For a small campus, Conn has a relatively large number of a cappella groups. There are the two all-female groups, the Schwiffs and ConnChords, the all-male group, the Co Co Beaux, and the three co-ed groups, the Williams Street Mix, the ConnArtists and Vox Cameli (Camels’ Voice in pseudo-latin).
And for the first week of a new school year, all of these groups fight each other for the best new voices on campus.
To entice freshmen each year, the groups hold a concert during the first week or so of fall semester, then each group hosts a brunch or snack time for the freshmen to meet a capella group members. In theory this is supposed to help freshmen decide which group (or groups) they wish to audition for.
The next few days, the groups reserve tables lined up in front of Cro, all right next to one another, and blast their group’s CD, hoping to coax freshmen over with candy while perky members persuade anyone and everyone that they should audition for their group.
And it’s easier for some than for others to choose among all-male, all-female, and co-ed groups.
Sophomore Julie Bergstein of ConnArtists knew she just didn’t want to audition for the all-female groups. “I lived on an all-girls’ floor last year and I needed some men in my life, to be honest.”
Meanwhile, sophomore Whitney King, of the Schwiffs, opted the other way. “It depends on the person. I think anybody can be happy in any situation but for me it was great having an automatic group of girlfriends who I could talk to and it takes away sexual tension.”
The audition weekend is always a busy and very stressful one. The auditionee arrives with a prepared song to sing. After performing, the candidate undergoes a set of exercises that test their sight reading, rhythm, tone and harmony. Afterwards, the group asks the auditioner questions to see if his or her personality meshes with the other a capella group members.
“Halfway through I was singing and I was holding a [traveling] tea mug. I was holding it out and I was so nervous that it was shaking, and then it dropped as I was trying to sing harmony with the other member and [the pitch] gave me this shocked look,” said senior Riordan Frost of ConnArtists.
Sophomore Nick Rodricks of Vox Cameli remembered feeling uncomfortable with the exercises. “There was rhythm stuff and sight reading where I was just like ‘whoa.’”
“It’s scary and nerve-wracking,” added sophomore Mike Gulotta of ConnArtists. For each audition I thought I had sung the worst I’d ever sung. We all kind of relived it this year.”
“It’s hard having twenty sets of eyes on you,” said sophomore Ben Stepansky of the Co Co Beaux. “They grill you with questions and you wanna be funny but you also don’t wanna be stupid.”
Bergstein recounted, “I was sitting there this year thinking, ‘Why are they so nervous?’ but I was terrified when I tried out. I didn’t want to try out at all. My friend made me do it. I was most nervous being judged as a person. I was thinking, ‘I hope they like me,’ probably not being myself but trying to be myself at the same time.”
For freshman Matt Rolin, his only complaint was not having a proper place to sufficiently practice his song. “I ended up practicing by the Williams School and serenading route 32 in the pouring rain,” he said, laughing.
Many members have complained about the conditions of the audition weekend. They feel that the audition process of song, vocal exercises and questions goes on for too long, since they stay up late that Sunday night trying to figure out who to call back for round two of auditions.
According to Frost, “We had over 65 auditions at 15 minutes each. I ended up calculating and it was over 15 hours of auditions and took up an entire weekend. And besides taking up an entire weekend, we were in a room with no windows or ventilation.”
But it’s just as exciting for members of the group.
Senior Ben Coleman, who is the “pitch” (the leader) of Vox Cameli, said, “It’s kind of like American Idol and being a judge.”
And after it’s all been said and done, the members don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings by rejecting them.
“It’s not even that they’re doing something wrong. It’s just maybe there were a bunch of people who were really good and it just came down to you not being chosen,” said Gulotta. “It gets really emotional and people get angry at each other at the meetings of the ‘families’ [when the groups come together to decide who to take officially, after all the callbacks].”
Those who excell in round one, however, receive an email saying they got called back for round two. It’s easier to get through this round because of the smaller number of competitors. But for the selection committee, it’s harder to choose.
Junior Logan Keeler of the Co Co Beaux said, “We wound up having a small group left at the end of last year. It made auditions really hard this year.”
Callbacks are different for each group.
According to Bergstein, “We usually call back five or six people from each part [for the ConnArtists]. They’ll go off and learn a piece of a song and then they’ll come back and we’ll put them in quartets so we can hear one from each voice part. It’s enlightening for us because we called them back for a reason and wanted them in the group, but we want to see how they work with other people. It’s a clear indication.”
“When you begin callbacks, the ones coming back are the ones you’re really serious about, so what you wanna hear with them is how they blend with the rest of the group. You’re listening for a good sound,” said Stepansky.
“In the callbacks you are with one girl and getting to know each other and the song for a couple days, so when you’re put back in the group situation you still have that connection,” said King.
“They split you up by voice part and teach you a part of a song with the others and then you come back and sing with everyone,” Rolin remembered. “One thing Vox asked everybody [at auditions] was what your favorite snack is, so when I got called back I got a bag full of Swedish fish.”
As for picking the final group, “We try to get 100 percent agreement. This year we were able to sway until we got that outcome, so it was good,” said Keeler.
Rolin was an interesting case, auditioning with “O Fortuna” from the opera Carmina Burana instead of the day-to-day pop song.
“I don’t know many pop songs and I probably shouldn’t go in there singing Rammstein,” he said. His choice worked to an extent, since he got called back for two of the groups he auditioned for.
Frost remembered Rolin’s audition distinctly. “Matt is the lowest bass I’ve ever heard and I’m the lowest in the group. He came in and sang a piece from Carmina Burana and it was incredible.”
Bergstein said that it’s very different to sing a cappella. “You’re not singing long beautiful notes, you’re singing syllables,” she reminded students.
Rodricks agreed. “There are some [who audition] that just have had voice lessons and opera and stuff and they invest so much in it, and then they get to a cappella and it’s just the wrong voice. We’re not going to throw you into a Miley Cyrus song because you’ll just stand out.”
Frost hopes it doesn’t discourage singers when they’re rejected.
“Singing is such a soulful and purposeful thing and I hope someone who thinks about stopping singing never does. I don’t know for sure because we don’t follow up with the ones we don’t accept, we can’t. But I hope they haven’t.”
