ACB Interview: The Skidmore Sonneteers

By Mike Chin on May 11, 2009 in Featured, Interviews

The Sonneteers are an all-female group out of Skidmore College. Lindsay Thomas from the group took the time to answer questions from The A Cappella Blog.

The A Cappella Blog (ACB)Are there any unique traditions or pieces of history attached to your group?

Lindsay Thomas (LT): The Sonneteers were formed in 1947, making us the oldest group on Skidmore campus. And since our world revolves around singing, I think it´s only appropriate that our longest tradition is a song, called “Every Time We Say Goodbye.” Every year we sing it to our graduating seniors as they depart off into the real world.

ACB: How do The Sonneteers go about recruiting new members?

LT: It´s all about advertising, because there is one other all female group and two co-ed groups, and of course we want all the best girls! Through Facebook invites, a freshmen showcase (where we get to strut our stuff) and through word of mouth, we just try to make the whole campus aware of our auditions.

ACB: How does your group go about deciding which songs to add to its
repertoire? Who is responsible for arrangements?

LT: We pride ourselves in being incredibly democratic about these types of decisions, so each semester we have a Song Night, where each girl is allowed to bring one song. After we´ve listened to all of them, we vote and the majority wins.

ACB: What drew you, personally, to collegiate a cappella in the first place?

LT: I fell hopelessly in love the first time I heard University of Oregon´s On the Rocks. I was a freshmen in high school and all of a sudden I´d forgotten all about the Backstreet Boys and instead of listening to “I Want It That Way,” I was listening to Kyrie and Yellow. I will never forget the time I attended the ICCA´s and Peter Hollens sat next to me– that was hands down one of the best celebrity sightings I´ve ever had.

ACB: What is your favorite song to perform with The Sonneteers, and why?

LT: Without a doubt, “Hide and Seek” by Imogen Heap. It´s hard to use words to explain how it feels when we really get it, but I can feel that there´s a connection between every single girl. We´re all breathing together, we´re all thinking the same thing and all of our voices are contributing to this incredible sound. We´ve never been a group to shy from dissonance and I think “Hide and Seek” is the perfect opportunity to show how powerful a cappella can be.

If you would like to learn more about The Skidmore Sonnetteers, you can visit their official website here.

—-
Want to write for The A Cappella Blog? Want to have your photos posted on the site? Want to join The ACB team in another capacity? You’re in luck because we are looking for new staff for our 2010 season! Go to our contact page and write to us about what you would like to do.