Pocketappella
For the uninitiated, it can be difficult to understand why people love a cappella. Heck, even for those of us who do actively enjoy it, it can be difficult to put into words why we enjoy this art form so. While we’ll never have a truly comprehensive list of everything cool about a cappella, 200 Reasons to Love A Cappella is our best attempt at assembling a list of what makes it great.
Reason #174: Pocketappella
Some friends and I started casually using the term “pocketappella” in the mid-2000s in reference to the bevy of a cappella performers—particularly male soloists—who had a tendency to put their hands in their pockets and assume a sort of aw shucks casual posture as they took the lead on a song.
Pocketappella is not necessarily good—there’s a very real argument that it undermines the soloist’s potential to really emote or otherwise perform a song. I’m not altogether disappointed to have seen the trope die down a bit in recent years. Just the same, it’s a distinctive piece of a cappella culture—a pattern that showed up often enough to emerge a recognizable part of the community, and to do so in a time before YouTube had really took hold and performers could be so directly influenced by one another on a large scale.
It’s simple. It’s a little silly. But just the same…
I love it!