CSUN Acasola
Acasola is a relatively new group on the collegiate scene. Nonetheless, the mixed group out of California State University, Northridge, has already made quite a name for itself. Acasola President Jared Wolf took the time to answer questions from The A Cappella Blog’s own Mike C.
The A Cappella Blog (ACB): Acasola only came together last fall, and by the spring was already competing in ICCA. How did the group prepare for competition so quickly? What did the group learn from the experience?
Jared Wolf (JW): We came together as a group in September of 2006. We were founded by Chase DeLuca and Tillie Spencer. After Chase and Tillie had auditions in September of 2006, we were a strong group of 13. Chase was the president and Tillie was our musical director. We immediately went to Big Bear, Ca for our first retreat. We learned our first 3-4 songs at Big Bear. From the get go, we knew we had something special. At Big Bear was when we decided to work our hardest to compete at the ICCA's and that is where we thought of the name Acasola.
From that day, we put our pedal to the metal and made everyone a believer. We had 2-3 practices a week and 1 performance on campus every week as well. It was a tough thing as a new group to get recognition on a college campus and prepare for this giant international competition! We had a lot of rough points along the way. Our founder Chase had to give up his right as president on December 31, 2006 because he was graduating that next semester.
So Jared Wolf (a freshman) became the new president right before ICCA's.
During Winter Break (December-January), 3 of our members quit the group
because of various reasons. We were down to 9 people (4 guys, 5 girls). We knew the penalties of missing ICCAs so we said "eff it, lets go out there to put on a show, and not to win". Because we didn't want to win ICCAs after 4 months of existence… that is just selfish. We had 4 practices a week for the two weeks before ICCAs. We learned a brand new arrangement three and a half weeks before ICCAs. We learned the choreography two and half weeks before ICCAs.
We grew so much as a group and as individuals as well. We made a promise in Big Bear, telling ourselves we could do it. Honestly, it paid off at the end. We might not have won ICCAs, but we made a name for ourselves. Look out for us because we can overcome anything. We will be the next a cappella powerhouse, you'll see.
ACB: Your group has only a few music majors in it. How does your diversity of academic backgrounds affect the culture of the group?
JW: It makes the group so much more enjoyable. There is no competition between the members; we are able to network with almost all of the majors through Acasola. For the non-music majors, this is where they are fed. Everyone has the potential to sing, not just music majors. This is where the Biology majors and the Cinema majors and the Deaf Studies majors come to sing when other groups only take music majors.
ACB: Where did the group name Acasola come from?
JW: Acasola was the best idea out of many ideas. We tried: "the digga dums", "ice cold crickets", "cisum", and many more…
Acasola means this:
Aca=A cappella
Sol= the Sun, we come from C(SUN).
La= DO RE ME SO "LA" TE DO!
And it sounds cool! Right?
ACB: Describe a typical Acasola rehearsal. How often do you guys practice and what do you do to achieve such success by the time you hit the stage? Do rehearsals change before a big show? Before you guys go into competition?
JW: A typical rehearsal? That is pretty simple. We have a 2 hour and 3 hour rehearsal each week. We always start with 5-10 minutes of warm ups. After that, we do what we feel is necessary. If a song needs to be worked on, we will work on it until it meets our standards. If we have a new song to be learned, we will learn as much as possible. We review old songs to make sure we never forget them, and we try new things with the old songs, to keep us excited about singing them. We take one break in the middle of rehearsal for water, relaxing, talking on the phone. Then we do business and talk about upcoming events/ news. Then we finish the rehearsal with more singing and fun. Competitions and shows are the same thing in our eyes. If we are performing, we will perform like it is the ICCA's or for a prize or for the queen of England. Before any show, we run over our set list a couple of times and make sure all is well. Sometimes we don't even have practice. Instead we go hang out somewhere or something. We always try to keep the Acasola family tight and happy with each other.
ACB: What is your favorite song to perform with Acasola?
JW: We have so many, it is hard to pick! We honestly have so many genres, there is something for everyone. A personal favorite from our fans is our song "Do You Believe in Ding Dong Love". It includes: "The Tra La La Song" by Gunther and the Sunshine Girls, "What is Love" by Hadaway, and "Do You Believe in Life after Love" by Cher.
ACB: Is there anything else you would like to share with the readers of The A Cappella Blog?
JW: With all of our business of becoming world famous and all, we still are working on getting a cool looking website! You can visit us at Acasola.org or Google Acasola! We are also on Youtube.com so search us there as well. Myspace, Facebook… we have everything! Find us and become an Aca"Solmate"! Oh yeah, write to the A Cappella Blog and tell them to do a follow-up story on us!
If you would like to learn more about Acasola, you can visit the group online at http://www.acasola.org/.