AcaSpot News

Sorry for the long hiatus.  We’ve moved back to the good ‘ole USA since April.  I know, I know - no excuses.  But it is the reason for the silence.

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]

The CARA winners were announced today.  If you’re interested, head on over to the CASA website to see the winners.

Meanwhile, a good friend of ours won two awards:  Best Religious Album and Best Religious Song.  Congrats, Jon!

For those of you who don’t know, an article entitled “Perfect Tone, a Key That’s Mostly Minor“ appeared in the New York Times on Sunday.  The author, Mickey Rapkin, is also writing a book on “the history and traditions of collegiate a cappella singing” called Pitch Perfect.

 It’s an interesting read, and has also sparked some discussion over at RARB.  At first glance the author seems to assert that a cappella can’t break through to the “major league”, but after reading the author’s responses on RARB, I don’t think that’s how he really feels.  Hopefully the book will pay some tribute to groups like Naturally 7 who are certainly not what you expect from an “a cappella group”.

What’s so funny to me is that in the discussion everyone refers to collegiate a cappella as “our world” or “sub-culture”.  There is definitely a certain community that participates in or appreciates a cappella, but is it really that rigid?  Granted, a lot of barbershop stereotypes come along with the term “a cappella” that I myself have had to dispel with some of my friends.  And lately I’ve noticed a lot of semi-pro groups departing from the term “a cappella group” and marketing themselves as a “vocal band”, including my own.  Honestly, it probably is in an attempt to distance themselves from the doo-wop stereotype.  Does it really sound that much “cooler”?

I do think that the general public has come a long way, and I think that the more quality music that gets put out there by collegiate groups (and original music by professional groups), the more accepted it will be.  But I don’t think covers will ever be mainstream.  I mean, let’s face it, my collegiate group singing an almost exact replica of a pop song that already gets a lot of airplay is not going to get on the radio.  But I think that original music could.

I say this as a person who has never written an original song I am yet to be proud of, or shared with many people.  And it’s been so long since I’ve tried I don’t even remember all the words to the songs I did write.  But I see a lot more professional and semi-professional groups springing up and moving that direction. 

I recently read that CASA elected a new President.  Apparently the CASA Board of Directors holds elections annually, although the leadership doesn’t change every year.  That’s something I didn’t know and will be watching in the future!

Dave Brown, a long-standing member of the Board of Directors and newly elected CASA president, has been involved in CASA for quite some time already.  In an interview with Marty Gasper, Dave discussed some of his action items for the year.

Briefly, what are some issues you want to tackle this year?

• Survey the a cappella community more effectively to learn how we can help them.
• Increase advertising for our existing programs, so people can take advantage of our resources: awards, training, blogs, reviews, arrangements, a cappella radio, mp3s, discussion forum, info databases, podcasts, etc.
• Build a greater network of volunteers to help us carry out our programs to benefit the community
• Update old programs, make them more relevant
• Improve the ambassador system
• Introduce new benefits for our members
• Increase our outreach to younger people and others who aren’t familiar with contemporary a cappella

Honestly I’m not sure if the a cappella growth has been steady or somewhat of a boom, but in the Southeast it certainly feels like a lot of groups, both collegiate and semi-pro, have sprung up within the past 5 years.  Previously, the Southeast wasn’t very well connected to the rest of the a cappella community, and the new groups have been slow to catch on due to no fault of their own.  Certainly the addition of a CASA ambassador for the Southeast a few years ago was a huge improvement.

I don’t know if any type of rapid growth in the community was resonsible for CASA not keeping up with the times, but I think that Dave’s goals seem to tackle those kinds of obstacles.  I’m glad to see all of these issues on his list!  CASA has always been a valuable resource, but it’s nice to see it plans on becoming even more so.

Former presidents Jonathan Minkoff and Deke Sharon are still highly involved with the continued effort to reach more of the community.  In fact, Deke will be serving this year as Dave’s VP.

Read the full interview:  Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of CASA!

I can’t even begin to list the arrangements I’ve started and never finished… usually because I decided the song wasn’t the right choice for my group.  Every once in a while, though, there’s a song that I really want to work, if I could just get past that huge roadblock staring me down and get the vision in my head down on paper in a way that will work for the singers.

Deke Sharon, founder of CASA and originally introduced to me as “Mr. A Cappella”, shares a few tips on how to get past “arranger’s block”.  Some tips include listening to the original while you’re focusing on something else like cleaning or work, soliciting advice from seasoned arrangers you know, and re-vamping your entire arranging process.

What do you do to overcome “arranger’s block”?  Let us know in the comments.

CASA: Arrangers Block by Deke Sharon