On Sunday, Aug. 24, more than 100 singers and beatboxers came to Talley Ballroom in hopes of joining one of NCSU’s four a capella groups.
Grains of Time, Ladies in Red, Acappology and Wolfgang each provide unique elements which contribute to the university’s a capella culture.
According to Troy Mitchell, a sophomore in electrical engineering and second-year member of Grains, the current members of Grains of Time chose their newest members, or GRITS (Grains in training), by narrowing down their choice singers and then voting.
“It was tough to pick because there were so many good guys,” Mitchell said. “First we had to decide how many people we even wanted in the group, then we picked the best guys we could.”
Officers from all four groups came together to form NCSU’s a capella council.
“We got to interact with each other, kind of see the different styles between the groups in the a capella community,” said Tianna Soto, a junior in Spanish and psychology and the music director of Ladies in Red, NC State’s music department-sponsored all-female group. “It did a really good job of bringing all the groups together.”
According to Soto and Mitchell, the joint audition did present some disadvantages.
“It was a very long day and it took a really long time,” Soto said. “I was in the music directors’ room and I had to listen to like a hundred scales, and I would’ve liked to maybe see the soloists perform.”
Mitchell said that since Grains of Time is an all-male group, they ended up having to watch all the female singers try out on audition day. Naturally, advantages included seeing more potential new members.
“When we audition separately, we don’t get to see as many people,” Soto said.
Besides performing in various university and community functions, a capella groups also compete regionally and nationally. Grains of Time will be competing in SoJam this fall, and will join the Ladies in Red in the spring to compete in the National A Capella competition for collegiate groups.
Before that, the groups will have to prepare the new members for competition through rehearsals and arrangements.
“We arrange and write all the songs ourselves,” Soto said. “We’ll take a pop song that we think is suitable for our group style and we will arrange it in a software program and then assign parts to everyone.”
According to Mitchell, both the Grains of Time and Ladies in Red have a similar process.
“We’ve got some people in the group with leadership positions,” Mitchell said. “They’ll decide and then someone will arrange it and we’ll have somebody choreograph it and we’ll learn it, teach it to each other, and keep using it for at least a couple semesters.”
A Capella groups are unique in that they perform without any instrumental music, which requires constant fine-tuning of vocals. According to both Mitchell and Soto, bringing new singers into a group can present challenges.
“There’s a really big range of talent levels and background levels so we have some girls that can do music and some that can’t, but luckily with the four that we accepted this semester, all of them have the background,” Soto said.
Mitchell also stated that having veterans on the team plays a huge part in their success.
“I think it’s one of the most experienced teams that we’ve had,” Mitchell said. “We’ve got to teach them a lot and it’s a lot to teach. We have to teach six new guys all our current songs that we’re performing along with all the old songs we may pull out at certain gigs, all the choreography, etc.”
The Grains of Time will be performing next Friday at the Dunn Center. Ladies in Red will be performing at the International Festival of Raleigh on the Sept. 19, and on campus at the alumni tour event in Talley on the Sept. 28.
