The collegiate a cappella world is one of great complexity. Amidst all that there is to take in, The Importance Of… highlights what is truly important, and elements of a cappella that may otherwise be overlooked.

This week, we look at the importance of… organizational leadership

The nature of an ensemble performance is that each and every piece of the ensemble is important. The soloist might get the most attention, but can’t succeed without the vocal percussionist keeping the tempo straight. Even if the song’s on the beat, it won’t matter if the tuning in the background sounds like crap. The visual presentation is the responsibility of the entire group. When it comes to performance, the argument can therefore be made that no individual member is more important than another. That’s what happens on stage. There is, however, another side to a cappella, which is what happens before and after shows, behind the scenes. Herein lies the importance of organizational leadership.

An a cappella group needs leaders to plan for, motivate and prepare a group. Groups need to make their way through rehearsals in such a way that gets them prepared to perform their repertoires well, besides organizing practices such that they make good use of busy college students’ time. These are no easy tasks. And it is up to an organization’s leadership to balance between the many roles involved in a group’s success. They serve as player-coaches, drill-sergeants, motivational speakers, counselors and more. Leadership holds a group together, and synergizes a number of individuals into a unit.

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The collegiate a cappella world is one of great complexity. Amidst all that there is to take in, The Importance Of… highlights what is truly important, and elements of a cappella that may otherwise be overlooked.

This week, we look at the importance of… a good venue

A cappella groups perform in order to entertain their audiences. There’s a lot they can do to prepare—rehearsing to be sure the group is in tune, in synch, and well-choreographed. But there are other elements of a show that are outside of a group’s control after they hit the stage. An audience members’ perceptions of the show are going to be affected by everything from the quality of the micing, to whether there’s gum on the seats, to whether someone tall sits in front of them, and they have to crane their necks all show long in order to see the stage. As a good as an a cappella group may be, its show will only be as enjoyable as the performance area allows. Herein lies the importance of a good venue.

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The collegiate a cappella world is one of great complexity. Amidst all that there is to take in, The Importance Of… highlights what is truly important, and elements of a cappella that may otherwise be overlooked.

This week, we look at the importance of… a good soloist

One of the main knocks against me, personally, as an a cappella critic is that I don’t have a tremendous amount of technical knowledge when it comes to music. This is often a legitimate gripe, but one hidden benefit to my limitation is that I can see through the eyes of the everyman, and notice the pieces of performances that are most apparent to my fellow musical amateurs. With this in mind, there’s no overstating the importance of a strong soloist.

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Today’s post marks the end of The ACB’s 2009 publication season. We will continue to post news updates throughout the off-season, and will return to our regular posting schedule in January 2010.

In wrapping up this season, we would like to thank all of our 2009 contributors… Callum Au, Alexandra Bancroft, Ben Bram, Genevieve Chawluk, Nancy Cheng, Jill Clark, Chris Diaz, Robert Dietz, Dave Grossman, Bill Hare, Michael Marcus, Amanda Newman, Wayne Scheck, Eric Talley and Hanna Winkler.

We would also like to thank you, the readers, for visiting our site.

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The collegiate a cappella world is one of great complexity. Amidst all that there is to take in, The Importance Of… highlights what is truly important, and elements of a cappella that may otherwise be overlooked.

This week, we look at the importance of… a good website

In this day and age, everybody’s got a website. Businesses use them to sell products. Colleges use them to serve their student bodies, as well as recruit students of the future. Individuals have their blogs. And then there are a cappella groups. Just about every group I know of has a website. The quality of these pages and the purposes they serve, however, can vary a great deal.

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The collegiate a cappella world is one of great complexity. Amidst all that there is to take in, The Importance Of… highlights what is truly important, and elements of a cappella that may otherwise be overlooked.

In this edition, we look at the importance of…… what and who you cover

There are a lot of factors that go into deciding what songs a group should perform–some subject to opinion, some questions of practicality or necessity. Every group will choose material for its own reasons, but there remains the common thread that the songs a group performs help shape its identity, and are of the utmost importance in determining what the group will accomplish.

It is important for a group to pick songs that suit the group. For thing, there’s the practical element of making sure you can effectively cover the parts. No where is this more immediately evident than in the solo. It’s not unusual for female groups to cover songs originally performed by male artists, or vice-versa. Oftentimes, this can be quite successful, as it puts a different and unique spin on a song, helping a group make the song its own. Other times, this can be downright disastrous. For example, I recall hearing an all-female group cover Evanescence’s “Bring Me To Life.” Sounded like a fair enough idea, until the women tried to emulate Paul McCoy’s guest vocals, in a raspy growl that came off as downright comedic, completely subverting the song’s power. Specifically when you’re crossing gender lines, you need to approach a song with a specific vision of how you’ll make it your own, and not just try to emulate the original.

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