ACB Event Review: ICCA 2008 Mid-Atlantic Quarterfinals at Drexel University
By Mike Chin on Mar 2, 2008 in Event Reviews, Featured, News
Event: International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella Mid-Atlantic Quarterfinal
Date: March 1, 2008
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Drexel University
The Main Building
Official Results: See end of article
Mike C checking in here after one heck of a quarterfinal in Philadelphia last night. A quick note before the review—photos from the event are available now on our Photos page.
There were some odd circumstances leading up to the event. As is my wont, I pre-ordered tickets for the show. During the week, I received a phone call from someone at Ticket Alternative, the folks who were handling pre-sales, telling me about a change in venue for the event, and giving me a new location. Then the night before the show I received an e-mail from none other than ICCA Executive Director Amanda Grish, saying that there had been some confusion, but the show would be in the original location. From there, the actual show got off to a late start. Despite an advertised start time of 7:30 p.m., the doors the auditorium didn’t even open until well after 8:00.
The venue was pretty decent—just a basic mid-sized auditorium, with a nice big stage up front. Pretty good sound. An old-style, all wood stage. It was a good place for this kind of event because it didn’t seem like a formal concert hall, but at the same time, had the seating, and a formal enough stage to fit a meaningful competition.
Fortunately, the show itself redeemed the event quite nicely. Dave, from Drexel’s all-male 8 to the Bar had emcee duties for the night, and his group opened the night with “Good Old A Cappella.” Good, harmless tune. Nothing special, nothing bad. I kind of like the choice of attire, everyone in a different polo and jeans. Just enough to be uniform, collars so they don’t look like slobs, but casual enough so it doesn’t look like a costume. I wouldn’t have liked if they were competing, but as a host group, it worked.
The Melismatics, a mixed group out of Lehigh University were the first group competing. Sizeable group, and they were looking sharp in black bottoms, red and white dressy attire on top. I liked the look.
The group opened up with “I’ll Be There.” Strange choice for an opener—I would place it more as a mood altering middle song, or an emotional closer. Very good soloist here. Unfortunately, the male backing solo couldn’t quite match her. The movement in the background was a little much, ranging from subtle and appropriate to full on dance movement that grew a bit distracting. It was theatrical enough, and there were enough group members to sort of make the song feel like a number out of a musical. My main gripe, here, though, was the overblown, comical moves the group threw in as the song moved on. This is a trend I’ve noticed as of late, where groups can’t just let a song be heartfelt, feeling the need to make it funny. If you want to be taken seriously, take yourself seriously first. Embrace the melodrama. The group went choral toward the end. Great blend at first, kind of fell apart on the second go-round.
Next came “Toxic,” with the intro from “Hit Me Baby One More Time.” I’m not sure what the point of that intro was, beyond making sure everyone knew it was a Britney Spears song. I’m not sure what value that would have either, but oh well. Adequate sound here—nothing too noteworthy, good or bad. The plentiful movement in the background was more appropriate here. The hand drives and whatnot looked pretty good, but the constant repetition throughout the song got a bit tiresome by the second chorus. The VP was a little overwhelming here, with not one, not two, but as many as three guys working the mic over the course of the song. The group collapsed together at the end, leading into the third, and final number.
The Melismatics closed their set with Mika’s “Happy Ending.” Interesting voice on the soloist here—kind of reminded me of the Five for Fighting guy. All in all, I liked him. The choreography got pretty elaborate here, which I’m OK with, given we were at the end of the sit, and it was time to let things loose. This movement would have been more effective had it not been overdone for the first two-thirds of the set. Nonetheless, it was well done, including an increasingly common turn and slide move, as well as clothesline-and duck move that I hadn’t seen anyone break out before. Group got the clap going at the end for a good finish.
Set Summary:
1. “I’ll Be There” by The Jackson Five
2. “Toxic” by Britney Spears
3. “Happy Ending” by Mika
The second group competing was the Westminster Choir College Deaftones. I was highly critical of this group’s set at the Mid-Atlantic semifinals last year, so I must admit that my expectations were not high coming in. The group came out dressed mostly in black with green highlights, including suspenders, ties, undershirts, belts and, for two guys, dyed green hair. It was more subtle than their attire from last year, and I think the look worked well.
First song was “Dark Blue” by Jack’s Mannequin. This song didn’t showcase the soloist’s vocal abilities enough. I didn’t really like his tone on the verses, where he was more less speaking quickly. When the guy got to belt on the choruses, though, he showed that he really had some chops. Sopranos were soaring on this one, for a really great sound. Not really movement here aside from the soloist and VP guy, but I was all right with it.
Second up was Charlotte Martin’s “Limits of Our Love.” Again, very little movement, as I was getting a little bored with the visual performance. A lot going on with the arrangement here, and again, it sounded pretty great. Beautiful blend, and the dueling soloists were top notch.
The Deaftones closed their set with Maroon 5’s “Makes Me Wonder.” All at once, the group sprung to life with one of the most visually entertaining numbers of the night. The men and women of the group paired off, fighting through most of their dance movement. It was cute stuff, appropriate to the song, and the lack of movement prior to this number made what they did hear look really impressive. In my mind, this is exactly the crescendo of movement that the Melismatics could have benefited from, if they’d toned things down for their first two songs. The sound didn’t suffer from the movement either, making this a really good song as a whole. Good solo here. Very good set on the whole.
Set Summary:
1. “Dark Blue” by Jack’s Mannequin
2. “Limits ” by Charlotte Martin
3. “Makes Me Wonder” by Maroon 5
Third group of the night was Rutgers University’s all-female group, Shockwave. Nice duds for the group, all in black with sparkling silver bands at their waists. Good, professional look. I have to say that from the moment this group took the stage, they had this attitude about them, like they owned the place. I mean that in a very positive way—I’ve seen very few all-female groups carry that kind of confidence into competition. I suppose it fits, given just two years ago this ensemble went all the way to the ICCA Finals.
On a note unrelated to the performance, the intro the emcee read for this group was certainly memorable. The women apparently wrote their intro as a Mad-Lib, which I think is a pretty neat idea. The emcee took this as an opportunity to indicate it was a group of promiscuous strippers. It was sort of funny, but not at all appropriate for the heavily family-oriented audience, and I can imagine the group themselves may have been offended as the intro went on and on in this direction. A rare misstep for an otherwise solid host.
Shockwave opened wit Hoobastank’s “Crawling In the Dark.” The soloist was good, but a little breathy for my taste. Decent musically, and the girls were certainly selling every movement full-tilt. May have been a little over-choreographed, but I was actually OK with it.
Next up was Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me.” The group opted to do the opening of this song chorally. It worked to a point, but this section seemed to go on a bit too long before handing it off to the soloist. Just seemed like an odd transition to me. The soloist herself was quite good. In terms of visual presentation, the girls held hands throughout it. I appreciate the effort to do something interesting without incorporating movement, but I’m not sure this gesture really worked for me.
The third and final song of Shockwave’s set was “Survivor.” The confidence was still very high for this one, to the point where it turned to ruthless aggression. Unfortunately, I don’t really mean this in a good way, as the musicality seemed to fall by the wayside, and the soloists were basically yelling at the crowd. Very good choreography here, and I like the idea of this piece, trying to go ultra-intense, holding nothing back on their last song. It just didn’t sound that good, though, bringing the set to a disappointing close.
Set Summary:
1. “Crawling in the Dark” by Hoobastank
2. “I Can’t Make You Love Me” by Bonnie Raitt
3. “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child
Intermission time. BOCA CD went on, as I ran outside the feed my parking meter.
Back from intermission, the second half of the show started with the Carnegie Mellon Originals. They were a bunch of young looking guys, and I’ll be darned if there wasn’t an army of them—sixteen by my count. Decent enough choice of attire—white shirts, blue ties, blue jeans.
The guys started with “Jukebox Hero” by Foreigner. Good, fun song, though I would have liked to have seen them take it as a little more serious, rocking song. I liked the soloist, but the voice he used seemed a little put on, and seemed to breakdown some as the song wore on. I also would have preferred him without the sunglasses, but whatever. Lot of movement, lot of energy, good way to open the set.
Second song was “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” Really different song choice. I wasn’t sure what to make of it at first, but in the end, I think it worked well. Out of this world bass sound. Very dramatic, very serious, very well executed, and it helped the group really stand apart from other groups in this show.
Speaking of standing out, this element of the set continued into “Run, Freedom, Run” from Urinetown. The soloist started by taking a swig from his water bottle, then tossing off to the side of the stage. I thought this was kind of unprofessional, before realizing it was part of the character he was getting into. Absolutely sensational charisma and presence from this dude, working the stage, and great theatrical movement from the guys behind him. I really dug this, specifically in the way it the choreography built, ending with the guys forming some sort of make shift boat, with a guy hanging off the back, pumping his legs in a running motion. Really entertaining, and a perfect ending to a solid set.
Set Summary:
1. “Jukebox Hero” by Foreigner
2. “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”
3. “Run, Freedom, Run” from Urinetown
Our penultimate group was Syracuse University’s all-female Mandarins. I’ve been accused of ‘flying my Syracuse colors too high’ in these reviews before, and I can’t deny being a fan of The Mandarins. I always liked a cappella. But were it not for my girlfriend being a part of this group years ago, and introducing me to the ICCAs through them, I probably never would have pursued my interest in a cappella beyond catching whatever shows my alma mater hosted. All of that being said, I’ll admit that I wanted to like this set. I’ll also say that, after following the group for a few years, I have better sense of their history than I do for most groups.
The Mandarins took the stage dressed in black with silver highlights. Sharp look all around. I have to say that it’s been quite sometime since I’ve seen this group look this confident. There were no visible jitters, and they were right down to business on stage.
The first song was Sonya Kitchell’s “Let Me Go.” Very solid, understated solo. I dig a really good solo, where it doesn’t feel as though the soloist is really ‘performing’ if that makes sense. Good sound all around, and nice level of subtle movement, that was just enough to keep it interesting, but not be awkward or overblown.
Next up was Madonna’s “Take A Bow.” Decent soloist, and I liked that the group rearranged their configuration on stage, making it interesting to look at it without even having to move, until they spread out toward the end. Decent soloist here, but I really liked the backing solo, and I feel like her performance is what elevated this song from just OK to actively good.
Last up was “Love You I Do,” from Dream Girls. Good soloist. Song seemed a little high for her, which is a shame, because I know how well she can rip through a song that’s fully in her range. Still, a solid outing for her. Good sound, and a lot of fun movement here. Like the Deaftones and Originals before them, this was a great demonstration of the value of saving your full-blown choreography until the end, and making it mean so much more. None of these groups I’m lauding had to expend half the physical energy of the Melismatics or Shockwave on the whole, but looked fantastic for their closers.
Set Summary:
1. “Let Me Go” by Sonya Kitchell
2. “Take a Bow” by Madonna
3. “Love You I Do” from Dream Girls
The final competing group was The Echoes out of Lehigh University. Black outfits with light blue highlights. Decent look for this young looking all-female group.
The Echoes opened with Robyn’s “Do You Know What It Takes.” Hot solo here. I wasn’t too impressed with anything else here, but soloist had some real power and charisma. I could have done with less choreography—they sort of half-sold a box step midway through, exemplifying the sort of movement I usually don’t like out of all-female groups.
The Echoes started their next song with some “mmm bop” syllables, which got me a little nervous. They transitioned into the melody soon enough, though, and it was Sufjan Stevens’s “Chicago.” Some good slide movement in the background, decent soloist. It’s a bit awkward, because I saw Michigan’s Dicks and Janes perform this same song last weekend, and do a better job with it all around. Nonetheless, the Echoes ran into the same central problem as the other group, in that it’s just a fairly long song without a lot of variation going on throughout, making the whole thing kind of dull. Not bad, but not something I would bring to competition.
Last up was Ace of Base’s “It’s a Beautiful Life.” Sugary sweet soloist, who I liked at first, but sort of wore on me at the end. A lot of energy in the movement, but it was nothing groundbreaking. All in all, this song was good, light-hearted fun, but really nothing memorable to close out a middle of the road set.
Set summary:
1. “Do You Know What It Takes” by Robyn
2. “Chicago” by Sufjan Stevens
3. “It’s a Beautiful Life” by Ace of Base
As the judges headed off to deliberate, 8 to the Bar was back. They went through a decent range of songs, “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” “Wordplay,” “Drive,” “Chariot” and others. A high light came in Billy Pilgrim’s “Insomniac” with an out of this world solo. The guys brought some alumni on stage for a couple songs too, which was fun. All in all, decent, harmless stuff from the guys.
The judges made it back in pretty quick time, which was surprising, given how close I thought the show was. To be honest, I don’t think any of these groups would have really seemed out of place in a semifinal, which is rare. It seemed to me that The Deaftones, The Originals and The Mandarins would be in a really tight race for first place, and it was disappointing that at least one of these groups wasn’t going to get to move on. In the end, trying to put my biases aside, I ranked The Deaftones first, Mandarins second, Originals a close third. I pegged The Echoes’ first soloist for the Outstanding Soloist award and The Originals for Outstanding Choreography for their last song. You can see all of my picks at the end of this article.
In reality, the results played out quite differently, but I can’t say I was altogether surprised, again, given the tight nature of the competition. Shockwave got the Outstanding Choreography award for their whole set, and The Mandarins took home Outstanding Solo honors for “Love You I Do.” There ended up being a tie for third between Shockwave and The Deaftones. The Originals finished second, and The Mandarins won it, sending these two groups to the semifinals at Rutgers on April 5. The group closed the show with “Lovefool” by The Cardigans.
In a nice side story, I was chatting with some Mandarins after the show, and they mentioned that the current seniors were freshmen the last time the group went on to the semifinals—kind of a neat circularity to that.
All in all, quite a quarterfinal. Once again, remember that you can check out a selection of photos from this show on our Photos page.
ACB Picks:
Placement:
1. The Westminster Choir College Deaftones
2. The Syracuse University Mandarins
3. The Carnegie Mellon University Originals
4. The Lehigh University Melismatics
5. Rutgers University Shockwave
6. The Lehigh University Echoes
Oustanding Soloist:
1. The Echoes for “Do You Know What It Takes”
2. The Originals for “Run, Freedom, Run”
3a. The Melismatics for “I’ll Be There”
3b. The Manarins for “Let Me Go”
Outstanding Choreography:
1. The Originals for “Run, Freedom, Run”
2. The Melismatics for “Happy Ending”
3. The Deaftones for “Makes Me Wonder”
ICCA Official Results:
Overall Placement:
1. The Syracuse University Mandarins
2. The Carnegie Mellon University Originals
3a. The Westminster Choir College Deaftones
3b. Rutgers University Shockwave
Outstanding Choreography: Shockwave for the full set
Outstanding Soloist: The Mandarins for “Love You I Do”
RSS
Did anyone else think the Lehigh Melismatics were judged rather harshly? It’s tough to start a competition like this and while I understand you’re criticism of their set Mike I feel as if their over-all performance was of a much higher caliber than that of the 3rd place groups. I placed them in fairly solid 3rd while waiting for the results. Maybe I’m more partial to a more modern exciting approach to A Capella..
was anyone else surprised by their absence from the top 3 spots?
beatbxr | Mar 2, 2008 | Reply
Mike,
Realizing the category was not given out, do you have the ACB picks for best arrangement? If so, could you post them? thanks.
cookies&cream | Mar 3, 2008 | Reply
I attended this event and personally, I feel like the group that won was just plain boring. Don’t get me wrong, their sound was tight but I need a little something more to look at. The audience seemed to agree, as most of them walked out during the encore (still a bit rude). The faces were dead to me kinda. A cappella is more than just a tight sound to me anyways.
As for the absence of the Melismatics, it wasn’t really a surprise to me. Their performance was just “ok” to me. I would not have placed them in my top 3. I’m shocked that the Deftones and Shockwave only placed third. To me, the Originals should have won and it’s a real tossup between the Deftones and Shockwave. From the audience, it seemed like the Rutgers group had some sound issues going on (then again you can’t really expect much from students running the sound…) The ICCA’s should have a professional “steady” sound guy.
hollatchaboy | Mar 3, 2008 | Reply
Cookies & Cream,
I usually don’t make picks for outstanding arrangement in my reviews, because I’m not very well-versed in this particular area. That being said, I was really impressed with the way the Deaftones put their songs together, and so, in my non-expert opinion, I’d probably give the nod to them for the set.
Mike C | Mar 3, 2008 | Reply
I was also in attendence this past saturday night and for the most part, I agree completely with hollatchaboy. During the Mandarins set I noticed myself and others around me shifting in their seats and generally bored with the performance. Their musicality was good (although I don’t believe it was the best in the competition that night) however, they never really seemed to “perform” any of their songs, it was more of the boring stand and deliver which is effective in some areas but not throughout an entire set. I actually found their “accent attire” to be extremely distracting specifically the girl who closed their set and won best soloist, her necklace was very gaudy.
In terms of what my subjective rankings would have been, I would have to agree again with hollatchaboy. From an audience member’s standpoint and judging as well from the reactions of the individuals around me, it seemed obvious that the Originals were going to take first place and that runner up would be a toss up between Shockwave and the Deftones.
I also agree that overall there were a lot of sound and volume issues throughout the night and although it bothered me as an audience member I believe that the groups performing during the technical difficulties suffered the most, some groups had extremely loud vocal percussion while others you struggled to hear them. The same was also true with the (overhead?) mics picking up the group. I hope that at crucial rounds like the semi-finals and finals they get a more professional individual to run sound.
LMZ4901 | Mar 3, 2008 | Reply
I found the Mandarins to be altogether mediocre. I was, quite frankly, stunned that they won. I didn’t feel that they were good enough musically to make up for their lack of showmanship. The Rutgers girls were definitely better, and I agree that had they not had mike problems, they might have placed higher.
The Originals were definitely great, though, their win was well deserved.
alto812 | Mar 3, 2008 | Reply
Did you guys go to the Wellsley quarterfinal over the weekend? I’d like to hear what you thought of that show.
Nick | Mar 3, 2008 | Reply
Excuse my typo….”Wellesley”
Nick | Mar 3, 2008 | Reply
No one from the ACB was at Wellesley. Anyone else catch that show?
mikec | Mar 3, 2008 | Reply
Hi everyone, this is Candice Helfand, the musical director of Rutgers ShockWave. I just wanted to interject 3 really quick things, and leave the rest to people with a more objective view.
1- The main thing I want to clear up is that our confidence is not sourced in us resting on the laurels of past incarnations of the group. We appreciate what the past group did, and how far they went, and how remarkable it is that it happened so early on in our existence.
But the truth is, the majority of the group you saw that night wasn’t a part of the group then. In fact, many weren’t even in the group during the year we took off. This is a VERY new group of girls and, in all, only 3 of us were around for the first ICCA trip. I just didn’t want it to seem as though we thought we owned the place because of how things went the last time around. We put a lot of thought into our presentation, and it just helped us going out there to feel that work and that group cohesion as we stepped up to the plate.
2- The bio was a bit crazy, but we’re kind of crazy people (we ShockWave folk). I just didn’t want any 8ttb readers to worry; they had actually warned us that it was a tad off-color, and we were game for it. We knew making our bio into a Mad Libs opened us up to a world of good-natured hurt.
3- There weren’t any overhead mics… at least, none that we noticed (which may have hurt some of us with more choreo). But yeah, if I’m not mistaken, what you saw onstage is what we got.
I just wanted to finally say thank you, to those who offered support, as well as those who offered constructive criticism. We looked very forward to reading this particular review, and we were happy to have the feedback.
Take care!
CandiceH | Mar 3, 2008 | Reply
I am happy to have found your blog as I do have somethings to say. The show was run piss poorly IMHO. I too got a voice mail from the ticket dotcom about a change in venue. Then Friday night, I got an e-mail telling me about another change of venue. Then the day of the show, I received another e-mail with parking directions. Of course, the directions were wrong and we had to walk 10 blocks in a not very well lit portion of downtown Philadelphia.
When we got there, it was well after 8 and just in time to brave the flood people pushing their way down the hard marble steps to get seats. Especially if you are walking with an elder or a special needs person, this is unsafe. I think the people of the ICCA owe the audience an apology.
I do think all the groups were great in their own way but it is a competition and someone has to win.
Only 3 groups really deserved mention if we are talking about the advancers of that show. They are Rutgers, Syracuse and Westminster. AND I say this as a Lehigh fan. The Melismatics were cute but I didn’t like that they used the same soloist twice and their dancing was sort of comical. The Originals were anything but. They were sadly out of tune for their first and last song. Their key change I call just going sharp. They even stole their entire choreography from a musical. How Original. It hurts say since they seemed like nice boys.
However only two groups brought something original to Drexel, the Echoes and the Shockwaves. Fortunately for the audience they were closing acts in each act. The two winning groups seemed like your grandmother’s a cappella, a glee club and a woman’s choir. The Mandarins especially were just boring to watch and even more boring to listen to.
Shockwave, on the other hand, was a delight. Talented soloists, fun music, but supremely professional start to finish. Imagine my surprise when they did not advance. Perhaps the fuddy duddy judges had never heard of their choice of material. Or maybe they deducted marks because of the sound system. I can promise you that the group microphones were inaudible for their first song especially their drummer. The group before had to put the microphone by their belly because it was so loud. The drummer for the Shockwaves had it by her mouth and was barely heard.
And did anyone notice that all of the judges were choir teachers? AND two of them were from Westminister? Perhaps that is why Westminster did as well as it did. Why don’t you blog about that? Is that allowed? Between the biases of judges and the microphones no wonder Rutgers did not move on. The groups that won did choral pieces and showtunes. Talk about your grandmother’s music.
While I don’t think they should have won, my Echoes did great despite your 6th place mark! They also had problems hearing themselves on stage which you did not mention. And I take great exception to your remark about the “sort of movement you don’t like in an all-female group”. It’s a box step for crying out loud!!! I guess you prefer your women’s groups boring and proper.
To the director of the Shockwaves, you and your women are to be commended. You were excellent sports over the mad-lib. I am ashamed to admit I laughed many times. BUt you also performed the most memorable set, outside of a 5 second boat. When your name was announced tieing for 3rd, I must apologize again as I was honestly was too shocked to applaud. And the audience silence when first place was announced tells you all you need to know about the opinion of the audience.
Thank you.
PAlanamom | Mar 6, 2008 | Reply
Yo this is Tim from the O’s, just wanted to add my two cents about the mics. Like Candice said, what you saw up there is what we had, and it wasn’t that good. It would have been nice to have condenser mics, but hopefully they’ll rectify that in the later rounds. The sound was also why the show was late, the sound guy(s) didn’t show up until 6:00 instead of 5:00 like what was planned. It would be great if there could be a dedicated sound crew for the ICCA shows, maybe that’s something to look into next year.
Thanks to everyone who came to the show and supported us, and thanks for the comments and reviews. We’re glad you enjoyed the show!
TORCH'D | Mar 6, 2008 | Reply
I wasn’t at this show, but feel the need to comment:
-Shows don’t just magically happen. ICCA and ICHSA producers have to hope that schools volunteer their venues, support staff, and sound people, often at a significant initial cost to the host group. This requires a lot of coordination on the part of producers and host institutions. I understand people were frustrated with the change in venue, but you don’t know what went on with scheduling behind the scenes in the months, days, and hours leading up to this show.
-Competitors also have to deal with whatever sound system they get. Judges are there to score visual and vocal performance, so if your favorite group didn’t place, don’t blame it on the mics. Groups need to be able to adapt to whatever situation they’re thrown into. To think judges take off points because the sound system doesn’t work is ridiculous.
-Judges are approved through an application process before ICCA or ICHSA producers can contact them. It’s not easy to find judges that are already approved by Varsity Vocals, willing to give up a weekend, able to travel however many hours, etc. I don’t know the geography of the area that well, but my guess is that the Westminster judges were the only ones available on that date and within a reasonable drive. For a previous post to insinuate that biases may have been in place is ludicrous – if these judges felt that they couldn’t look at the show objectively, they wouldn’t have agreed to judge. Would you challenge their integrity if your favorite group had scored higher?
-Finally, as a proud Mandarin alum, I will admit that the majority of the girls are trained choral singers. I know my opinion is in stark contrast to many of those who read and post on this site, but not all a cappella has to be flashy choreography and over-the-top soloists. The Mandarins’ strength is and always has been their musicality, and I for one would rather have a vocally superior group win a show than a group who overchoreographs in the hopes of winning over the crowd.
Melissa | Mar 7, 2008 | Reply
Um before I launch in I need to say, that the Mandarins are one of my favorite women’s groups in this region. My old group sang with them the year they went to the finals and I saw them again the year after. Or maybe it’s the reverse … it’s been awhile :). And believe it or not, it was one of my more favorite (favoriter
) road trips. Unlike the West, there are precious few great female groups out here and the Mandarins are one of them.
And again, full disclosure, I did go to Rutgers for a time. And I’ll admit to joining in on the RU chants. And I also include SW in on my short list of great women’s groups in the area. OK bygones …
I _was_ at the show and now I feel the need to comment.
1. ICCA shows are hard to produce for multiple reasons. I know firsthand. But that does not mean people don’t have the right to complain. Double negative, shoot me. The audience is the customer. And you know what they say about what the customer says …
2. True, competitors have to deal with whatever sound system they get. Again see above. It’s hard to produce these things so nailing down a basic international-wide standard is hard. That said, you’re assuming that the “sound” is the same group to group. It wasn’t. The “sound” was markedly better in the 2nd act. And the groups that performed in the 2nd act not only learned what went wrong in the 1st act, but got the benefit from the previous mistakes. I noticed no group used the wired mic in the 2nd act. And true indeed, there were mics off during Shockwave’s set. And at least one of the mics was quite fuzzy during the last song.
The sound guys actually replaced all the batteries during intermission. That’s not standard operating procedure. They were worried and rightly so.
Finally, do judges take points for poor use of sound. I can say this from personal experience. Rhythmic accuracy/VP takes into account “advanced techniques.” Can’t do much “advanced technique if you can’t a) use proper mic placement or b) the mic is off. That’s 10 points right there. Plus, in a musical competition, you can’t win if you can’t be heard. Lame excuse, but 100% valid.
What’s worse is I don’t think the judges knew about the mic difficulties in the first act.
3. Judges? No comment really. Those are some murky waters and I’m not about to question anyone’s ethics.
4. There are other groups with choral training. I’m not sure that’s something to quibble about. But a “vocally superior group win a show than a group who overchoreographs in the hopes of winning over the crowd”?? Uhh yikes. All I’ll say here is winning over an audience is nothing to sneeze at. It is a performance. And the visual performance is 50 out of 125 points. Celine Dion is vocally superior to Mariah Carey, Bette Midler and Bob Dylan. Guess which show I’ll never ever pay money to see.
Finally, after all that is said and done, I had the Mandarins squarely at number one in the show. And I have nooo problem admitting that (sorry RU, CMU, Lehigh and WCC). Musically, they had the fewest problems and had a nice tone throughout which made up for, in part, for other shortcomings. Just my take, don’t flame or throw oranges at me. (Yes, you can assume I had a beef with 2nd through 4th and the awards.)
However, looking at the scores, this was one of the lowest scoring quarterfinals ever. And the lowest in the Midatlantic ever (since the new scoring system — please check me). The judges obviously saw a multitude problems. And the relative closeness in scores made for some interesting results and awards. I can’t blame audience member X for thinking they got it wrong. Bitterness from a winning group however, makes me sad and Jesus cry.
The Mandarins and Shockwave were the last two women’s group from this region to advance to the finals. Can you guys hug it out or something?
mcbc | Mar 7, 2008 | Reply
Hey Hey Hey!
Is there anyone out there that is familiar enough with all the groups competing in the mid-atlantic semifinal that would be willing to share their predictions on the outcome of the show April 5th??!
Who'sOutThere?!?! | Mar 7, 2008 | Reply
To mcbc: I was the director of The Mandarins the year we went to finals, and I appreciated reading what you had to say. All of my comments are strictly from the alumni perspective, and weren’t intended to be seen as bitter at all.
I’m not saying that visual performance isn’t worth that 50 points, but for me personally, groups should also have the musicality to back it up. When I was directing the group, we focused on getting the most out of the other 75 points because we knew that’s where our strengths were. Different groups have different strengths, and that’s what makes ICCAs so great to watch.
Melissa | Mar 7, 2008 | Reply
To Whosoutthere:
I’d put my money on Ithacapella or Casual Harmony for the Mid-Atlantic Semis. Ithacapella was wonderful at the Ithaca Quarterfinals and CH was nipping right at their toes. CH will also have Home-court advantage, something which will benefit them greatly. (CH happens to be a group very good at reciprocating audience energy.)
Any other thoughts on this?
Sarah Chapin | Mar 7, 2008 | Reply
To Who’s Out There and Sarah
I would put my money on The Buffalo Chips or Ithacappella. Both groups have their strengths. Ithacappella has overwhelming polished music, and The Buffalo Chips have experience and insane arrangements on their side. It is is going to be a close one between the groups. CH was good with energy, but that wont make up for their lack of musicality.
FYI. I was at SU and Ithaca as I have close friends and family in both groups. And I’d have to say I haven’t heard a group like The Buffalo Chips in a long time. They have a perfect mix of choral and pop sound. They have come a long way in such a short period, I believe they advanced last year as well.
Ithaca was great too, however their set lacked energy. Either way I will be attending the performance in Rutgers so I will be sure to give you all my opinion when the time comes!
-John
John | Mar 7, 2008 | Reply
What’s with all the Rutgers groups and their lack of musicality? Jeez. Mason Gross is rolling over in his grave.
Anyways, to comment on the BCs. Actually, back in the day the Chips were one of the top all-male groups in region. It’s not a surprise to me they advanced. Glad to see they’re back. Are they still doing King of Spain? It’s one of the few versions I can tolerate.
To Melissa, I hear ya. I will say when you were in the Mandarins, that group had the musicality to back it up, hands down.
Oh the O’s posted videos on YouTube
CMU Originals - Jukebox Hero
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee55GVKKQzI
CMU Originals - O Come Emanuel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub7G2NGXAm0
CMU Originals - Run Freedom, Run (Urinetown)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9FjanXdm0E
… which leaves only the all female groups not to post. *hint, hint*
mcbc | Mar 11, 2008 | Reply
Yes.. We still do King of Spain.. its one of our staples.
Rutgers is going to be one heck of a semi-final.. probably the best overall in the competition.
Mike J | Mar 11, 2008 | Reply
Hello Bloggers,
Much of this message is addressed to PAlanamom, but a good portion is addressed to all.
I think it is pretty strong to say we stole the ENTIRE choreography from the musical. I find a few similarities but there was plenty of original movement not in the musical.
1) We clapped at the great big Cladwell, but in a different manner.
2) We assembled into a choral arrangement for the choral style portion of the song.
3) The soloist pushed over one of the members at the end.
As far as the pitch problems are concerned, I cannot disagree with you. No doubt we had issues with our vocal performance, but you neglected to mention pitch problems for other groups in this performance, including your beloved Rutgers Westminster. I have no comments on Syracuse as I did not hear or see their performance.
And we apologize for not singing the same style of pop music as 95% of the other groups. I somehow forgot that this is in fact ‘original’ by today’s standards. We took a risk with our repertoire choice, and we knew not everyone would like it. We will be sure to break out top 100 hits next time.
I am not agreeing or disagreeing with judges, but I definitely wouldn’t suggest some sort of conspiracy amongst the judges. As someone suggested, that is going into murky waters. Also, everyone has their own opinions on music, but please do not pretend that your opinion is the supreme authority. You blatantly offended several groups in your post.
We are in fact ‘nice boys’ and we had a great time singing at ICCAs. Regardless of how we placed we would have walked away with a smile on our face. I wish everyone that performed and listened could do the same.
Jake | Mar 12, 2008 | Reply
I’m Matt White (Baca), the President of Drexel’s 8 to the Bar and I want to personally thank you for being there. It was a pleasure to have you guys.
To Melissa, mainly:
I was extremely impressed with the moves and tunes of all the groups, but I will agree with most here when I express my opinion and mention that I don’t think the Mandarins were the best group at the competition.
I feel that every performance, even if it’s the same song/s and even if it’s in the same venue, will change every time; so it’s not fair to defend a group whose last performance you did not see.
To everyone:
I will be the first to recognize that the Mandarins were awesome regardless. They definitely were kick ass and had spunk. You can’t take that away from them, whether or not you were expecting hard-core choreography. Using my own group as an example, we don’t have any choreography (except for title of the song at last years ICCAs). So it’s important for us to keep sounding tight, because we choose not to entertain your eyes as much as your ears. I think the standard is set so high for the competing groups that if you don’t come in with top-notch moves along with top-notch music, you ain’t gonna cut it.
This is why we enjoy being the hosts and not competing. We do our thing, dress our way, sound good, and have a good time. The pressure we are under is a lot less, so I give a lot of credit to the other singers for putting that aside and rocking the house.
To the original author:
Thanks for coming, but thank you even more for writing with such great detail for others to remember vividly. I really enjoyed agreeing and respectfully disagreeing with your opinion. Thanks again, it’s heartwarming to see you took in everyone’s hard work dearly.
Baca | Mar 12, 2008 | Reply
Uh can people express their opinions without slamming or snarking on the 3rd place groups?
It’s notable that they haven’t chimed in with any negativity. And they were the ones that “lost.”
It’s evident that these posts are in fact solely the post-ers opinion. While the fans may mix it up a bit, can’t the groups stay above it, absorb the constructive criticism and ignore the poor, in-the-heat-of-the-moment phrasing? Just sayin’
Anywho, I enjoyed the show. One of my favorite quarterfinals. And the discussion here (and hopefully it’ll continue) show how close it was. Good luck to CMU and ‘cuse.
Oh! And I can’t let this slide, whether or not the Urinetown choreo was borrowed, Urinetown itself was parody of all musicals. And that particular number is soooo Guys & Dolls’ ” … Rocking the Boat.” I don’t know if you can steal a parody
Oh and my constructive criticism … I think the Urinetown bit could be funnier if some lines were tweaked slightly to fit the ICCAs vs. using the original b’way lines. Again just my opinion, it obviously was a highlight w/o my 2 cents.
(See? I can do that w/o saying someone else sucks. ;))
mcbc | Mar 13, 2008 | Reply
Baca, just to clear up confusion…I wasn’t defending the Mandarins’ performance, I was defending their choral sound. It wouldn’t make any sense for me to comment on their performance on that particular night.
Mcbc, let’s be friends. Will you be at semis on April 5?
Melissa | Mar 13, 2008 | Reply