A Cappella - Collegiate Types

Collegiate Types

It is not clear exactly where collegiate a cappella began. The Rensselyrics of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (formerly known as the RPI Glee Club), established in 1873 is perhaps the oldest known collegiate a cappella group. However the longest continuously-singing group is probably The Whiffenpoofs of Yale University, which was formed in 1909 and once included Cole Porter as a member. Collegiate a cappella groups grew throughout the 20th century. Some notable historical groups formed along the way include Colgate University's The Colgate 13 (1942), Dartmouth College's Aires (1946), Cornell University's Cayuga's Waiters (1949) and The Hangovers (1968), the Columbia University Kingsmen (1949), the Jabberwocks of Brown University (1949), and the University of Rochester YellowJackets (1956). All-women a cappella groups followed shortly, frequently as a parody of the men's groups: the Smiffenpoofs of Smith College (1936), The Shwiffs of Connecticut College (The She-Whiffenpoofs, 1944), and The Chattertocks of Brown University (1951). A cappella groups exploded in popularity beginning in the 1990s, fueled in part by a change in style popularized by the Tufts University Beelzebubs and the Boston University Dear Abbeys. The new style used voices to emulate modern rock instruments, including vocal percussion/"beatboxing". Some larger universities now have multiple groups. Groups often join one another in on-campus concerts, such as the Georgetown Chimes' Cherry Tree Massacre, a 3-weekend a cappella festival held each February since 1975, where over a hundred collegiate groups have appeared, as well as International Quartet Champions The Boston Common and the contemporary commercial a cappella group Rockapella. Co-ed groups have produced many up-and-coming and major artists, including John Legend, an alumnus of the Counterparts at the University of Pennsylvania, and Sara Bareilles, an alumna of Awaken A Cappella at University of California, Los Angeles. Mira Sorvino is an alumna of the Veritones of Harvard College where she had the solo on Only You by Yaz.

A cappella is gaining popularity among South Asians with the emergence of primarily Hindi-English College groups. The first South Asian a cappella group was Penn Masala, founded in 1996 at the University of Pennsylvania. Other groups include: Carnegie Mellon University's Deewane, Northwestern University's Brown Sugar, Chai-Town from the University of Illinois, Raagapella from Stanford University, Andaaz from the University of California, Irvine, and Maize Mirchi from University of Michigan. Co-ed South Asian a cappella groups are also gaining in popularity. The first co-ed south Asian a cappella was Anokha, from the University of Maryland, formed in 2001. Also, Dil se, another co-ed a cappella from UC Berkeley, hosts the "Anahat" competition at the University of California, Berkeley annually. Maize Mirchi, the co-ed a cappella group from the University of Michigan hosts "Sa Re Ga Ma Pella", an annual South Asian a cappella invitational with various groups from the Midwest. Other co-ed groups include Taal Tadka from Georgia Institute of Technology, RAAG (Rutgers Asian A cappella Group) from Rutgers University, Naya Zamaana from UCLA, UW Awaaz from the University of Washington and Dhamakapella from Case Western Reserve University.

Jewish-interest groups such as the University of Chicago's Shircago and Yale University's Magevet are also gaining popularity across the U.S.

Increased interest in modern a cappella (particularly collegiate a cappella) can be seen in the growth of awards such as the Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards (overseen by the Contemporary A Cappella Society) and competitions such as the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella for college groups and the Harmony Sweepstakes for all groups. In December 2009, a new television competition series called The Sing-Off aired on NBC. The show featured eight a cappella groups from the United States and Puerto Rico vying for the prize of $100,000 and a recording contract with Epic Records/Sony Music. The show was judged by Ben Folds, Shawn Stockman, and Nicole Scherzinger and was won by an all-male group from Puerto Rico called Nota. The show returned for a second and third season, won by Committed and Pentatonix, respectively.

Each year, hundreds of Collegiate a cappella groups submit their strongest songs in a competition to be on The Best of College A Cappella (BOCA), an album compilation of tracks from the best college a cappella groups around the world. The album is produced by Varsity Vocals, which also produces the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella. A group chosen to be on the BOCA album earns much credibility among the a cappella community.

Along with BOCA, Collegiate a cappella groups may submit their tracks to Voices Only, a two-disc series released at the beginning of each school year. This album is known internationally for its award winning sound and prestigious title. Some featured groups on the album series include the USC SoCal VoCals, Tufts Beelzebubs, Berklee Pitch Slapped, BYU Noteworthy and Oregon On the Rocks. A Voices Only album has been released every year since 2005.

Another successful a cappella group is Straight No Chaser (SNC), which is actually two separate but related groups, one of which is an a cappella, collegiate group from Indiana University in the USA. The other SNC group consists of 10 former members of the IU's SNC who reunited 10 years after their college years.