I’ve used this as an audition piece multiple times; always a hit with the judges and the ladies.

7:32PM – This note goes for basically every group in the competition, both high school, collegiate, and even professional alike (yes, Almost Recess, see 10:03PM). Don’t sing songs that are too high for your soloist! It’s frightening for the soloist as he/she approaches that high part in the song that he/she may or may not hit today because they only drank two cups of honey infused tea instead of three, etc. Those extraneous maladies should never be an issue. In VoiceMale, our motto is that you should be able to hit every note in your solo when you are sick and congested, because then you’ll be able to hit those notes all the time when you’re not sick! Furthermore, it’s not only frightening for a performer to potentially crack in front of an esteemed audience of hundreds of fans/family members, but its frightening for audience members to watch these performers cringe in fear (as we do too in our seats, praying that they will hit the notes so that they don’t embarrass themselves). Put simply, if the song is too high, take it down a couple half steps; it will not compromise the integrity and awesomeness of your sound.

7:33PM – At the end of their set, they reached their hands up and out in appreciation, almost as if they were thanking the tech staff at the back of the house at the end of a theatrical production. Then I realized they were thanking God for their performance. An interesting and noble choice…

7:35PM - A&M Consolidated High School “Eighth Notes” (South Champion)

7:37PM – Haha, nice homage to Texas! It’s always nice to hear a group sing about their roots, gives the story more emotion.

7:38PM – Bass is not confident with his parts, or perhaps being on stage in general, and it definitely shows. Turn up his mic or his vocal chord volume!

7:39PM – Complex arrangements = mucho bueno, especially when an octet that just formed this year can pull it off so seamlessly.

7:41PM – Zombie Jamboree. I wonder what goes through Barry Carl’s head when he hears this song over and over and over and over again.

7:44PM – Another note for all the groups in this competition: dance moves are great, but make sure they are performed close enough to the microphones so that we can hear what you are singing whilst you move about the stage. Just because you can hear yourselves because you are in tight-knit formations up there does not mean that we can hear you out in the crowd. Use the microphones; they are your friends and are there for good reason.

7:46PM - Pioneer High School “Soulfege” (Midwest Champion)

7:47PM – Spring Awakening = hell to the yes. Fantastic dynamics in the entire set, but this song in particular (The Song of Purple Summer).

7:50PM – Taylor the Latte Boy!!! Gold star, two thumbs up, hooray encore! The only thing that was lacking here were the background parts, which were a tad unintelligible because, who would’ve thunk it, the girls were standing too far away from the microphones. The soloist was brilliant and hilarious. The song was fresh and original.

7:55PM – I’m beginning to notice a trend now that I’ve participated on both sides of the fourth wall in enough a cappella shows. There are certain members of groups that exude an all-star quality about them. This is not to say that they are better singers or smarter individuals than the other performers in their groups, but they seem to do pretty much everything for the group on stage, and it shows. For example, without knowing the actual answer to this assumption (but isn’t the first impression what matters anyways) the amazing soloist from ‘Taylor the Latte Boy’ was also conducting her group and blowing the pitch pipe before songs (so I assumed she was music director), as well as directing traffic during the interludes (so, through this leadership, I assumed she was also the President of sorts). My point is that it’s sometimes better to share the wealth around the group, even if you think you are, and perhaps are, the most qualified person to solo, music direct, lead, and conduct your group. Major props to this girl, but she looked stressed throughout the set as she hustled and bustled about the stage in her quest to keep her well-oiled machine functioning. I could be completely wrong in this argument, but that’s just my two cents.

7:58PM – This group was my front-runner going into the judging process, as well as a likely audience favorite, but the judges thought differently…

ICHSA Finals Results

1st Place – The Eighth Notes
2nd Place – Soulfege
Best Solo – Andrew Bocher, “Vocal Forte” (You Raise Me Up)
Best Choreography – The Eighth Notes

Congratulations to all the high school groups that competed. You were all truly enjoyable to watch. Thank you so much for your vocal entertainment!

8:00PM – Here’s when things started getting fishy. To make an obnoxiously long story short, MTV came to film this event to make a promo to pitch to their network executives about collegiate a cappella. But instead of maintaining the exciting and cooperative integrity of this special occurrence, MTV decided to turn the ICCA Finals into American Idol. They seized power from Dave Brown, or should I say that he gave it up as graciously as only Dave Brown could, and turned the microphone over to a spruced up, overly-tanned young woman who obviously knew nothing about a cappella. She and the producer held up the show for awhile to film the audience fake-applauding after they introduced each of the college groups, giving them such stereotypic labels as “The frat boys of a cappella” and “The underdogs of the collegiate a cappella scene”. And they expect us to cheer enthusiastically after that? I hope MTV paid Varsity Vocals a substantial amount of money to hijack this competition and turn it into a reality show. I’m going to have to disagree with Matt Emery and say that misrepresentation on mainstream television is worse than less publicity. Let’s reach out to people in truthful ways and not let a fake, cutthroat atmosphere seep into our a cappella community.

8:10PM - Florida State University’s, “The AcaBelles” (South Champion)

8:11PM – Lots of pink = wow factor from the start. A nice way to bring a punch early.

8:12PM – No pitch played between songs? I sense somebody in this group has perfect pitch, which is always a plus in competitions where you want the transitions between songs to appear seamless.

8:15PM – This is turning into a really DARK set. It’s hard to tell a story with extremely furrowed brows getting in the way of a more vibrant range of emotions. That’s what a cappella really boils down to in the end anyways, at least in my opinion: telling a story. That’s what makes your groups unique from the next group. Your arrangement of the notes obviously provides a different undercurrent and timbre to the feelings you are trying to convey, but the story is what will keep the audience hooked and interested. Otherwise, we could just go listen to an auto-tuned radio to hear every syllable and note sound perfect. The live factor is what makes this competition impressive. So tell us a story! Don’t hide behind your incredible voice. Use it to your advantage. Make me cry, make me angry, make me happy, challenge me as an audience member to participate offstage just as much as you participate on stage.

8:20PM – Seriously, these are some of the best female soloists I’ve heard in awhile. The background parts are rather weak, but the soloists totally make up for it. They should change their name to the AcaBelts, because these girls can rip those high notes like it’s nobody’s business.

8:22PM – Missouri State University’s, “The Beartones” (Midwest Champion)

8:25PM – This group has a positively astounding bass. He is like 6’5” and can hit notes below sea level. The fact that I walked away from this show thinking about him as the headpiece to this group should be a red flag to basses everywhere; you are loved and recognized more than you know!

8:29PM – It’s obvious that these guys have rehearsed their butts off, because their blend is tremendous. I closed my eyes multiple times during their performance just to let the vocals resonate throughout the hall and truly sink in. The hard work definitely paid off.

8:32PM – As much as a lot of groups often avoid the Beatles because of the ridiculous notion that they should be ‘untouchable’ in the a cappella community, the Beartones scoffed at this presumption and knocked a Beatles medley right out of the park, and I was thoroughly entertained! Great transitions, great choreography, and all smiles throughout the entire piece.

8:33PM – These guys really understand the importance of silence in a piece. As a composer, all too frequently am I compelled to put as many notes into a song as possible, thinking that the audience will not be able to truly appreciate my work unless I jam pack it with all my ideas so that they can really know what I’m ALL about…much like I’m doing right now with this article, but deal with, I’m a bit of a perfectionist. The Beartones, like John Cage, stressed the importance of silence in their music, giving the audience a moment to breathe and recompose ourselves for the journey ahead. Kudos to them for thoughtfulness and musical professionalism.

MUCH-NEEDED BREAK!

8:56PM – Oxford University’s, “Out of the Blue” (Western Europe Champion)

8:57PM – WHOA! You gotta love it when a bunch of guys in suits and floppy hair run on stage, brandishing epic accents and sparkling smiles, despite assumed jet lag. I’ve wanted to hear these guys perform for many years now, so eager excitement would be a very understated alliteration.

9:06PM – I was so transfixed by Out of the Blue that I forgot take notes! These guys are brilliant and so much fun to watch; it’s like each of them has a unique secret that they are just dying to share with each other and the rest of the audience. Most importantly, you can tell that they are all best friends, and this really resonates well on stage.

9:07PM – They earned their claps in the final chorus of their final song, seeing as they timed the epic build of their music throughout their set with an appropriate climax right before the 12-minute cutoff mark.

9:08PM – I only realized this while watching them run offstage, but Out of the Blue was not wearing shoes for the entirety of their performance, haha! This added a nice, laid-back flair to their demeanor that showed the audience they can be relaxed and having fun while performing an extremely difficult set with extremely difficult dynamics on an extremely prestigious stage in an extremely prestigious hall at an extremely honorable event. Not bad, eh mate?

9:10PM - Mt. San Antonio College, “Fermata Nowhere” (West Champion)

9:11PM – At first, I thought a bunch of prison inmates had been let out onto the stage, seeing as these guys all decided to dress in extremely loud, bright red jumpsuits. The look eventually grew on me, however, as these multi-talented performers took over the stage, using every square foot that Alice Tully had to offer.

9:12PM – They were the only group to sing a song in a different language! This was a really interesting gesture, which allowed us to focus on the musicality and the inflection of their vocals, as opposed to getting stuck in the convoluted meaning behind mispronounced words. This song almost came across as a tribal/hip-hop dance. These guys REALLY know how to engage a crowd.

9:13PM – BACKFLIPS?! Well, why not? There’s nothing in the rules against that. This group really understands the idea of performance in their presentation on stage. They don’t compromise their vocals with their dancing, because they have enough singers to assign the tough musical parts to the guys who aren’t doing the handsprings!

9:14PM – One of my favorite parts about this group is that there is always something going on across every part of the stage. Be it the background guys rocking out in trumpet formation, the soloists wailing away about love lost, or the backup dancers working their flexibility, everyone was bringing everything they had to this performance. My favorite section to watch was the two-person rhythm section, rocking out on downstage right. Not only did these two guys know how to work their respective microphones (the bass correctly positioned his right where a moustache would be, right below the nose and above the upper lip, and the percussionist ate the microphone like he eats Wheaties for breakfast), but they had their own little acting beats throughout the piece, working the stage much like Antonio and Jake from The HouseJacks. Very professional and very impressive, despite the ridiculous outfits!

9:15PM – A nice change of pace here with “Fall for You” by Secondhand Serenade. Great soloist with a great story to tell. I definitely believed his message.

*** 9:19PM – I don’t want to ruin the surprise for you, but the final song from Fermata Nowhere’s set made them a title contender, no doubt. Go to http://www.casa.org and watch the featured video of the week to find out why ***

9:20PM – THROW YOUR HANDS UP!!!

9:22PM – Yale University’s, “The Duke’s Men” (Northeast Champion)

9:23PM – These guys definitely had a better blend than Fermata Nowhere, but their energy is not as high. Granted, it’s hard to follow the previous performance, but I saw the Duke’s Men perform at the Semis, and their energy this time seemed to be a little lackluster compared to their last outing.

9:26PM – Sam Tsui is absolutely amazing. I will never get tired listening to him sing. Again, I’m not afraid to admit that he makes me cry. “They told me, what a good boy, what a smart boy, what a strong boy.” AMAZING.

9:31PM – We heard the song “Umbrella” probably three times throughout the course of the evening, and it’s unfortunate that the Duke’s Men were not the first to do it. The surprise factor was gone.

9:33PM – The performance seemed a little more rehearsed this time, as opposed to adopting the free-flowing nature of the performance they gave at the Semifinals. Nerves? Nonetheless, it’s always a pleasure to watch these guys!

9:35PM – Ithaca College’s, “Ithacapella (Mid-Atlantic Champion)

9:37PM – There’s nothing like a big guy rocking out on stage, sweaty locks flailing about the stage, to the glory that is “Soul Man”. A brilliant choice for an opener, especially given these guys had to follow up three all-guys groups that brought a tremendous amount of gusto. Great energy is always appreciated, especially 157 minutes into a competition…

9:40PM – Please, please, please take the song down if it is too high for your soloist! I really don’t care if he can hit a B-flat most days, and I’m sure the judges don’t either; there is no category on the score sheet that penalizes your group for not singing high enough. So please take the song down, all music directors out there, for everyone’s sake. This One Republic song could have been a huge hit, but instead, the soloist literally ran out of high notes at the end and unfortunately could not help but crack multiple times. He sounded fantastic, nonetheless, I just wish he could have muscled through the whole thing!

9:44PM – Now it’s one thing to sing Michael Jackson. But it’s a completely different, and much more impressive thing, to sing YOUNG Michael Jackson, like ‘Jackson 5’ MJ. I turned to the girls sitting next to me, who were friends with the soloist about to tackle ‘Back to Your Heart,’ and I asked them, “Is he gonna be able to hit those notes?” They laughed and responded, “Just watch.” Sure enough, he knocked my socks right off of my feet and onto the floor. A truly incredible performance that I’m baffled did not win best solo.

9:45PM – One thing to note that this group did really well, as opposed to most of the others, high school and collegiate alike, was that they spoke to the audience between their songs. Granted, it was overly formal and rehearsed, but at least they showed some signs of humanity and proved that they could speak instead of just sing. It can come across as rather detached for a performance group to at least not say hi to an audience. The judges may be scoring you based on your look and your sound, but part of your look is the way you present yourself at all times on stage, so take 30 seconds to say hello to the audience and differentiate yourself from the others groups I’ve already seen so I can walk home with something to remember about.

9:50PM – University of the Free State’s, “Marjolein” (South Africa Champion)

9:51PM – Whether or not it was intentional, I found it compelling how the two all-female groups bookended the five all-male groups we heard at this collegiate competition. But these girls shows that you didn’t need testosterone and obtrusive chest hair to pack a severe punch, as their soloists echoed amazing riffs throughout Alice Tully Hall during their impressive set.

9:53PM – Alas, it was obvious that they often did not perform in competitions like the ICCA. Most notably, this was evident at the end of each song, when Marjolein stopped so briefly that the audience did not have time to thank them in the form of applause before they had moved on to their next song. Again, there’s something to be said for taking a breath and acknowledging the audience, as opposed to a brief smile followed by a hurried continuation into the next song.

9:55PM – Also, their syllables needed some sophistication. There were a lot of repeated ‘dits’ and ‘doos’ and ‘jens,’ and to be honest, those are fine when used sparingly, but I must agree with Deke Sharon in that they can get crunchy and annoying when overused.

10:00PM – A quick set, but it was full of interesting 7th and 9th chords, and some fantastic modulations. The girls looked and sang beautifully, and I’m sure we’ll see them back again at Alice Tully Hall very soon!

JUDGES TALLY SCORES

10:03 PM – Professional Group Entertainment, “Almost Recess”

10:04PM – Clearly, these guys know what they’re doing, so I’m not going to bother critiquing them extensively, but I would like to point out a few things before revealing the results of the competition.

10:05PM – Their lead singer has a fantastic range, but every time he sings a high note, he sounds like his throat is going to rip in half. And not necessarily in the good way that Bon Jovi sounds. I’m worried about this guy’s longevity; he has a fantastic instrument, I just hope he isn’t actually damaging it by pushing his range too high with songs like Don’t Stop Believin’, which I’m sure they sing live like a zillion times.

10:15PM – Dave Baumgartner is a force of nature. He sings the bass and does the percussion at the same time - nuff’ said. Extremely impressive drum solo. He is undeniably the amazing foundation that keeps this group rocking hard.

10:25 PM - JUDGES ARE BACK WITH RESULTS

10:40PM – A quick note about the presentation of the awards. You’ll find huge threads and posts about this all over RARB and CASA, so I’ll keep my arguments here brief…After the glorious Dave Brown (seriously, he was so much fun to watch every time he graced the stage) presented the individual awards to the groups, he handed the microphone over to none other than the infamous MTV production team to announce the placements. The female host called four groups forward without telling them what their placement was, paused dramatically for the cameras, and then told the other groups, “Thanks so much for participating, we’ll see you backstage,” at which point the other three groups nervously shuffled offstage, rather confused at this occurrence. The host then did the same dramatic pause effect for the 4th place group and the third place group, before finally calling in the final two groups to huddle together to anxiously await the winner. All of a sudden, the producer and his camera crew came on stage to document the action, which I’m sure made everyone feel more at ease. After literally, I kid you not, a full seven second pause, the host announced the winner, but her attempt at building dramatic tension for television took all the energy and excitement out of the live event. Shame on you, MTV, for polluting this show. I’ll be interested to see how accurately your footage represents what really went on at the ICCA Finals, especially given your backstage interviews designed at raising unnecessary tension, much like American Idol and America’s Got Talent. That is NOT what collegiate a cappella is all about.

2009 ICCA Champion – Fermata Nowhere, 445 points
2nd Place – Out of the Blue, 371 points
3rd Place – The Beartones
4th Place – The Duke’s Men

Best Rhythm Section – Fermata Nowhere, Kevin Shannon
Best Choreography – Fermata Nowhere
Best Solo – Fermata Nowhere, Ben Lee (Fall For You)
Best Arrangement – Out of the Blue (Cold Water)

Congratulations to all the groups that competed! It is an extremely amazing honor to make it this far in the competition and represent your region on one of the biggest stages in the entire United States. Best of luck next year!

~ Doug Friedman
Events Manager
Brandeis VoiceMale
www.brandeisvoicemale.com

About the author:
Doug Friedman (Douglas Friedman) has been singing in school and traveling choirs since the wee age of 8. He has had the great fortune of singing with Brandeis VoiceMale for the past three years and is enjoying their continued success in the a cappella community. Doug was recently introduced to the world of audio engineering at the Recording Workshop in Chillicothe, OH and is now fascinated with working on both sides of the glass in the studio, both behind the mic and behind the board. Also, he is currently in the process of writing Super Mario Brothers, The Musical for his senior thesis at Brandeis University. More detailed information about Doug's multifaceted singing/songwriting/engineering/producing background, as well as his resume, can be found at www.difmusic.com