Charlie's Thoughts

A Capella is one of the most unique things at Yale. There are TONS of groups (over 10), with numerous styles ranging from Christian to Pop to Jazz to all of the above. Most of the groups are truly phenomenal, as such there is a huge drive to recruit the best freshman possible into Yale A Capella. I thought I'd share some information about the A Capella scene at Yale...

Follow up:

A Capella at Yale
A Capella is by far one of the oldest (and newest) traditions at Yale. I believe the Alley Cats group is around 100 years old. In comparison, the improv groups are only about 20-25 years old. At the same time Living Water, the Chrisitan group, is only 10 years old or so I believe. Similar to Improv, most groups perform on Tours each winter and spring. The spring one being more exotic, or fun than the Winter one. From what I've seen they frequently go abroad to England, France, the Caribbean, and other great locales.

Recruiting freshman is one of the biggest things on campus. After experiencing Improv Tap night and A Capella tap night, I have to say that they are quite similar. A Capella is by far more competitive though. The whole recruiting process is mediated by the SGC or Singing Group Council. They enforce penalties on any group violation rush rules. The recruiting season officially starts with the activities bazaar. Walking up and down the aisles I was asked if I sang about 50 times...per group. Shortly thereafter is a concert in which every group sings two songs. After that, there is yet another concert this one lasts FOREVER. However, after the second concert is when you sign up for auditions.

So now your signed up for auditions, generally you will have many of these and they usually ask you to warm up with the group, sing a solo, and sign a part on a piece with the group (usually lorelei for men's groups). So you do this repeatedly. Well just when you thought it was over, there's more! Now you attend a singing desert for each group, which is basically food and a concert by that group. Finally, you have rush meals with two members of each group. About one-two weeks after you first auditioned, you have call-backs. These are pretty hard core and require a new solo, belting, learning some of the groups music, scales, etc.

After callbacks, the wait begins. Tap night is supposed to be a secret date during a given week, but it's generally pretty well known. The penalties for groups are published in the paper the day of and involve delays in tapping.

So on tap night, groups and bystanders gather at the Gate on old campus. There is some Pomp. But eventually each group selects one runner to carry their "cup". When the SGC releases the groups, the runners sprint to their first choice, which may conflict with another groups choice. Anyways, the entire group arrives and signs to their new recruit and asks them to join the group. They can answer Yes, No, or Maybe. Yes means yes, and they proceed with the group to go tap more people and possibly party afterwards. No means no, the group crosses them off the list. Maybe is the best answer. If a person prefers group A but group B comes first, he might say Maybe to group B and Yes to A when they come later.

In any case, it's a pretty intense process. One person in my college was tapped by four groups before finally accepting the offer for the Duke's Men. My friend downstairs was also tapped by the Duke's. There are also all womens, and mixed groups as well!

There's no real way to figure out your chances of being tapped by an A Capella group at Yale. However, generally you will have a good idea how you performed relative to others, in addition perhaps a group won't get some top picks...opening up a spot for someone else. Sometimes, they will let you know you will be tapped by giving you a special CD to listen to, or making sure you will be in your room on a given night. However, it is a very competitive process, groups usually only take 4-6 people per year, and given the number of people who try out this is a really small number. But I love listening to A Capella and it is definatly an integral part of life at Yale.

Hope that cleared up the whole A Capella deal, post some comments if you have questions. And check out the SGC Site for a listing of all the groups. Each group usually has samples on their websites of their music, check it out!