Sweet Serenade: A Rehearsal with The Buffalo Chips

Jessica Brant is a junior communication major and student journalist at SUNY Buffalo. This is her first piece for The A Cappella Blog.

Dan stood in the center of the huddle making eye contact with his group members before speaking: “Everyone sing their note.”

The laughter settled, the joking ceased, and thirteen voices became one in beautiful harmony.

The guys were working on an arrangement of Bruno Mars’ “Grenade” when I walked into Knox lecture hall to have a listen.

The concentration was overwhelming; they wore it like an athlete, completely immersed in the moment. Focused and driven.

“Make sure to keep in mind our dynamics,” Dan advised after the first run-through.

The gradual swelling of sound had an almost haunting quality to it. As the guys increased and decreased in volume, Chip member Shafiq A. Rahman found himself at just the right moment and took the lead with a tone so soothing you would swear it was a lullaby.

But there is no one solo star on this team. As musical director, Dan “Staff” Stafford—a junior Psychology major who has been a member of the University at Buffalo’s only all-male A Capella group for three years--guides when necessary, but finds he doesn’t always have to; the group tends to lead itself.

“I feel like it’s really good for us to be able to feed off of each other…when you have thirteen pretty musical people in a room, it’s really good to pool that knowledge to make the best choices possible,” Dan said.

The strong group dynamic the Chips have fostered has contributed greatly to their success on the A Cappella circuit. Last year, they landed a ticket to the ICCA finals at the Lincoln Center in NYC for the first time in the club’s fifteen year history, one of the most unforgettable experiences of their singing careers.

And the fifteen minutes of celebrity didn’t hurt either. They caught the eyes of the producers of NBC’s The Sing-Off, who happened to be in the neighborhood seeking out talent that day. The thirteen ambitious musicians never made it onto the show, but they did make the top 20 cut and were followed by a camera crew for the day.

That’s OK, because the sweet smell of victory still lingers; they recently came back from a win at quarterfinals at Penn State, where they snatched up awards for Best Vocal Percussion, Best Arrangement, and Best Soloist and also won their semifinals at Rutgers University and were crowned the Mid-Atlantic Champions. Their next stop? Finals in NYC for the second year in a row.

How does that feel? In one word: “Unbelievable,” Dan said.

Practice makes perfect, and the Chips practice five or more hours a week for up-coming competitions. They carefully run through songs several times, perfecting their pitch and choreography to a tee.

Coldplay’s “Lovers in Japan” was next on the rehearsal agenda that evening. As the guys looked thoughtfully out into the sea of empty seats surrounding me, I felt like I wasn’t in a lecture hall anymore. I was in a concert hall getting serenaded by an impeccable ensemble of sound.

It was yet another of many beautiful arrangements which they sit down and work on together. In the past, it was usually a select few doing the work, but the guys have come to realize that an all-for-one and one-for-all mentality allows for the real magic to be made.

The Chips have without a doubt established a respectable reputation on campus and have learned through experience that the best PR is by interacting with their peers and showcasing their talent wherever they go.

Like Waldo, you can find them just about anywhere: singing at basketball games, serenading students on the UB stampede bus, swooning over waitresses at local restaurants, and showcasing their talent and charisma at other random places and campus events. And if you’re lucky—and happen to be at the right place at the right time—you might find yourself getting “chipped.”

Vocal Percussionist and senior Communication major Matt Smith explained that these spontaneous bursts in song are called “chipping” someone.

For seasoned pros, I would think these would be considered pretty fearless moves. But Matt informed me that there’s always a sense of the unknown when they’re performing for people—that nerves are only human.

“You still think, ‘Do they like it?’” Matt said.

But I’m sure the waitresses and young ladies they swoon over go home with smiles on their faces at the end of the day.

A kindred soul floated in the room that evening. It was so magnetic that you wanted to catch it. It’s no wonder former members who have graduated from years past continue to keep in close contact with their music-making brothers.

“The Chips is really greater than the one present group you happen to see, and it’s cool to let people know of the tradition that is the Chips... it has been around for fifteen years now, and we still are in contact with the founding members to this day,” Dan said. “It’s kind of like a singing frat almost where we hang out, be college students, and, oh yeah--we happen to make really cool music.”

I learned near the end of rehearsal that none of the group members are music majors, which makes their feats all the more incredible. Dan, whose voice has been compared to those of Jason Mraz and John Mayor, didn’t even start singing until 11th grade of high school.

“One friend heard me sing and told me to try out for my high school’s a cappella group, so I decided to try, ended up making it, and the interest stuck,” Dan said.

They’re sweeter than any batch of chocolate chip cookies I could ever make and they’re easy to be around. And while the group’s musical tastes are diverse—they love everything from soft pop to R&B, rock, and blues—first-year member Keegan Burke-Falotico assures you they won’t be singing any Justin Beiber tunes anytime soon.

“We don’t have Beiber fever,” Keegan said.

The Chips did, however, keep the boy band fads of yesteryear alive and well by wrapping-up rehearsal with a quick and entertaining rendition of “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” for me.

That should really be their new anthem, because one thing’s for sure: The Chips are indeed back--for finals round two, and they’re packing punch.

For more information about The Buffalo Chips, visit their Facebook page or their official website.