One of my favorite things about 91直播 is how integrated and accessible the music scene is, even for non-Conservatory students. This is my second year on the Acapelicans, one of 91直播鈥檚 six a cappella groups (each with their own theme and genre focus). Here鈥檚 what a typical rehearsal looks like as we prepare for Study Break, a mid-semester showcase that features all the a cappella groups!
First thing鈥檚 first: warm up time! Along with the classic lip trills and scales, we like to pepper in some fun ones too, like the Bumblebee Tuna jingle or a Cheryl Porter video (she鈥檚 the one on Tik Tok with the boxing gloves). Once we鈥檙e all warmed up, we start working on our first song: a beautiful, jazzy rendition of 鈥淟andslide鈥 by Fleetwood Mac. After singing the whole song through once, we break into small groups with our individual voice parts just to make sure we鈥檙e all on the same page. Back in the big group again, we designate Isabella to count us in and signal our cutoffs at the end of the song. Someone suggests we try singing with our eyes closed so we can practice really listening and blending with each other. It sounds silly, but it actually works wonders!
While we take a quick break in between songs, the ever relevant question of go-to karaoke songs is raised. Taylor Swift鈥檚 discography makes a featured appearance, as does Adele鈥檚 alto-power ballad 鈥淪omeone Like You.鈥 A few show tunes are named (mostly by me) and someone鈥檚 suggestion of 鈥淲hen I Was Your Man鈥 by Bruno Mars gets the whole group nodding their heads. Perhaps an Acapelicans karaoke night is in order鈥
For our upbeat tune we chose 鈥淛uno鈥 by Sabrina Carpenter, arranged by one of our members, Finley. We start out working through a few problem spots before running through the whole thing with our (light) choreography and poses. It takes us a few tries to get through our 鈥淗ave you ever tried this one鈥 poses without laughing, but we end up deciding just to let loose and have fun with it, giggles included. A few more tweaks and we鈥檙e finally starting to sound performance-ready!
Next up on the agenda (Acagenda, as we call it), we discuss the very important matter of outfit themes. Juliana suggests combining Sabrina Carpenter鈥檚 baby-blue vibes with some classic Fleetwood-Mac-inspired denim, which is immediately agreed upon unanimously.
Finally, we end rehearsal with what we call 鈥渃heck-ins,鈥 which is basically an opportunity to share updates about your life with the group, whether that be midterms you鈥檙e stressed out about, new situationships, friend drama, or upcoming weekend plans. We used to do this at the beginning of rehearsals, but we would get carried away yapping with each other so we had to move it to the end in the interest of getting anything done. Such is life for those in a student-run program.
And that鈥檚 what our rehearsals usually look like (plus the occasional debate over which Glee character is the best). Shout out to all my fellow Pelis, I love you all! Now, if you鈥檒l excuse me, I鈥檝e got a karaoke night to plan.
