Julia Hoffman
Julia Hoffman is one of the busiest women in a cappella. Hoffman’s resume includes a Contemporary A Cappella Society presidency, directorship of the Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards and, most recently an appointment as one of the judges for this Saturday’s ICCA finals. With so much going on, it makes it all the more remarkable that Hoffman took time to offer questions from The A Cappella Blog.
The A Cappella Blog (ACB): You will be one of the judges at this year's ICCA finals. Without giving too much away, what are you looking for from this year's finalists? What do groups need to do to stand out on collegiate a cappella's biggest stage?
Julia Hoffman (JH): By the time groups get to the finals, we can be pretty sure that they’ve got the basics covered: tuning, dynamics, phrasing, rhythmic accuracy, etc. The thing that differentiates the winning groups for me is how the group sells their set. I don’t want to see how hard they’re concentrating. It has to look effortless and real. In the end, this is a performance competition, and that means bringing the audience (including the judges) into the emotional content of the song. At the end of the set I want to feel like we’ve been through something together, not like the group did something they rehearsed a million times in front of me.
My best advice to groups is this: make sure you know what your songs are about. Make sure your soloist knows what s/he is singing about. Ensure that your staging matches the message of the song rather than being movement for movement’s sake. And then practice a million times in front of a video camera, a mirror, or a supportive but honest critic.
ACB: For those a cappella enthusiasts who have never been to the ICCA Finals before, what can they expect from the Finals experience? How would you describe this show, and how it's different from other competitions?
JH: Other competitions are generally one night only, while this one is the culmination of multiple rounds of competition to get to the finals. Consequently, all of the groups that get to ICCA finals are outstanding and the differences between them are generally pretty subtle. Stylistic choices, small musical errors, and audience connection are generally the things that make one group win over another. But overall, it’s a really fun night of diverse, high caliber performances that represents some of the best college a cappella in the world. The event has tons of positive energy from the crowd and good sportsmanship from all of the competing groups.
ACB: After a number of years of the ICCA and ICHSA Finals co-existing on the same night, how do you think splitting the two into separate nights will affect the respective shows? What do you think of the split?
JH: I am definitely in favor of separating the high school and college competitions. High school a cappella is a burgeoning field and absolutely warrants its own event. Splitting the shows will allow the ICCA finals to be shorter, which will lead to a happy audience. It’s always better to leave people wanting more! The high school groups won’t be unfairly compared to the college groups, which will be better for them. And this way high school groups can come to the ICCAs on Saturday night as audience members to see what the next phase of a cappella looks like.
ACB: As the current president of the Contemporary A Cappella Society (CASA), what you can tell our readers about what's new at CASA? What's something that might surprise folks about the Society?
JH: CASA has been around since 1991 but people still don’t know about all of the programs that we run! We are a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that is committed to fostering and promoting a cappella music. I think that people are generally most familiar with our awards programs, specifically the Contemporary A cappella Recording Awards (CARA). But beyond the awards, we also put on regional festivals, such as SoJam, produce media such as the Sing series, the Contemporary A Cappella Society Collection, and podcasts, we have educational programming such as CASAcademy and the Essential Listening lecture series, charitable giving programs such as Tunes to Teens and grants, and we have outreach and curriculum development for high schools. And that’s not even all of it!
The program that we are currently most excited about is the Contemporary A Cappella League (aka “CAL” or “The League”). We realized that there are tons of college singers who don’t have opportunities to pursue a cappella as a hobby after graduation. CAL provides a network for those who are not interested in joining a “semi-pro” or professional group. Directors get trained by Deke Sharon and member groups get a bunch of special benefits from CASA. The tagline for the program is “Sing for your life” and that’s exactly what we’re hoping to inspire people do. We want to keep people singing as long as possible, even well into adulthood when finding time to arrange, rehearse, and perform can get more challenging. There are already incredibly talented CAL groups all over the country and we are thrilled to see more starting up every month. If people are interested in learning more about this program, they can contact the Director of CAL, Amanda Aldag (amanda@casa.org).
ACB You're currently coordinating and overseeing the A Cappella Community Awards. For the uninitiated, how would you describe these awards?
JH: The ACAs are the People’s Choice Awards of a cappella. While the CARAs are picked by experts in a cappella music, the ACAs are picked by singers as well as their fans, moms, great aunts, and Facebook friends. Anyone with a free account on casa.org can suggest new categories and nominate their favorite groups, individuals, and projects. Only paid CASA members can actually vote on the winners but it’s well worth the $30 membership to get the chance to vote for your favorites! Plus, for that $30 you get a free download of the highly acclaimed Sing album every year and a ton of other benefits.
ACB: As the director of the Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards, what can you tell readers about this year’s awards? How would you describe this year's nominees? What do today's groups need to do stand out from the crowd when they are recording?
JH: Every year that I have been involved with the CARAs the overall quality of recordings has gotten better. Plus, every year more groups are formed, which makes getting nominated for an award even tougher. At this point, a group can’t get by with good singing and good recording techniques alone. Beyond competent singing, there are three things that make stellar albums stand out: great arrangements, having a clear perspective/mood, and willingness to take chances.
Great arrangements take you on a journey through a song – they have purpose and direction. They keep the most important elements of the song (like the bass line – you have to get this right even if you have women on bass) while exploring creative ways to translate the song for voices.
Having a clear perspective means that I should be able to understand from an album, and even from each individual track, who the group is and what they’re trying to do. Groups can ask themselves: what is the listener supposed to feel or understand at the end of this? Why did we pick this track? Why did we put the tracks in order? And so on…
Finally, willingness to take chances really separates the winners from the competent non-winning albums. Risky song choices can result in memorable tracks (for better or worse!). Venturing out into making noises that aren’t necessarily “pretty” can be the best thing a group can do. Deciding to take an engineer’s suggestion that’s a little less pure can add an unexpected awesome element to a track. Basically, at this point, good but boring albums tend to lose. You have to try something that at least sounds like it’s a little bit outside of the group’s comfort zone.
ACB: Based upon your many experiences in a cappella, what are a few of the most impressive things you have heard, seen or otherwise experienced in the a cappella world?
JH: You may be looking for tracks or performances I have loved (“Shedding” by the Beelzebubs; “Sound of Silence” arrangement by Charlie Forkish; Divisi’s performance at the 2005 ICCA finals; Fork’s performance at SoJam 2007; the list goes on…). But the main thing that has always impressed me about the a cappella community is that it is just that: a community. I have seen unbelievable acts of kindness between people who are competing for business. There have been plenty of occasions where aca-adults have helped adolescents and young adults through serious developmental milestones just because of their aca-connection. Groups who compete against each other share floor space and couches on road trips. The biggest names in Acappellaworld respond to emails from everyone and anyone who wants to know how to get started or how to get better. In comparison to many cutthroat environments around us, this is an incredibly safe and friendly place to be, and that’s something I’m very proud of!
ACB: Is there anything else you would like to share with the readers of The A Cappella Blog?
JH: Get out there and sing for your life!