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Bruin Harmony hopes to strike a chord with audience through original number

All-male a cappella group Bruin Harmony will perform its first original song “Pass On By,” which contains elements of the group’s previous arrangements, such as a climactic song arc. (Photo illustration by Christine Kao/Daily Bruin staff and Emily Dembinski/Illustrations director)

By Austin Nguyen

May 16, 2021 4:00 p.m.

The melody of unity rings clear in Bruin Harmony’s music.

After a one-year hiatus from the Spring Sing stage, the 16-person all-male a cappella group is back to perform “Pass On By” – the first original song in Bruin Harmony’s history. The group’s president and third-year economics student John Webster said the group felt severely disjunct at the beginning of the pandemic, but performances such as Spring Sing have enabled the singers to feel a revived sense of connection.

“We wanted to just try and be as unified as we could,” Webster said. “And we knew that Spring Sing always does that for us.”

While this year’s performance marks a departure from Bruin Harmony’s cover songs, such as Radiohead’s “Creep” from 2018 and John Mayer’s “Gravity” from 2019, Webster said an original song was a good opportunity to both bring the singers together and push them past their comfort zone. Abe Soane, the group’s music director and fourth-year theater student, said he first wrote and composed “Pass On By” with the ssistant music director Jeong-Soo Park for a class project.

Initially only a duet between the two singers, Soane said they rearranged the song for Bruin Harmony after the group chose it over a cover of Jamiroquai’s “Canned Heat.” Despite being an original composition, “Pass On By” retains some elements from Bruin Harmony’s previous arrangements, such as intricate chords and a climactic song arc, he said.

Lyrically, the song was supposed to be about seeing a loved one struggle with addiction – taking inspiration from Hozier and Maggie Rogers’ songwriting – but Soane said its significance morphed as the group began to ascribe its own meanings to the track. When the group had a meeting to discuss the piece, he said most singers interpreted it as a song about the desire to be with somebody when circumstances make it impossible. “Pass On By” also started to change sonically as different compressors were used to give the vocals a vintage and distanced quality while time signature changes – shifts in how the music is counted – were added to make the piece more dynamic and interesting, Soane said.

“I’m really excited for people to see an original a capella song; it just doesn’t happen that often,” Soane said. “I’m excited to see how it’s received.”

But throughout the year and the process of learning the song, there were difficulties keeping the group intact and motivated, said Duncan McHugh, Bruin Harmony’s business manager. At the beginning of the pandemic, the third-year economics student said singers began to drop out of the group, overhauling the group dynamics as additional members had to be recruited. He said online competitions have helped morale by giving Bruin Harmony a goal to work toward, and socials with other a capella groups like Awaken A Capella and Random Voices have been fun.

Above all, Hugh said the group tries to meet up in person as much as possible to maintain the personal connection between members. He said the performance for Spring Sing, for example, was recorded between Janss Steps, Royce Hall and Powell Library with all 16 members in attendance. Admitting new singers from fall and winter auditions has also incentivized the group to work toward the future of Bruin Harmony and ensure new members have the same experience as returning ones, he said.

“It’s really hard to keep everyone’s motivation up,” Hugh said. “(But) the music is still good, and everyone looks forward to the next piece of music.”

Regardless of whether Bruin Harmony takes home any awards for Spring Sing, Hugh said the group can hold their heads up high for their resilience throughout a difficult time. Despite their lack of experience in the past quarters, he said members of Bruin Harmony picked up skills for video editing, music production and song mixing by the year’s end, which is a feat the group can be proud of.

“We can hang our hat on (this year’s Spring Sing), knowing that we did our best and our group is in good hands in the future,” Hugh said.

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