the pendulum
_ • ^ STYLE THURSDAY. MARCH 15, 2012//PAGE 17
Campus voices blend together for 9th annual Acappallooza
□an Ouackenbush
Dan Ouackenbush
Opinions Editor
The audience’s screams of delight
rang clear up to the rafters of Whitley
Auditorium Saturday night, as Elon
University's a cappella community
joined forces with other local and distant
groups to put on Elon’s ninth annual
Acappallooza event.
This year’s Acappallooza theme,
VOICESONLY, remained ever-present as
each group performed arrangements of
multiple genres of music, using only the
power of their voices to carry the tune.
Hosted by Sweet Signatures, Elon’s
only all-female ensemble, Acappallooza
is an annual event on campus — one that
strives to bring together Elon’s a cappella
community while reaching out to other
university groups to come perform as;
well.
Junior Connor Stirland, president of
Elon’s all-male a cappella group, Rip_
Chord, said he believes students find
Acappallooza appealing because it offers
a refreshing change of pace from the style
of music they normally hear.
“I think that a cappella is particularly
big at Elon right now because we sing
songs that people wouldn’t necessarily
hear on a day-to-day basis,” Stirland said.
“People like it because they like hearing
the ways in which we can take something
that already exists and make it sound
really new and different."
The practice of incorporating new
elements into pre-existing material
was evident Saturday night, as many
groups’ arrangements were met with
tumultuous applause and laughter from
the audience. Some arrangements, such
as the University of Maryland Generics’
rendition of “Bottoms Up,” incorporated
simultaneous displays of rapping,
singing, choreography and the occasional
instance of booty-shaking.
In addition to hearing new
interpretations of original music, Stirland
said students usually come out to
concerts to see their friends in a “come as
you are” atmosphere.
“We always want to portray the fact
that we’re regular guys,” Stirland said.
“We’re trying to show off the fact that we
have talent and can create some really
impressive sound.”
And while Elon students may already
be familiar with the musical stylings of
1
Freshman Elisabeth Jones performs Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black” with Sweet Signatures, Elon’s
Elon’s a cappella groups, Acappallooza
provided an opportunity for them to
hear a cappella that hadn’t been heard on
campus before.
TTiis year, four non-Elon a cappella
ensembles made the trip to perform in
Acappallooza, including North Carolina
State University’s Grains of Time, the
UMD Generics, Swarthmore University’s
Sixteen Feet and Virginia Tech’s award-
winning Juxtaposition.
But senior Ashton Vincenty, president
of Sweet Signatures, reinforced that
competition between groups is not the
primary goal of Acappallooza.
“We want to hold an event that provides
a fun, non-competitive opportunity for
different a cappella groups to share their
talents,” Vincenty said. “There are many
competitions in the area, but we wanted
to simply enjoy and celebrate each other.”
Each year, Sweet Signatures actively
seek to invite interested groups from
both neighboring and distant universities
to perform at Acappallooza, giving Elon
GLORIA SO t Staff Photographer
only all-female a cappella ensemble, March 10.
The University of Maryland Generics were one of
students a chance to hear the musical
stylings of other a cappella groups they
may or may not have heard of before.
Vincenty said one of the primary goals
of organizing each Acappallooza is to
inspire a sense of community among a
cappella ensembles along the East Coast.
GLORIA SO 1 Statt Ptnjlograph«r
four all-male groups that visited Elon’s campus.
“Collegiate a cappella is really a
community,” Vincenty said. "Not just
between the groups on our campus, but
between groups all around. We’re all
curious to hear different groups, styles,
arrangements and (we) love seeing each
other’s hard work come together.”
All ‘Signs’ point to bright future for newest a cappella ensemble
Rebecca lannucci
Arts & Entertainment Editor
It has been almost a year
since the formation of Vital
Signs, Elon University’s
newest a cappella group. But
for sophomore cofounders
Ottavia Pomazon and Lexi
Stones, that time has already
allowed the group to make
great strides.
“We’ve performed as a
group multiple times now,
so we’re used to performing
tnore,” Pomazon said. “Because
we have so many rehearsals
under our belt, we’re more
confident in our own personal
singing abilities.”
The last year has been
lull of learning experiences
for Vital Signs, not least of
which was the process of
actually becoming an official
a cappella group on campus.
Pomazon and Stones, who
"'Me roommates last year,
took an instant interest in
ons a cappella ensembles,
ncy both had performance
^J^perience from high school,
and they were looking forward
0 continuing that experience
college.
Kut a poorly timed
‘-eadership Fellows retreat
caused the girls to miss
ne audition period for last
pn/ ^ "'®''e of a cappella
anntlT Instead of waiting
p_ to get involved,
omazon and Stones took on
creating
their own ensemble.
®t3rted with nothing,
We haH ^*°nes said. “And
had to form a group.”
It was a project both
of them were willing to
undertake. It wasn’t without
its bumps in the road, though.
Elon has a very specific
procedure for the creation of
new a cappella groups, and the
process included paperwork,
emails, meetings and pending
approval from Smith Jackson,
vice president and dean of
Student Life.
Stones admitted her shared
enthusiasm with Pomazon
to get the ensemble off the
ground may have slowed
down the process. While they
were planning their ideal
concert venues, Elon was
barely recognizing them as an
official a cappella group.
“We kind of jumped the
gun a little bit,” Stones said.
“That was the hardest thing —
having to go through the red
tape of the school.”
But both girls agreed it was
worth the payoff. Vital Signs
is now approaching the one-
year anniversary of its first-
ever blind auditions, a system
Pomazon called beneficial to
the group.
“That way, we were judging
purely on voice, not if they
looked nervous or what they
were wearing,” Pomazon
said. “It worked out perfectly,
actually, that we had the
perfect amount of people to
put on parts so that we were
perfectly balanced. That was
kind of like fate."
Pomazon and Stones
agreed fate has been good to
them throughout the last year.
Even on a small campus with
three pre-existing a cappella
ensembles. Vital Signs has
been able to come into its own
with an equally talented group
of students. Stones said.
“Adding a fourth group on
campus was not an issue in
that there are so many people
turned away from a cappella,”
Stones said. “That’s one of
the biggest reasons that we
started.”
But the group thrives on
more than talent. In the last
several months, Vital Signs
has shifted from a mixture of
nervous auditioners to a true
family, according to Stones.
“The thing that stands out
to me the most is our group
dynamic,” Stones said. “I
would definitely describe us
as a family. I’m fully confident
that next fall when we have
auditions again, the people
that we get are going to be
entering a solid family.”
Until then, Pomazon and
Stones said they will be
working with the group to
make themselves stand out
among the other a cappella
ensembles. Stones, a strategic
communications major, said
she is especially focused
on branding Vital Signs
and expanding the group’s
audience.
“Even though our fan base
has grown, there’s still a lot
of people who don’t know
about us,” Stones said. “We
want to grow and develop into
something that people can
remember.”
Pomazon said she has an
equally positive outlook for
the future.
“I know it sounds kind of
silly, but I’m really looking
forward to coming back to
Elon as an alum in 10 years
with Lexi, and just watching
a spring concert and knowing
that the group is still going
on and that it’s going to be
at Elon for a long, long time,”
Pomazon said.
Vital Signs will hold its
spring concert Friday, April 27
in Whitley Auditorium.
SARA HUOAK | SMT Ptiotograplw
Junior Alex Howard performs "Lollipop’' by Mika with Vital Signs March 8.