The Return to Finals
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 #198: The Return to Finals
Scholastic a cappella, not unlike scholastic sports, and other competitive mediums, face the interesting dynamic that at least once every four years or so, groups tend to face massive turnover. Graduation, shifting priorities, life changes—there are any number of contributing factors, but regardless, despite bearing the same name, the high school or college group you hear in 2012 is not the same group you’ll hear in 2016.
From 2007 to 2016, I attended every iteration of the ICCA Finals, and over half of the ICHSA Finals shows. One of the most surprising, remarkable, and impressive pieces of watching these shows across a decade was how many times the same groups arrived at the big stage.
Whether we’re talking about The SoCal VoCals winning a record five ICCA Championships, The University of Michigan G-Men making it to Finals in back-to-back-to-back years, or The Highlands Voices winning their ICHSA region six years straight, these groups demonstrated an astonishing continuity of excellence. Whether it’s maintaining institutional knowledge and practices, alumni support networks, the input of faculty advisor, or the sheer hard work and tenacity within the a cappella franchise to continually rebuild and re-attain excellence, it’s downright inspiring to see great groups remain great or return to greatness, often in new ways and with new faces over a period of years.
I love it!