Michigan State University Ladies First

Ladies First is an all-female group out of Michigan State University. Ladies First President Claire Gibbons took the time to answer questions from The A Cappella Blog.

The A Cappella Blog (ACB): As an all-female group, what advantages do you enjoy? What challenges does the nature of the group present?

Claire Gibbons (CG): Obviously, being an all-female group, we do lack the "depth" that many co-ed and all-male groups enjoy in terms of a full, rich, deep bass line. Now, don't get me wrong, we have some beefy bass ladies in the group and there is nothing cooler to me than hearing these women sing really low and luscious bass notes. But in terms of having a bass line that is more in tune with how low a bass line would be in an actual song on the radio, that is one thing we do have to accept.

Something that I think is so cool about being all-female is the vocal percussion aspect. So many people think that only men can beat-box, and I love it when we go on stage and one of our girls busts out this solid v.p. and just blows people alway. Maybe we don't have the depth of the male voice when it comes to our "bass drum," but we definitely have the strength to do it. And what's great about our group too is the fact that so many of our girls CAN beat box. It's great to have such a dynamic group where there's not a "token v.p'er" who does v.p. on every song. It's cool that we can mix it up a little bit.

Another thing I love about being in an all-female group is the bond and emotion that goes in to the group and the singing. There's the stereotype that women are "so overly-emotional," but in this case, I love it. We really find a way to connect to each and every song and we really just share this great bond of making music together as women. It's really a powerful thing. And it's very frustrating because it seems that in many cases male a cappella groups are more hyped-up on campuses than female groups because they're funnier and it's usually just "cooler" to hear guys that are so good at singing. And you know what, more power to them, because what girl doesn't love a guy who can sing? But I often feel that all-female groups can sometimes get shafted because it's not as "impressive" to hear girls sing as it is to hear guys sing. But we're just as good, work just as hard, and even if we aren't as silly as all-guy groups are, it doesn't make us any less entertaining and enjoyable to listen to.

ACB: What can listeners expect from Ladies First's upcoming new CD?

CG: This is a really exciting thing for us, actually, because Ladies First has only released one CD in its existence and we'll be releasing the second this year. The first CD was great... very exciting, because it was the first one ever. But none of the songs on the CD are performed anymore, none of the members on the recordings are in the group anymore, and the songs are just a little "out of date." So with the second, we're putting a lot of work into it to make sure that everything is perfect. Our producer, Ryan Wert, has been very patient with us, tweaking every little thing that we ask him to and re-recording time after time. We're being very picky about what we're putting on this CD because we want it to really represent the best of Ladies First and how far we've come over the years. Not only are the arrangements and the voices on the songs just fantastic, but we've also got some stellar soloists on this CD. There is going to be a great mix of genres, from Queen to the Dixie Chicks, and no matter what kind of music you listen to, there will be something for everyone on the CD.

ACB: What is the audition process like for Ladies First?

CG: Auditions for Ladies First are a 2-night process. On the first night, girls sign up for a 5-minute time-slot, usually between the hours of 8-11pm. They come in one at a time and sing a verse and a chorus of a song of their choice. Then we run them through a few vocal exercises to check their range, test their pitch-matching abilities, and then test their vocal percussion abilities.

After the first night, we narrow down the group and call them back for the next night. That night, we teach the girls a song that used to be in the Ladies repertoire. It's usually only a page or 2 of music, and we teach them 2 parts so that we can hear more of their voice and ability. We have them sing in quartets, then octets, eventually adding in existing Ladies to check for blend.

One unique rule that Ladies First has is that after your first semester in ladies, you must re-audition to "officially" be in the group. It's like your first semester is a trial semester to prove yourself... to make sure you work hard enough and blend well enough with the group. Throughout their first semester, we have evaluations where we let newbies know what to work on, what we like, etc so that when they go in to their second audition, there are no surprises. It may sound harsh, but it's really just our way of making sure that Ladies First can be the best group it can possibly be.

ACB: How does your group go about deciding which songs to add to its repertoire? Who is responsible for arrangements?

CG: This is another thing that I take pride in, is the fact that almost all of us contribute to our arrangements. It's not like there's just one person who pops out arrangements for us; everyone contributes. Usually at the end and beginning of every semester, we meet as a group and talk about possible ideas, then divide them up amongst the ladies in the group. We don't always get them done, and will often just arrange a song on our own without first clearing it with the group, but usually if one person likes it, the rest will. We like to be as diverse as possible in our music, too, so it's very rarely that we'll say no to an arrangement.

We do also use outside help with our arrangements as well. We've had ladies alumni, as well as alumni from one of our brother groups, The Accafellas, arrange for us, which is always welcome and a great help to us.

ACB: If you were to describe Ladies First in just three words, what words would you use?

CG: This is really tough... Wonderful. Fun. Amazinglytalentedanddiverse. (That's one word, I promise).

You can learn more about ladies first at their official website here.