Anonymous wrote:You also need to be able to sway and snap your fingers. Singing is not enough.

Vocal percussion is amazing. That's part of the fun.

One small contributing factor is all the Collegiate Gothic architecture at all the old schools. Very good acoustics in those archways.

College is the beginning of the real world where people with talent and charisma who can perform and entertain are admired. That's why it's a thing on campus. Because it's something 99 percent of people could never do. The good groups are very good and a lot of fun.

People like music. That's really it. When a cappella is well done, it's fun. Why does anyone listen to any music they like?

It's been popular in college a long time. It's not just Pitch Perfect.

I do think this rubs the jocky bro types the wrong way for reasons that are probably obvious. The types that peaked in high school are probably not a fan.

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

Anonymous wrote:They are insanely popular and highly visible at almost every school we visited. Much to my DH’s dismay. Kids seem to really love doing it from what we’ve seen.

Huh?

Haha, OP here loving all the responses (and also a cappella). Only posted because I’m curious why it’s so popular at college in particular!

A cappella is aca-awesome!

It was popular at my university in the 90s, but seems even more popular now with more groups at more universities.

A cappella is awesome. I loved going to a cappella concerts when I was in college. If you're negative on a cappella, you've probably only watched bad a cappella.

Listen to anything by "Straight No Chaser," a professional group that was formed by Indiana Univ. alums or "Pentatonics." I am not an Indiana alum but I went to see Straight No Chaser when they were touring through my city and they were amazing on stage also.

When my DC and I went to Ithaca College's accepted students' day, their a cappella group performed. Ithaca has an excellent music school and they were great. But it was probably a plus for me and a minus for my kid, LOL. (Not a music major!)

My child's private school has a glee club that is basically an a cappella group - they sing modern songs without accompaniment.

There is the old joke about the kid who put on their college app that their XC was playing piano to accompany an a cappella group...

I love a cappella and wish they had it at my college in the '90s. I'm sure they do now.

Just think -- it's a terrific outlet for all those kids who crammed their high school schedules full of extracurricular activities! If you're not playing a sport or holding down a job, why not sing?

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.

I don’t know that it’s a status symbol. JMU had an all male group when I attended in the 90s.

I was in show choir in high school and a regular concert choir in college (graduated 1990). Met my husband in college choir. There wasn't any prominent a capella only group on campus - I'd say the Men's Glee Club came closest.

In grad school at Michigan, I attended an Amazin' Blue concert and was hooked on the format. I liked to introduce work friends to it after I graduated. A capella makes for a fun contemporary song concert. That was years before Glee and Pitch Perfect. And there were already several other groups on campus.

I have seen kids live and recorded and generally their live performance is fairly equivalent to their recorded performance. I listened to Amazin' Blue's Star-Spangled Banner over and over again after 9-11. It was a tribute version they did in concert that school year.

I also like some videos by BYU VocalPoint. "You Will Be Found" and "Go The Distance" are very well done scripted videos featuring chorus members. Similar to the Penn Masala video above - which I quite liked. Thanks to whoever posted that.

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.

UVa had multiple strong groups when I was there in the 90s. Not sure about now.