Why is a cappella such a thing on campus?

[Anonymous]

Remember The Sing Off reality show around 10 years ago with Pentatonix as the biggest outcome of that? My kids loved that show when they were little and there were some college groups on, from Yale, etc. that did very well,very entertaining!

[Anonymous]

It's fun and their peers love to see them perform.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's like ultimate frisbee. Just one more "college culture" thing.

Exactly, it’s just a college thing that’s always been popular. There’s even repeated jokes about it in The Office (Andy from Cornell)

I remember the kids at my college were incredible. They could have been professional musicians and composers but instead they were studying engineering. They did spend an incredible amount of time rehearsing and traveling, and as a parent I could definitely see wanting them to focus on their studies more. But it is great fun. Everyone on campus would turn out for their performances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is a status signal. It seems to be a thing at schools with money like SLACs. I can't recall if we had ones at my Midwestern state school in the 90s. Though we did have an excellent choir.

I don't think it is a status symbol but I do think there is a correlation between having a cappella and the more elite schools. Kind of like how elite schools tend to have reunion (or "reunions" as they obnoxiously call it at Princeton) while other schools are more focused on homecoming.

It's not a status symbol. It was borne out of Gregorian Chants and updated. Here's the history of American Collegiate A cappella per wikipedia:

The RPI Glee Club of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, established in 1873, was one of the earliest known collegiate a cappella groups. The longest continuously operating group is thought to be The Whiffenpoofs of Yale University, which was formed in 1909 to create a musical group with a more "modern" sound than that of the Yale Glee Club, and named for the lyrics to Little Nemo, a popular Broadway song at the time. Such names, normally intended for comedic effect, have come to define in some part the irreverent attitude found in modern collegiate a cappella. For example, the second-oldest continuously performing a cappella group is Yale's Society of Orpheus and Bacchus, or "SOB's". The first a cappella groups at other American Ivy League universities include Notes and Keys of Columbia, which were founded in 1909, the same year as the Whiffenpoofs; the Princeton Nassoons (c.1941); the Dartmouth Aires (1946); the Harvard Krokodiloes (1946); Cayuga's Waiters of Cornell University (1949); and the Jabberwocks of Brown University (1949). The Smith College Smiffenpoofs are the oldest continuous soprano/alto a cappella group, founded in 1936.

In recent years, online a cappella communities have come together, allowing for greater involvement in the shaping of modern a cappella music, including stylistic trends. Among the most prominent online a cappella presences are the A Cappella Blog, Varsity Vocals, and CASA (The Contemporary A Cappella Society). According to the A Cappella Blog, it "was founded in January 2007. Since that time, the site has reviewed over 40 International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella competitions."

[Anonymous]

I was in college marching band and it was probably the same time commitment as you describe, maybe more. I loved it, it was great for me socially, and those were and remain some of my best friends.

Also, I was in college pre- The Sing Off / Pitch Perfect / Pentatonix and we had a few a capella groups back then, though there was one of them that was wildly popular, difficult to get into, went to competitions, etc. I think there are a few more of them now there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some schools have a long history of a capella groups, but the movie Pitch Perfect inspired a wider interest.

I graduated Bucknell in 2002 and the acapella groups were very popular even then. Their winter concerts would sell out!