I'm old! Gimme, gimme, gimme!

 I’m old. Gimme, gimme, gimme! – Abraham Simpson

Thank you for all the wonderful discussions and feedback I got from my soft reboot post. I would like to address a couple of comments:

1) No. I will not, as you so eloquently put it, “cut off my hands with a chainsaw so you don’t have to be subjected to this garbage.” 

2) I assure you I’m not “delusional, deranged, and smelly.” Just because I write these posts sitting in the basement of my mother’s house with all of the lights turned off does not mean I’m a conspiracy theorist.

 

With that out of the way…

This post is going to address two main things, both related to the growth and development of a cappella. 

 

When I started this blog thirteen (13!) years ago, I was a fresh-faced 29-about-to-turn-30-year-old. I felt like a million bucks. I felt all clean and new, bursting with can-do spirit and a desire to prove myself. The world was my burrito.

 

I’m about to be 43. Everything hurts. I nap as frequently as Garfield. I now have to accept the fact that I’m a member of the “old guard,” and not the up and coming “new guard.” All my a cappella friends have abandoned me for real jobs. No one in the a cappella community will hire me because I look like a homeless man wandering the halls of a convention. 

 

Okay. This is depressing. 

 

I look back at all of the things I wanted to learn, the experiences I’ve had, the knowledge I’ve acquired. Those were the best years of my life, and I was extremely fortunate that so many people opened up their brains and let me root around inside their consciousness. 

 

But now I look at the new, younger, prettier class of a cappella stars. They have advanced so quickly and so completely that they put my thirteen years of slow, steady work to shame. They’re getting the jobs, making the arrangements, acquiring the notoriety. 

 

I hate them. 

I hate them and their stupid faces. 

I hate how clever and smart they are. 

I hate the way they post long diatribes in the comments section. 

I hate how many clients they have. 

I hate their constant, upbeat, smiles. 

I hate that they have a PhD in “being swell” and a masters in “Everybody loves me!” 

I HATE THEM, I HATE THEM, I HATE THEM!!!

 

[We here at Quest for the A cappella Major would like to apologize for the recent hurtful rants and ravings of a lunatic. Marc’s personal views do not reflect this company, and rest assured we have fed him so he is no longer hangry.]

 

Whew! Sorry about that. Man, things got REAL there for a second.

Hey younger a cappella stars! I certainly don’t hate you. In fact, I’ve offered advice to many of you and will continue to do so whenever asked. The fact is, I’m jealous. Not specifically of you, but of all the knowledge and opportunities you have laid out before you. None of these books, or articles, or social media posts, or private lessons, or online classes were available to me when I was your age. 

 

Resources like these:

 

Books: A cappella pop, The Heart of Vocal Harmony, A cappella Warm-ups, A cappella, A cappella Arranging, A cappella Arranging 2, Powerful Voices, Pitch Perfect, A cappella 101, So You Want To Sing A cappella, Teaching Music Through Performance in Contemporary A cappella

 

Websites: A cappella Masterclass, A cappella Educators Association, CASA, Barbershop Harmony Society, RARB, Varsity Vocals

 

Media: Pitch Perfect 1, Pitch Perfect 2, Pitch Perfect 3, Pentatonix: On My Way Home, Just Sing, Counterpoint, Talkappella

 

Education: Competitive Workshop, Arranger Roundtable, ACDA Fusion Choir, Find Your Next Level, Private Voice Studios from A cappella Singers, Viridian Productions, Sing Toronto

 

I’m definitely forgetting a lot more, but you get the idea.

Oh. And don't forget that you can LEGALLY PURCHASE A CAPPELLA ARRANGEMENTS ONLINE!! This was a thing we did not have 13 years ago.

 

But I have to remember that it was us, the old guard, who created such things. We created such things so that you could shine like we never could. The happiest moment of a teacher’s career is seeing their student succeed beyond their wildest dreams. And I am genuinely proud to be one of those “teachers.”

 

Welp, I hope you enjoyed that last bit. Because it’s all downhill from here…

 

Let’s talk about money. 

 

Several comments from the last diatribe made the argument that the root of this problem may in fact be economical. 

 

I probably should have paid more attention in economics class…

 

Now I’m not a professional performer and I’m not a member of a professional performing group, so I can’t directly address the specific needs of performing groups; And of course, every group is different and has different priorities. If you want specifics, you’re going to have to ask them. Or, you know, go here: https://www.acappellamasterclass.com

 

The bit that worries me is how difficult it must be for these group members, many of which I call friends. I want them to succeed. I want them to be able to perform full time and live their dreams. But they’re fighting for stage space like every other musician out there, and they have what seems to be a disadvantage, because they’re a niche group.

 

It’s this last sentence that really makes my point. I hypothesize that in the last decade, when a cappella was at its peak, it was actually an advantage to be an a cappella group, riding the coattails of Pitch Perfect and Pentatonix. But now it seems like this advantage has turned into a disadvantage, and I wonder why. Of course, this is an educated guess. 

 

For these groups, I offer this, which I blogged about in 2017. 

 

Of course, a cappella is growing rapidly in the scholastic market. Schools are not businesses (suck it David Pickler!) and money is (mostly) available. This can only be good for the community as a whole, but what happens to those a cappella junkies who want to sing a cappella full time when they get out of school? And what happens if the market gets too overcrowded? Again, go here. 

So how do these two topics relate to each other? The answer is “mid-life crisis.”

 

Take my earlier paragraph about being part of the “old guard.”(which, in this metaphor, are the professional adults) In a way, this is a metaphor for what groups are facing right now. It feels like a cappella is getting old (even though it isn’t), and the monetary value of such groups has gone down. Yet, the “young guard” (which in this metaphor represents scholastic expansion) are flourishing, backed by the (mostly) rock solid structure that a school music program can provide. (Do NOT make me go into how that’s disappearing as well. This post is long enough, and I’m already depressed.)

 

When I asked the question “Is a cappella dead,” I was more referring to the stagnation of our community. It feels like we’re going through a mid-life crisis, just as I am now.

 

Sorry this has been an overall dour post. To make up for it, here’s a video of someone feeding a baby penguin.

 

Marc Silverberg

Marcesilverberg.com

Instagram.com/Docacappella

Is A cappella Dead?

 Is A cappella Dead?

 

It’s over ladies and gentlemen. The fad of singing pop songs together in a group has run its course. We are no longer the hottest fad sweeping the nation. We’ve been replaced…

 

By Labubus.

 

Okay I’m kidding. I mean, I’m not kidding, Labubus are everywhere and there’s no logical reason why these demon-bunny-like-creatures-who-are-obviously-a-copyright-infringement-of-Where-The-Wild-Things-Are should permeate the hearts and minds of our young children. But they do, and we have to live with it. 

 

Let’s hope this dies out quicker than Beanie Babies. Or at least, Pogs.

 

Sorry, tangent over. Hi! If you’re reading this blog for the first time, you’re probably horribly confused and possibly a little gassy. 

 

See, I got my start by writing about a cappella. I chronicled the development of my doctoral dissertation where I created a four-year college interdisciplinary curriculum for contemporary a cappella.

 

No one read it.

 

So I started comparing a cappella advice to pop culture phenomena. 

 

Ten people read it.

 

Then one day, I got really really really really really fed up with people misunderstanding the definitions of “medley” and “mash-up,” and I wrote a post that cleared the whole thing up.

 

Lots of people read it. Way too many people. 

 

I wrote blog posts for about 8 years. I covered as many topics as I could, from reviewing festivals to complaining about the members of my a cappella group not listening to a word I said. Then 2020 happened and the blog died. 

 

I’ve decided to bring it back as a response to my own question, kind of like what would happen if you called the fire department to report a fire, then actually lit the fire to make sure they had something to save.

 

Is a cappella as we know it dead?

 

Short answer: No.

 

Long answer: Kind of.

 

Answer I should write so Deke doesn’t call me on the phone and yell at me: Of course not! A cappella can never die!

 

A cappella had a phenomenal decade from 2009-2019. The Sing-Off gave every group hope that they could be a star. Pitch Perfect brought the ICCA and riff-off’s into the cultural zeitgeist. In Transit brought a cappella singing to Broadway. The A cappella Education Association brought teachers together. At one point, CASA had 6 (SIX!) yearly festivals running. It was a great time to be an a cappella fan.

 

Then 2020 and the pandemic killed off a lot of groups. One of my favorite groups, Canadian group Cadence, retired. Another one of my favorite groups, Fermata Town, kind of faded into the background. Hell, even my group dissipated. 

 

So where do we go from here? Well, to circle back to the original question “Is A cappella Dead?” my suggestion is evolution. Here’s the problem we’re facing:

 

1) Festivals are booking the same groups over and over again, or they’re booking acts that aren’t even a cappella

2) A cappella is no longer prominent in the media. (Let’s face it…we’re not getting Pitch Perfect 4)

3) It feels like groups are churning out tracks at a record rate, but very few of these tracks have anything new to say.

 

I am sorry if this opinion rattles your cage a little bit. That was kind of the idea. Make no mistake, I’m a die hard, a cappella true-believer. But even I’m getting bored and find myself drifting slowly away from the thing I love more than my own children more than my Labubu collection. 

 

Let’s look at brighter sides. What is helping us currently evolve?

 

1)    GAIA- Formed by Matt Goldstein, this company (Collective? Group? Pack?) has found success hosting nightly circle singing workshops and one-day choirs. This year, they’ve expanded their reach beyond Brooklyn and they have taken their act on the road both nationally and internationally. You can find out more about there here: https://www.facebook.com/gaiamusiccollective/

2)    BGAC- Broadway Goes A cappella- Formed by Andrew Kim, Evan Feist, and Charlie Arthur, this twice-a-year concert has penetrated the Broadway community and even lured in some true Broadway stars to sing solos. https://www.facebook.com/broadwaygoesacappella

3)    Grammys- Thanks mostly to Pentatonix, pop a cappella has been recognized as part of a GRAMMY-eligible category. Not only that, but there are more than a few a cappella superstars like Kevin Child and Mel Daneke who have been accepted onto the GRAMMY voting board.

4)    Education- Rob Dietz, if you didn’t know, is the chair of repertoire and standards for contemporary a cappella in ACDA. Thanks to big pushes from him and educational leaders, ACDA is starting to form pop a cappella honors choirs and pop a cappella has become a popular topic at national festivals. I myself presented at the 2023 national convention about contemporary a cappella. (See that? That was an explanabrag.) 

5)    Counterpoint- The popular podcast by Rob and Deke Sharon has been brought back, and now they’re tackling more than just arranging questions. https://www.facebook.com/counterptpod

6)    The NY Collective- Grammy-award-winning Ben Bram has moved to New York (ha ha take THAT California!) and formed a pop a cappella choir with rotating auditions and singers.

7)    AAVF- Though not really new(ish), the AAVF (Aarhus Vocal Festival) has been campaigning for more collaboration, more improvisation, and more diversity. Just watch their final concert of the festival (I forget the name…). You’ll see ten a cappella groups, working and performing together, all with lights, scenery, and staging. I caught the 2024 performance and let me tell you…This performance ALONE was worth the price of admission. https://aavf.dk/

 

Let’s get real for a second. Of course, any type of group singing is positive. Just because you’re churning out arrangement after arrangement does not mean you’re doing anything bad. And for the 90% of a cappella groups/choirs/barbershop quartets/vocal jazz groups, evolution is not on their minds, and that’s great. Keep singing, keep making the world a more harmonious place.

 

For the 10% of us who want to push the boundaries of a cappella and show the world something new…we have to step it up.

 

Is a cappella dead? Of course not. Vocal music was the very first kind of music and will undoubtedly be the very last kind of music (Suck it Oboes!). But honestly, and this is just my opinion, we’ve hit a plateau and we need to climb.

 

Marc Silverberg

Marcesilverberg.com

@docacappella on Instagram