The Lounge Lizards are a top notch mixed group out of UC Davis. Co-President Alyssa Parsons took the time to answer questions from The A Cappella Blog.

The A Cappella Blog (ACB): Describe a typical Lounge Lizards rehearsal. How often do you guys practice and what do you do to achieve such success by the time you hit the stage? Do rehearsals change before a big show? Before you guys go into competition?

Alyssa Parsons (AP): Usually, we practice twice a week, for two and a half hours; we also have special choreography-oriented rehearsals, so we have plenty of time to sing. Basically, our rehearsal process before a competition or show is a lot like theater; we use the earlier practices to learn new pieces or work out the kinks on others, and right before the competition or show, we rehearse our whole set list in order, with choreography, as if we were performing. Sometimes we’ll bring in our friends who know a lot about music and will easily be able to point out our good points and bad points from the standpoint of an audience member.

ACB: Are there any unique traditions or pieces of history attached to your group?

AP: One of our more embarrassing traditions actually comes from an all-male group that we met at an ICCA competition before I was in the group. We heard one of their warm-ups, and now we do it on a regular basis; we sing “I bite the heads off puppies, and their warm blood drips all over my new shoes.” Unfortunately, it’s got a very good variety of consonants, and it’s a pretty good warm-up. We tend to horrify any other groups that are around us when we’re getting ready…

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Acasola is a relatively new group on the collegiate scene. Nonetheless, the mixed group out of California State University, Northridge, has already made quite a name for itself. Members of the group took the time to answer questions from The A Cappella Blog.

A Cappella Blog (ACB): Acasola is a very young group (only founded in 2006) but has already enjoyed its fair share of success, including finishing as the first runners up in an exceptionally competitive west coast ICCA semifinal last year (and only topped by the tournament’s eventual champions). To what can you attribute the group’s success in competition? What was the experience like, performing at that level, alongside so many other top tier groups?

Acasola: A. Clear goals, a lot of motivation within the members of Acasola. We work really well together. Acasola knows its future goals. We have a 25 year plan that we use to set long term goals that will help us along the way.

B. It was intimidating at first, but the moment we step on that stage, we knew, we belonged there.

ACB: What can listeners expect from Acasola’s first CD, Always Acasola?

Acasola: A. They can expect to hear a good variety of songs. Many from different concerts, such as No Snow Show, a concert where the proceeds go to a selected charity. Also a good variety of songs that were studio produced. Parts of the C show the earlier years of Acasola, while others show more polished recent years. When someone buys an actual copy of the C, they will receive a brief history of Acasola inside the cover.

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Rip_Chord is a top notch all-male a cappella group out of Elon University in North Carolina. Rip Chord president Joshua B. Tate took the time to answer questions from The A Cappella Blog.

The A Cappella Blog (ACB): Describe a typical Rip_Chord rehearsal. How often do you guys practice and what do you do to achieve such success by the time you hit the stage? Do rehearsals change before a big show? Before you guys go into competition?

Joshua B. Tate (JBT): Typically Rip_Chord rehearses 3 times a week for 2 hours at a time. It’s a pretty demanding practice schedule for a student organization, and usually we try to prepare the most number of quality songs possible before we hit the stage. We have performances of all shapes and sizes, whether it be just a few songs to entertain a crowd before dinner, opening for a band, or even being the main attraction in front of thousands. Usually our rehearsals increase in time and quantity before big shows just to make sure things are all set, but at this point in time in Rip_Chord’s career, we have yet to compete in any formal competitions.

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On the Rocks is a top notch all-male a cappella group out of Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. General Manager Kevin McClelland took the time to answer questions from The A Cappella Blog.

The A Cappella Blog (ACB): As an all-male group, what advantages do you enjoy? What challenges does the nature of the group present?

Kevin McClelland (KM): We enjoy the advantage of being the ONLY a cappella group on our campus… it makes us special, unique, and wanted. We also enjoy singing to the ladies… ;-) The biggest challenge is TIME–trying to find a time for all 11 of us to get together and learn some songs.

ACB: How does On the Rocks go about recruiting new members?

KM: This year was the first year the group was an officially registered student organization, so we had our own table at the big beginning of the year activities fair and recruited guys who sang in high school to sign up for an audition time. Also, word of mouth on campus–we get around quite a bit.

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This past Thursday afternoon, The A Cappella Blog had the distinct pleasure of joining other media outlets, including The Boston Herald, CASA, and realitywanted.com for a conference call with Ben Folds, who will be one of the guests for NBC’s The Sing-Off! which premieres tomorrow night on NBC. Below is a summary of the interview. An official transcript of the call is to be released shortly, at which point we will make full answers available. Please note that, unless you see quotation marks, what appears below are not direct quotes, but rather paraphrases of what Folds and reporters said.

The A Cappella Blog (ACB): “In working on the University A Cappella project, you spent a lot of time working with collegiate a cappella groups. What surprised you about this experience? What did you learn from it?”

Ben Folds (BF): I think what we learned is how many people can sing; you don’t have to look a certain way, and it’s not about all the things you do; as we traveled around we were shocked by how many first and second takes we got. That was awesome.

Something else you come to realize is the power of the human voice. When you’re sitting there listening to it, the tuning doesn’t have to be perfect. If you tune it to even-tuning you lose human feeling.

ACB: “As one of the judges, what are you going to be looking for from the contestants?”

BF: I’m looking for it to move or entertain me; if not, I move into producer space, and say, “There’s a reason for this.” Each of the judges seem to have gone to what we’re useful for. Nicole says something anyone can relate to, “like it had energy.” Each group has its own set of challenges. An all-female group has the challenge of not having a bass, but an all-male group has challenges as well. We have to see them become inventive about how they overcome their shortcomings. At the end of the day, I want to see groups who have innovated in the genre, because it hasn’t been mined for everything you can do in it.

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