A cappella groups turn up the volume on campus

A cappella singing is gaining a stronger voice at UCLA. In the
last several years, a handful of new a cappella groups and music
events have sprouted up on campus, offering more and more students
a chance to create music using only their voice.

ScatterTones is the newest a cappella group at UCLA, having been
formed in the beginning of fall 2002. But while the co-ed group is
relatively new to UCLA, it has been very active on campus since its
first concert in November of last year, performing at a number of
events and festivals throughout the year.

Performing mostly contemporary rock and pop songs, the group was
created because its founders felt UCLA should have more outlets for
a cappella music.

“On a campus with as many people as UCLA’s, we
should have more than just one or two a cappella groups,”
said Mark Chen, ScatterTones’s co-founder and musical
director. “Students here aren’t experiencing the same
(musical) opportunities their peers are getting on the other side
of the country.”

Chen, who is originally from the East Coast, says that an a
cappella tradition is much more established among eastern schools
like Brown or Tufts universities. According to Chen, East Coast
schools can have as many as 15 or 20 vocal groups on campus, and
the tradition is a significant part of the university’s
culture and identity. But not so on the West Coast, says Chen,
where a cappella tends to be treated as a fringe interest among
students.

However, Chen is optimistic about where a cappella is going in
the West. He sees the rise in new campus a cappella groups, along
with events like this year’s California A Cappella Festival,
as signs that the West Coast is beginning to catch up.

Peter Musante, president of the co-ed group Awaken A Cappella,
also believes a cappella music is becoming more popular at
UCLA.

“A cappella is definitely growing, especially if you
consider that a few years ago there was basically one group on
campus and now we’ve already got three or four,”
Musante said.

Now beginning its 11th year, Awaken is the oldest a cappella
group at UCLA. The group has become a staple at campus events like
Spring Sing, has been featured on national CD compilations of
collegiate a cappella music, and had its performance of the
national anthem broadcast during a UCLA basketball game.

Having been the only a cappella group on campus for several
years, the members of Awaken are glad to finally have some company
and to see a real a cappella community developing at UCLA.

Besides ScatterTones, another significant a cappella group to
form in the last few years is Random Voices, an all-female ensemble
formed in 1999. Molly Jones, the group’s founder, was looking
to give UCLA’s female singers more opportunities to show
their talents. Now in its fourth year, Random Voices has firmly
established itself both on campus and throughout the area, with
members of Random Voices winning awards at last year’s
International Competition of Collegiate A Cappella.

Random Voices has also contributed to expanding a cappella
music’s visibility on campus by founding the California A
Cappella Festival, held at UCLA every March. Already a two-year
tradition, the festival is not a competition between a cappella
groups or even focused particularly on the performance of a
cappella music. Instead, Random Voices established the festival to
give groups a chance to hang out with each other and get a sense of
what other West Coast groups are doing.

“It’s exciting to have all these groups come
out,” said Tina Lin, the musical director for Random Voices.
“It’s making a cappella music become more established
at UCLA.”

But as more a cappella groups pop up on campus, more students
are needed to fill the ensembles. All of the groups are looking for
new voices, and they will be holding auditions early during fall
quarter. But students who are considering getting involved in
UCLA’s a cappella scene should not feel discouraged if they
have not had extensive experience.

“Our members are really diverse as far as
experience,” said Lin. “A couple of (Random
Voices’) singers came in with absolutely no official singing
experience.”

Contact Chen for ScatterTones at [email protected], Lin for
Random Voices at [email protected], Musante for Awaken at
[email protected].