One of my favorite things about Oberlin is how integrated and accessible the music scene is, even for non-Conservatory students. This is my second year on the Acapelicans, one of Oberlin’s six a cappella groups (each with their own theme and genre focus). Here’s 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’s 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’s the one on Tik Tok with the boxing gloves). Once we’re all warmed up, we start working on our first song: a beautiful, jazzy rendition of “Landslide” 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’re 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’s discography makes a featured appearance, as does Adele’s alto-power ballad “Someone Like You.” A few show tunes are named (mostly by me) and someone’s suggestion of “When I Was Your Man” by Bruno Mars gets the whole group nodding their heads. Perhaps an Acapelicans karaoke night is in order…
For our upbeat tune we chose “Juno” 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 “Have you ever tried this one” 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’re 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’s baby-blue vibes with some classic Fleetwood-Mac-inspired denim, which is immediately agreed upon unanimously.
Finally, we end rehearsal with what we call “check-ins,” which is basically an opportunity to share updates about your life with the group, whether that be midterms you’re 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’s 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’ll excuse me, I’ve got a karaoke night to plan.
