{"id":31461,"date":"2014-06-27T15:59:03","date_gmt":"2014-06-27T19:59:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=31461"},"modified":"2022-09-28T11:17:52","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T15:17:52","slug":"camp-a-cappella-spreads-harmony-through-harmony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2014\/06\/27\/camp-a-cappella-spreads-harmony-through-harmony\/","title":{"rendered":"Camp A Cappella spreads harmony through harmony"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ensemble<\/a>

Joe Whatley, a Wright State alumnus and director of Vega at Chaminade-Julienne High School, directing an ensemble at Camp A Cappella.<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s simply aca-awesome! Nearly 200 teenagers from all over the country are singing their hearts out this week at Camp A Cappella at Wright State University. Anywhere you walked in the Creative Arts Center, you could hear singing \u2014 and laughing to boot.<\/p>\n

There was harmony in the music and harmony between students as they made friendships and shared their passion for singing without instruments.<\/p>\n

Brody McDonald, who directs the a cappella ensemble ETHOS at Wright State, and Deke Sharon, vocal producer of \u201cThe Sing-Off\u201d TV show, organized this unique contemporary a cappella camp on Wright State\u2019s campus. The camp\u2019s faculty included music educators, choral directors, successful composers and arrangers and award-winning singers from across the country, including the a cappella group Home Free.<\/p>\n

\"Brody<\/a>

Brody McDonald, director of Wright State\u2019s ETHOS ensemble, organized Camp A Cappella at Wright State.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWhat I love about this camp is we have a whole range of talents, all the way from 13-year-olds to collegiate-level people,\u201d McDonald said. \u201cAs a music education institution, we are going to take you as you are and help you get to your next best self.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDonald also directs Kettering Fairmont High School\u2019s Eleventh Hour, the first high school group to perform on \u201cThe Sing-Off.\u201d As founder and vice president of the A Cappella Education Association and author of \u201cA Cappella Pop: A Complete Guide to Contemporary A Cappella Singing,\u201d he\u2019s the perfect person to lead this camp. He is an experienced barbershopper with international experience.<\/p>\n

Heralded as \u201cThe father of contemporary a cappella,” Sharon produces \u201cThe Sing-Off\u201d worldwide and was arranger, on-site music director and vocal producer for Universal’s \u201cPitch Perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Camp A Cappella, campers had the opportunity to sing in a choir of 200. \u201cThat\u2019s very rare, let alone \u2018aca people\u2019 from all around the country,\u201d McDonald noted. \u201cHow cool is that? I\u2019m standing next to a guy from the other coast and we\u2019re singing together.\u201d Half the campers are from outside Ohio.<\/p>\n

They also sing in small group ensembles, designed to mimic what happens on \u201cThe Sing Off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ensemble<\/a>

Alex Phan, director of choral activities for the North Olmsted School District, leading an ensemble.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWhen we do our final show, they\u2019ll be on stage and they\u2019ll have lights, they\u2019ll have choreography and hand-held microphones\u201d McDonald said.<\/p>\n

And unique to this camp, singers got to choose two \u201caca-majors,\u201d such as arranging music, sound, choreography, video editing and audio recording.<\/p>\n

Camp culminates with two concerts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Home Free, \u201cSing-Off\u201d season four winner, and Kettering Fairmont High School\u2019s Eleventh Hour will perform Friday, June 27, at 8 p.m. at Wright State\u2019s Apollo Room in the Student Union.<\/p>\n

Purchase tickets at\u00a0homefreevocalband.com.<\/a><\/p>\n

by clicking the link at the bottom of the page.<\/p>\n

The public is also invited to a free concert Saturday, June 28, at noon in the Apollo Room, where 10 ensembles and and Wright State\u2019s ETHOS\u00a0will perform what they learned at Camp A Cappella this week.<\/p>\n

The a cappella singing movement may be taking the country by storm, thanks to the popularity of \u201cThe Sing-Off\u201d and \u201cPitch Perfect,\u201d but McDonald says it isn\u2019t really new.<\/p>\n

\u201cA cappella music has always been around and will always be around, it\u2019s just been wrapped up in different costumes or different styles,\u201d he said. \u201cHumans want to express themselves, so\u00a0there has always been a group of people somewhere singing together,\u201d including madrigals, street corner doo-wop, vocal jazz groups and barbershop quartets.<\/p>\n

\u201cContemporary a cappella is just this generation\u2019s version of singing popular music together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

McDonald called it a rebellion against the over-production of today\u2019s music. \u201cWith a cappella, all you\u2019re hearing are human voices and we all love human voices,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the whole God\u2019s instrument thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Wright<\/a>

From left: Wright State music students Sara Lefeld, Alex Lindon and Monique Cooper helped with the camp.<\/p><\/div>\n

Monique Cooper, Wright State music student and member of ETHOS, agrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the intimacy and connectedness,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s no instrumentation behind you to distract. You have to be really engaged in what you\u2019re doing to keep the audience involved and enthralled.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s one of several Wright State music students who are pitching in as camp staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re getting the full definition of music . . . what it feels like, what it looks like, what it sounds like,\u201d said Sara Lefeld, a member of ETHOS who is studying vocal performance and occupational therapy at Wright State. \u201cIt\u2019s incorporating all your senses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Lindon, a music education major and camp staff member, said this camp is unique because it also offers classes such as arranging music, a personal interest of his.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly 200 people from all across the country are singing their hearts out this week at Camp A Cappella at Wright State. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":31471,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,729,2037,4859,725,747,715],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-around-campus","category-arts-scene","category-fine-and-performing-arts","category-home-news-sidebar","category-liberal-arts","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31461"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":130000,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31461\/revisions\/130000"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}