Deke Sharon
Programming note: Unfortunately, for the first time in The ACB's history, we will not be offering a review of the Mid-Atlantic Semifinals this year. Mike Chin was going to cover the show, but caught an insane amount of traffic on his drive to New Jersey, and could not make it to Rutgers in time for the show. We welcome readers to write in with their thoughts on this semifinal. Otherwise, the next ACB event review will be for the 2009 ICCA Finals.
Deke Sharon is the founder of the Contemporary A Cappella Society, a past director of the Tufts Beelzebubs, and a co-founder of BOCA, the ICCA tournament and a successful professional group, The House Jacks. Sharon took the time to answer questions from The A Cappella Blog.
The A Cappella Blog (ACB) You are among the best-known figures in contemporary a cappella. How is it that you first became involved with a cappella music? What drew you to it?
Deke Sharon (DS): First of all, thanks for the invitation to be interviewed, and the implication that I'm one of the best known figures in a cappella, especially when fame is such a commodity within American culture.
Alas, I think I'm essentially unknown outside of the inner circles of a cappella and choral music (as opposed to, say, Bobby McFerrin), but it's nice to imagine that my fifteen minutes of fame have already started.
Answering a question about my first involvement is difficult because I started singing in church choir at age 5, and in the San Francisco Boys Chorus at age 7 (which was the youngest you could be in both cases back when I was a kid), as it seems so long ago. Undoubtedly both had a strong impact on me, as I've always considered myself a singer, and music my first love.
Two memories really stick with me:
* Hearing improvised harmony around a campfire. The idea that you could just create harmony by ear was, for me, a powerful realization, and it remains thrilling when the House Jacks take requests from the audience at each of our shows.
* Seeing the Tufts Beelzebubs perform at my high school as a sophomore. I'd just sung lead in the barbershop quartet in The Music Man, which we continued at lunch time after the show had wrapped, and to hear a variety of music sung so compellingly with such complex arrangements absolutely floored me. I was hooked.
As for what draws me to it, I can't say for certain. I'm not a spiritual person by most people's definition, and yet there's something deeply, well, spiritual about the experience of hearing or singing vocal harmony. I think people around the world have a similar experience when they hear really great a cappella as well, or, even better, when they sing it.
ACB: You led the much-celebrated Tufts Beelzebubs in the early 1990s. How has collegiate a cappella changed since that time?
It has changed enormously. I recall sitting in the back of chapel after chapel as a Bub (we toured an extensive amount) playing "Name That Tune" with my cohorts. Sadly, there were apparently only about 25 different tunes most groups would ever attempt, and most were already a cappella (like the Flying Pickets' version of Yaz' "Only You") or heavily vocal (like Billy Joel's "For the Longest Time").
I don't think most of the groups realized how much overlap there was, as touring from college to college back then was rare (only a few college groups back then went off campus more than once a semester), and moreover most didn't realize that the human voice is capable of far more than "bum" and "doo."
Luckily, collegiate a cappella groups now attempt just about anything that's on the radio, and whereas they sometimes don't hit the mark, they're trying. The result is a greatly more diversified repertoire and style, with far more people singing as well as many, many more fans.
ACB: You were among the founders of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella competition and the Best of College A Cappella compilation. Can you describe the process by which these a cappella institutions took shape, and how they have developed since?
DS: To say they had humble beginnings would be accurate; they were the result of discussions with Adam Farb, a recent Brown Derbies graduate, who wanted to create a career of a cappella but didn't know how (back then, it was, as my high school choral teacher likes to remind me, tantamount to wanting to have "a career in professional tiddlywinks").
BOCA came first, and when it proved successful, the ICCA (back then it was the NCCA, a wink at the NCAA basketball tournament).
BOCA hasn't changed much, but it hasn't had to, as it's a compilation CD. The changes have been in the material on the CD (increasingly more impressive each year) and the number of people who hear it (increasing each year). The ICCA has grown immensely due to heaping helpings of great direction and TLC from Don Gooding and Amanda Grish, who took it from a fun, rather casual competition in its first couple of years (although we did have the finals at Carnegie Hall) to a significant institution within and without a cappella, garnering more and more attention from the media and general public each year.
It is said that both have had a significant impact on the collegiate a cappella community, for better and worse, over the past 15 years, but it's not for me to say as I'm too close to both. However, the simple fact that they've grown, and celebrated excellence in recorded and live collegiate a cappella, brings me enormous satisfaction. Collegiate a cappella at its best is amazingly vibrant and enjoyable art form, and I'm thrilled that the general public is beginning to recognize it.
ACB: You are known for your uncanny ability to vocally imitate a wide range of instruments. How did develop this unique skill set? What's your best vocal instrument? Any hints to the aspiring on how they can develop their repertoire in this area?
DS: My instrumental sounds have come largely from the desire to sing
specific songs and create sounds that are appropriate. Sometimes the sounds are reminiscent of specific instruments, and other times they sound like, well, nothing else. The human voice is far more flexible and varied that most people realize, as the history of music has largely been written by composers who put a soloist in front and developed a variety of textures by using different instruments.
How were they developed? A crazy flexibility and willingness to make strange sounds (largely while arranging) and the ongoing practice that comes from getting up in front of audiences with a desire to continue to perfect every night. I'm definitely still learning.
I'd have to say my muted trumpet probably draws the most attention, but it's no more important that a variety of sounds I make while singing background parts. I've always felt the ability to imitate an instrument is, in and of itself, largely a parlor trick. The art is in making great, expressive music, regardless of the sounds you make. Hopefully audiences start by being impressed at the sound of my trumpet, but then sit back and listen to my solo the same way they
would if they'd wandered into a jazz club. Novelty only goes so far.
There's no school or instructional manual to teach one how to sing like a trumpet, guitar or harmonica, but one of these days I'll get around to making a DVD. For now, I do my best to teach people in person.
ACB: While in college, you formed the Contemporary A Cappella Society of America. What gave you the idea for this project? In your mind, what impact has CASA had on the a cappella world since its inception?
DS: Initially, it was just a newsletter meant to unify collegiate a cappella groups. Before the internet, before any pan-collegiate programs (like BOCA and the ICCA), groups knew almost nothing about each other. Being in the Bubs and traveling to as many as 30 colleges a year to perform gave me an insight into what could be an amazing network of collegiate a cappella singers. I wanted to share the experience.
And it didn't take long for me to realize the same lack of community existed among professional and recreational groups as well. So, within 6 months I expanded the scope to include everyone, and created a legal non-profit as soon as I got back home to San Francisco.
Impact? Impossible for me to measure. I'm too involved, too close to it all to assess.
ACB: After college, you co-founded a professional a cappella group, The
House Jacks. A decade and a half later, this ensemble is among the most established, and best-known a cappella groups in the world. What has it been like to perform with this group? What are you most memorable experiences from being a part of the Jacks?
DS: I love performing, and feel very lucky to have, in essence, sublimated my collegiate a cappella mojo into a professional career. What has it been like? In some ways it's an extension of my college days, and in other ways it's very much like any other rock band.
Most memorable experiences? Traveling to Singapore, Europe, Japan. Performing for/with Ray Charles and James Brown. Singing live in front of a crowd of 100,000 people. And countless little things: moments that might not mean anything to anyone else, but they're fond memories of great songs, great meals at rest stops, great laughs. Life can be so much more than a 9-5 routine, and music is a fantastic way to make "the read."
ACB: Is there anything else you'd like to share with readers of The A Cappella Blog?
DS: 17 years ago, as a senior in college, I wanted to make a career of a
cappella. Everyone told me I was completely crazy. And, truth be told, I was. I'm glad I didn't listen to them, and had a fire in my belly. Now, I don't believe it when I hear great athletes say that "anyone can do anything they want," which I believe to be an amazingly irresponsible statement. Almost no one could physically do what Michael Jordan did, and I'm sure some people wanted it even more than he did. However, there are vast undiscovered areas of potential within
all people, and we are held back by fear.
So, rather than tell everyone that they can do anything, I'd like to say that everyone can do something. Something great, something fun. And most important, something they love. If you love contemporary a cappella, and want to continue to be involved beyond graduation, you can. There are countless opportunities: some full time, some part time, some recreational. You absolutely can sing, and beyond that you can, um, I don't know. It hasn't been invented yet. Come up with a great idea, and next thing you know you'll be answering some interview questions on this blog.