Excitement overshadowed pre-performance jitters as the members of the new a cappella club, “Pitch, Please” stepped onto the stage for their first performance last December at the Central Carolina Winter Arts and Crafts Festival in Siler City. As the group looked out onto the small audience and sung its first notes, smiles crept onto their faces. The positive energy in the room zapped away the nerves that were present when the performance first started.
“It was really nerve racking… but it felt amazing,” said Jacqueline Helgans, a freshman who takes vocals class and is a member of the a cappella club. “We did a really good job.”
A cappella is a style of music that uses only voices, no instruments, to create a complete arrangement.
For video of “Pitch, Please” rehearsing, click here.
Matthew Hanson, the new vocals and guitar teacher, was all for starting the new group when Hartsock came to him about it at the beginning of the year.
“It’s just a group to come together and sing and do a lot more contemporary-style stuff,” Hanson said. “When you’re in a chorus, you do a lot of music that’s with piano or with accompaniment of some sort. With an a cappella group, it’s just voices. There’s no piano, no instruments, nothing. All the voices are the instruments.”
The a cappella club has already gotten a few invitations to perform at events as entertainment. Hanson hopes that the group will become the face of Northwood vocals.
“We’re hoping to do more performances and competitions in the future instead of just singing in the choir room by ourselves, ” said sophomore and a cappella member Katie Robbins.
A cappella members like to have fun and challenge themselves by participating in the club.
“It’s really harmonically based and it’s more of a challenge musically,” Helgans said.
Though the club is new, the vocal program has been around since the school opened. It offers classes that range from Vocal I for beginners to Vocal IV Honors for high-level singers. Students say that there are many benefits to taking the class.
“It helps with confidence and you get really close to your section,” Helgans said. “Also, music is great. It improves test scores and it’s a creative outlet.”
Technical elements of singing are always important, but vocal students say that the classes also help with things outside of vocals. Chelsea Korynta, a junior and a cappella club member, recommended the vocals class.
“If you’re shy, [taking vocals] is a good way to break out of your comfort zone because you are in front of people, but you’re in front of people with a group, unless you’re a soloist or something,” Korynta said. “Also, if you’re trying to find another way to express yourself and sports don’t really work for you or band or stuff like that [doesn’t work], then it’s a great way to express yourself.”
Students say you don’t have to have a great voice to take vocals. In fact, the higher-level students who take it encourage those who are less experienced to try out the class.
“You don’t have to be a really good singer to take [vocals],” Helgans said. “Choral singing is more about blend and reading music, so you can still get a really good idea of how to read music and develop your voice. If you don’t think you can really sing well you’ll get better.”
Some students who take part in vocals say that performing is one of their favorite aspects of it.
“[I like] the feeling of being on stage,” Korynta said. “There’s parts in the music where it gets very emotional, and that’s the best part for me, when you can really express yourself through it.”
The vocal program hosts two formal concerts per semester and sometimes has extra opportunities to perform at different events. The next vocal concert is March 16th at the Chatham Arts Extravaganza.
Hanson has already expanded the program, but growth is something he says he strives for. Hanson wants to get the message about vocals out to as many students as possible.
“It might sound cliché, but [I] just really [want the students to get] an enjoyment and appreciation for music,” Hanson said. “Sure, I want them to be able to sing well and have good technique and breathe and do all the things that good singers should do, but [I] just [want them to have] a desire to study about music, even after they leave high school.”
— By Becca Heilman