A Cappella Christmas

I'm one of those people who starts listening to holiday music in November. I can't help it! A festive playlist always yanks me away from the pressure of the season (Like holiday shopping! And accelerated deadlines!) and puts me in just the right spirit. My regular readers know my Christmas tradition: This year, I'm going to hear a cappella music in my hometown. The best!

It got me thinking about my favorite Christmas a cappella tunes that I always have playing on repeat on my iPhone, plus a few new ones I've discovered this year. Here, my favorites:

"The Christmas Song" by Forte Femme
Watch the video here.

"Sleigh Ride" by Pentatonix
Listen to the song here.

"Silver Bells" by Rockapella
Listen to the song here.

"Text Me Merry Christmas" by Straight No Chaser and Kristen Bell
Watch the video here.

"All I Want for Christmas is You" by Out of the Blue
Watch the video here.

Happy a cappella Christmas!

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Christmas caroling

'Tis the season for holiday music. Well, almost! This may sound crazy, but I've been listening to Christmas tunes since October (!!). In the fall, I joined a holiday singing group with a few co-workers of mine. It's perfect: There are about 25 of us, and we practice once a week for an hour at lunch. Then, our chorale director packs our December calendar with holiday performances around New York.

For my regular readers, you know: I'm bursting with joy every time we rehearse. Singing Christmas music harkens back to my a cappella days. I didn't realize how much I missed it until the first time we practiced together as  a group.

The amazing part is that our repertoire is so varied. I'm learning all these new holiday songs that I've never heard before like this one and this one.

What about you? Has the holiday spirit hit you yet?

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Pitch Perfect sequel

It's been a while since we've talked a cappella here, but the news of a Pitch Perfect sequel was a reminder that I'm overdue. :) Did you see the first film? If not, you better catch it now—not only is a follow-up flick in the works, the cast is recording a holiday album due out just in time for Christmas this year.

I remember when the Wheatones—my former group—used to travel around to sing holiday music at local nursing homes, children's hospitals, and more. There was something so fun about switching up our set list, learning harmonies for classic Christmas tunes, and then taking it on the road.

Now, the big question: What will Anna Kendrick sing on this new holiday album? (Click here to listen to her impressive pop rendition of "Cups".)

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Signature karaoke songs

Last weekend, some friends of mine (one, a former Wheatone) came to town for a tour of my new apartment, and dinner out in BK. We dined at a cozy neighborhood spot, and en route back to my place, happened to walk past a bar that was bumping with karaoke tunes. We couldn't resist! After putting our name in for several signature songs (Respect, Love Shack, and more), it got me thinking: What makes for a successful karaoke song?

The most crowd-pleasing numbers included the throwbacks—Kelly Clarkson, Queen, even Mr. Big. And our rendition of Madonna's Like a Prayer was a hit, and brought back the harmonies we learned during a cappella practice years ago. :)

Are you a karaoke fan? If so, do you have a signature song you always sing?

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Lean In

As part of a book club for New York Women in Communications, I'm reading Lean In, by Facebook exec Sheryl Sandberg. Have you read it? I know some of the things she says are a bit controversial, but I love her tips about confidence and the value of a 'fake it 'till you feel it' mantra when you need it. She even references a study that suggests practicing a high power pose—walking around for a couple of minutes taking up space by spreading your limbs—to help you combat nerves and feel like your in command. What a great idea!

What do you do to feel more confident? It may sound silly, but I love listening to music by the Wheatones, my college a cappella group. I instantly picture myself surrounded by the strength of my own girl group! :)

PS—A clip of me and the former Wheatones president!

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A Cappella Page: The Wheatones

For those of you who are long-time readers of this blog, you already know: a cappella music is something I love. Based on this, you can only imagine my delight at having the chance to reconnect with Janine Perry, campus representative and technology liaison for the Wheaton College Wheatones, the group I used to sing with (so many) years ago. 

A bit of background: the Wheatones is the oldest all-female a cappella group at Wheaton. In the last 10 years, the a cappella scene has exploded on campus with the launch of groups like The Blend and Voices United to Jam. Add to this the Whims and the Gentlemen Callers, and you’ve got five groups in total, which makes for an impressive array of vocal talent on a campus with just 1500 students. Here, Janine talks about the Wheatones' most crowd-pleasing numbers, and explains why the community aspect of singing is her favorite part.

How would you describe the a cappella scene at Wheaton? It’s really strong. With five groups, almost everyone on campus has a connection to someone who sings a cappella. At Wheaton, the a cappella groups are almost like fraternities and sororities. Our work is creative and productive and we have a lot of fun, too.

What do you love the most about a cappella? The community. You not only have a group of friends to start off with at Wheaton and stay with until your departure point, you’re also able to interact with the members of the other groups. This year, we actually arranged a song to perform with all five a cappella groups on campus. It was Britney Spears’ ‘Till the World Ends. It was a mess, but it was so much fun to get together and collaborate.

Tell me about SLYPE — it’s basically a cappella initiation at Wheaton, right? It’s one of the most fun nights of the semester. It takes place when we hold auditions. We hear so many wonderful voices, and then we get to welcome a new friend to the group. At midnight, once we’ve made our decision on who we’re going to accept, we pull the girls out of their dorm rooms, run around campus screaming, and sing together under the archway on upper campus. Everyone comes out to watch.

Is the audition process still pretty rigorous? Yes! First, the girls have to sing a song of their choice, then they have to sing scales, and repeat melodies from memory. It’s always a bit scary. You can tell the girls are really nervous, and it’s always difficult. But the ones who are meant to get through do.

Do you remember the song you auditioned with? I tried out after transferring to Wheaton in January of my sophomore year. I sang a song called “The Garden,” by Mirah.

Was a cappella something you always wanted to do? My audition was actually the first time that I sang in front of anyone, other than the person I was dating at the time. I didn’t wear my glasses so I couldn’t see anyone when I was singing.

What are the Wheatones’ most crowd-pleasing numbers? One of our biggest hits has always been “Gangster’s Paradise,” mostly because it’s so unexpected to see girls singing rap. We also just started performing “Stacy’s Mom” by Fountains of Wayne and “C’est La Vie” by Bewitched. Both seemed to go over really well!

Who are the a cappella groups that you’re listening to right now? We just performed with Fermata Town. They’re a post-collegiate group, and they were really excellent. The Dartmouth Aires are also fantastic. We performed with them in 2010, and they were so incredible. Then, of course, they went on to become nationally recognized thanks to The Sing-Off. We were so proud!

A cappella continues to make numerous appearances in pop culture. Is there a TV show or movie that you think gets it right? I don’t really know. I don’t even watch Glee. A few of the girls in the group do. It is cool that it makes people more familiar with what we do. That way, when you tell someone that doesn’t sing in an a cappella group, they have a general idea of what it’s like. It makes people more interested.

Catch a live performance by the Wheatones at the Commencement Reunion Concert this Friday, May 18.

Rumour has it

Despite all the delightful and innovative a cappella content on TV these days, I haven't posted much about one of my favorite subjects as of late. After seeing last week's episode of Glee and this impressive mash-up of Adele's Rumour Has It with Someone Like You, I knew that all had to change. Even though the show has gotten a bit preachy for my taste, they still know how to bring it with ballads like these! What did you think of this performance? Are you still keeping up with the show now that it's in it's third season?

Note: Expect more a cappella interviews in the new year! 

(Video via YouTube)

Warbler in training

Whether you're a fan of Glee or not, you'll agree — Kellen the mini-Warbler is too cute for words. I love the jacket, and the clear dedication to getting each and every dance move right. Thanks to Narrylikes for sharing this adorable clip!

(Via Narrylikes)

Rolling in the Deep

I'm on deadline this week for a variety of assignments, which is why the video above comes as a welcome distraction in the midst of all this work. Are you familiar with the a cappella stylings of singer Mike Tompkins? His version of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" is as musically fascinating as it is fun to watch. Check out a couple of his other songs here and here, but before you do that throw some headphones in and check out the tune above. Makes you look at a cappella music in a whole new way, am I right?

(Via YouTube)

A Cappella Page: Overboard

More a cappella? You got it! Going forward, I will be featuring once-a-month interviews with a cappella groups I love. For the first one, meet Overboard, a Boston-based professional a cappella group founded by Nick Girard in 2006. A member of the University of Vermont Top Cats in college, Nick went into serious a cappella withdrawal after graduation. It wasn’t until he caught a performance by another semi-pro group that he was inspired to start his own. I caught up with Nick—and the rest of the guys, including special guest Rockapella's Jeff Thacher—before a gig at Crash Mansion in New York.

First, what inspired you to start Overboard? I sang for three years in college, really liked it, left, and wasn’t doing anything musical at all. I went to an a cappella competition in Boston and saw a semi-pro group performing there. All I could think was how cool it was. I thought, I could do that.

How did you find people to join the group in the beginning? Some of them were people that I sang with in college. Others, we found through Craigslist. I actually held auditions for the first two members completely by myself. I just met guys in a house. Alone. I’m the one original member left. Scott [Overboard's percussionist] is the next guy and he joined in March of 2007.

How would you describe Overboard’s style? We try to keep our repertoire really eclectic. We want to be able to perform at everything from a college to a 75-year-old’s birthday party and be able to entertain both audiences. We often find ourselves in front of an audience that spans a 50-year age gap. As a result, we try to mix up our style a lot.

What songs are in your repertoire? We do a lot of standard, doo-wop types of songs like “Stand By Me” or “In the Still of the Night”. We also do some modern pop songs like “Baby” by Justin Bieber and “Forget You” by Cee Lo Green. We just recently found out we’re the recipients of a CARA Award and some CARA runner-up awards. One of them was for Best Religious Song for a version of “Amazing Grace” we did. The other was for a jazz song. We remade Britney Spears’ “Toxic” into this really atonal, creepy, esoteric jazz song. We do all kinds of things.

Is it tough to pursue a cappella full-time? We’re doing our best to make this a full-time venture. We do a lot of musical side work in order to make sure that we have enough income coming in. Most of us at this point are doing a cappella production work too, tracking high school groups or college groups and doing editing and mixing. That’s something we’re going to be pursuing in a more organized and formal fashion coming up.

What do you guys think about the state of a cappella today? It’s really exciting. A lot of things are happening. It’s becoming a lot more recognizable. Specifically, I think with shows like Glee, people are starting to pay a lot more attention. When I started Overboard, we did a lot of street performing up in Newburyport, Massachusetts and coastal towns. We would be singing on the street and the 13-year-old boys would walk by and make fun of us. Now, they’ll actually stand there and watch or sit down and give us money. There isn’t as much of a stigma about it anymore.

Tell me about Free Track Tuesdays. The primary reason for Free Track Tuesdays was so that we could develop a workflow and regiment ourselves to a one-week period in order to arrange, track and mix a song. The exterior part of it was, let’s make the song that we do available for free as a sample from us. It’s worked out really well for us so far. Our download rates go up every week.

What’s next for Overboard? We just recently lost one of our members so we’re in the midst of rebuilding the repertoire for five people instead of six. We’re auditioning, but we’re cognizant of the fact that finding the right member to fill the spot takes time. We’re not in a rush. We’re also planning a UK tour. A former intern of ours from Massachusetts is going to school at St. Andrews in Scotland and so we’re working with him and his group to put something together.

Last question—what other a cappella groups are you listening to right now? At Vocal Nation, we had the pleasure of listening to the Swingle Singers from London. They are unbelievable. If you have the opportunity to see them live, go, no matter what you have to cancel to do it. Also, go into the show realizing that all a cappella afterwards is going to pale in comparison to what you see. It was probably the best live music performance I’ve ever seen.

Don't miss Overboard's Free Track Tuesday. Go to their site to download a song today!

Royal romance

The Royal Wedding goes Gaga in this clever video from St. Andrews' The Other Guys. This definitely takes a cappella to a whole new level. Love the creativity!

For other posts about the Royal Wedding, click here and here.

(Via YouTube)

The weekend is here!

Happy weekend dear readers! Friday is always the loveliest day. :) What do you have planned for the weekend? I'm excited to catch a performance by Overboard, a Boston-based all-male cappella group that has a show in New York tonight. Going forward, I'll be featuring monthly interviews with different a cappella groups, and Overboard will be the first! Stay tuned for more details in the next couple of weeks — and if you know of a group that is worth checking out, definitely let me know. 

On a separate note, today is my best friend's one-year wedding anniversary so I wanted to post the pic above from her and her husband's special day last year. It's amazing how quickly a year goes by! Here, to get your weekend started right, a few happy posts from around the web:

More snail mail please!

Because I love ping-pong.

Say 'I do' to Kate Spade.

A gorgeous coat for spring.

Color the world!

Fashion inspiration. And a collection I adore.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: don't miss this film!

An artistic approach to candles.

The perfect bag for the gym.

J'adore Liza.

What a cute hat!

The next Woody Allen film I can't wait to see.

(Image via Tim Boyles Photography)

The Swingle Singers on the subway

Nothing like a little a cappella to brighten up your subway commute home! Check out this performance by the Swingle Singers in London. I love the calculated style of this impromptu serenade — not to mention the priceless expressions of the commuters all around them.

(Via The Swingle Singers)

A Valentine's serenade

One more from me today! An a cappella love song from the Dalton Academy Warblers on Glee. Swoon! Wishing you — my dear readers — a lovely (and candy-filled) Valentine's! xo 

(Via YouTube)

The Sing-Off returns to NBC

The Whiffenpoofs or Pitch Slapped — I'm not sure which a cappella group I'm more excited to see perform on the second season of NBC's The Sing-Off, premiering tonight! The Whiffenpoofs, I know, from my own college a cappella days. And Pitch Slapped? What a name! To be honest, I'm just thrilled to see more a cappella on network TV. With 10 groups scheduled to appear this season, there's bound to be at least a few downloadable tunes to add to my iPod — and I can't wait!

(Photos courtesy of the Whiffenpoofs and Pitch Slapped)

More A Cappella: The Beelzebubs on Glee

A world without a cappella — where's the fun in that? Last week's episode of Glee is a true testament to this fact. When Kurt decides to spy on the New Directions' competition, he checks out the Dalton Academy Warblers, played by the Beelzebubs from Tufts University in Boston. I love the Beelzebubs. Hello? Did you see NBC's The Sing-Off last year? They were a total hit. Here they are in Glee singing their rendition of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream." Talk about inspiration for other a cappella groups out there. The Wheatones, the Gentlemen Callers, the Whims — you're next!

Straight No Chaser goes viral

Watch the video above and admit that I'm right: a cappella music is it. Just listen to the perfect harmonies of Straight No Chaser, an all-male a cappella group that got it's start at Indiana University in 1996. Fast forward a decade(+), factor in the endless possibilities of the internet, and success! This group has gone viral. Better yet, they're currently on a national tour. Tickets please!

The Sing Off 2: Brown Jabberwocks

It's like an a cappella dream come true! Now that NBC's a cappella hit The Sing-Off has been green-lighted for a second season, rumors about possible contestants are swirling around the Internet. Who has my vote? I agree with Yahoo's "Reality Rocks" music blogger Lyndsey Parker — the Brown University Jabberwocks are it. 

Seeing Lyndsey's post about their winning potential made me think back to my college days. As a member of the Wheaton College Wheatones, the Jabberwocks opened for us many a time, much to the delight of our audience members and fans. On the December night pictured above, they wowed the crowd with a little John Mayer, Prince and the most crowd-pleasing version of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" I've ever heard. 

Straight from YouTube, check out this clip of the Jabberwocks at a recent show. Something tells me that after watching, this group will have your vote too.

California dreaming

Today, I'm off! California-bound to visit my little sister Alyssa, who just moved there last year. I'm starting the week off in Irvine where she lives, then meeting Matt for a weekend wedding in Northern California (San Francisco to be exact). Alyssa and I don't have a ton of things planned, but one thing's for sure: she's taking me to Santa Catalina, 26 miles across the sea. As I've mentioned before, the Wheatones signature song pays tribute to this tiny island, a place I still have never been. So stay tuned for updates about my trip...they will be coming soon!

(Photo of Santa Catalina by butterfly1172 via Flickr)

Don’t Rain on My Parade

The cast of Glee.

Blame the invention of DVR — I finally watched the fall finale of Glee Monday night, almost a week late since it aired last Wednesday. But tacking on the extra few days only added to the build up. What an episode! I was so happy to see so many story lines resolved. And the singing! Rachel Berry’s version of “Don’t Rain on My Parade” was inspiring. It makes me miss my days singing a cappella oh-so-very-much. Our group never took on Barbra, but Aretha, Madonna, Bob Dylan — they all made our set list.

(image courtesy of aceshowbiz.com)