CASA posted the results for the competition this morning. I would have posted sooner, but I couldn’t remember them all.

Best Arrangement:
Caitlin Yuhas from Emory Aural Pleasure for “Admiration”

Best Soloist:
Marcus Hines from UGA Accidentals for “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing”

Best Vocal Percussion:
Dele Opeifa from Southern Virginia University “Fading Point”

Best Choreography:
UGA Accidentals and Elon University Sweet Signatures

Audience Favorite Award:
UGA Accidentals

1st Place: Emory University Aural Pleasure
2nd Place: University of Georgia Accidentals
3rd Place: Elon University Sweet Signatures

I personally think the State of Georgia has been well represented at SoJam the past few years, and this year was no exception. Great job to all of the competing groups, and congrats to Aural Pleasure and the Accidentals.

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Recently launched in May, Mouth Off is a weekly podcast put on by duo Dave Brown and Chris Diaz. Contrary to my original interpretation, Mouth Off is not about vocal percussion, although they did feature some clips of Marty Gasper on last week’s episode. Funny, original, and compelling, the show is recorded with the two in different cities while talking on the phone, then mixed together and posted for our enjoyment.

Segments include “Head2Head” where they compare two a cappella recordings of the same original song (fascinating), “Around the Horn” where they discuss the goings on in the a cappella world, “Better Than The Original” where they feature a song that they deem has a better a cappella cover than the original, and my personal favorate, “Album Review” where, you guessed it, they review an album.

The album reviews are particularly good because they give really useful feedback, whereas I feel other reviews out there are hit or miss in terms of what you can take back with you to improve on the next go around. They also play example clips that demonstrate their points, and it’s great to not only hear the reasoning behind the comments, but you learn little tidbits to keep in your back pocket for your next album.

Definitely go check it out.

[Mouth Off]

The article is prefaced by saying that you first need a strong leader, however, I think that many of the tips in the article help you to get there. Most collegiate groups have such a high turnaround of members and leaders, and it’s hard to jump in an lead your peers. Often times it takes a semester just to get in the groove of things. Anything that can shorten that lead time is valuable information.

If you’re a music director (or, more importantly, aspiring to be one), don’t miss these insights.

[How To: A 12 Step Program for an Effective Rehearsal, by Ben Bram of The SoCal Vocals]

This year’s SoJam will again be in Raleigh, NC on November 7-9.   You can get more details at www.sojam.net.  

Go to the AACI website and follow the submission guidelines, which include downloading and printing a form to mail along with two copies of your album.

Good luck!  The track list will be released on November 1.

Meanwhile, Mr. A Cappella himself (Deke Sharon) wrote an article just in time for those directors and managers out there who are getting ready for the fall semester.  If you’re striving for excellence, not just a repeat of last year, you need to read this article over at CASA.

[CASA: Five Tips for College A Cappella Groups by Deke Sharon]

 A RARB forum subscriber asks how to promote and motivate his group to do the same.  It is a must read.  Even if you already know you should, it’s motivating to hear tried-and-true methods that have worked for other successful groups.  These are definite musts for groups who wish to continue forward and not remain stagnant (or move backwards)!

[RARB Discussion: Promoting shows, concerts, and auditions]

<iframe frameBorder="0" src="http://www.acaspot.com/group?g=1&i=1" style="width: 600px; height: 470px"></iframe>

However, the URL in this code must match your particular group id.  Go to your Acaspot home page and click on your group’s profile.  The URL will be something similar to:

http://www.acaspot.com/group?g=1

All you have to do is add &i=1 to the URL (which tells Acaspot to return the page formatted correctly for a 600px wide iframe) and put it into the iframe code above, then use the code on your website.

 In short, what is the Music Director’s role within the group?  Some groups responded with the Music Director/President as the be-all-end-all.  Some have 2 or 3 officers with equal authority, while still others split up the music responsibilities between the Music Director, arrangers, and section leaders in addition to a million other officer roles.  The thread also evolves into a discussion of how rehearsals are run.  It’s interesting to see that there are so many ways of doing it, and no single solution is always the best.

I’m sure a lot of this depends on the size of the group.  And I certainly advocate re-evaluating every once in a while, because as the group members change, so does the talent pool (when it comes to leadership, teaching, and administrative skills) within the group. 

Any thoughts?

[Music Director’s Role?]