The Lehigh Melismatics
In honor of the 2017 ICCA tournament, The A Cappella Blog pursued short interviews with competing groups to develop insights into why and how groups approach competition, and to get appropriately excited for the tremendous shows ahead of us.
What’s your group name and on what date is your group’s quarterfinal?
We are The Lehigh Melismatics, and our quarterfinal is on February 11th in Staten Island.
How long has your group been around? Have you competed before?
Our group was started in 2001 by Anita Green and Hayley Teich. We have competed multiple times in ICCA's, most notably winning second place in the 2010 Mid-Atlantic quarterfinal and winning first place in our 2016 Mid-Atlantic quarterfinal.
Why are you competing this year? What does your group hope to accomplish or get out of the experience?
We compete every year for multiple reasons, most importantly being building a stronger connection with our group's members. Though placing well in the competition is a wonderful added bonus, preparing for events like this bring our group together in a way unlike any other. We hope that, after competing this year, we will come out as a stronger and more experienced group of performers and individuals, no matter how well we do!
How is your group preparing for competition?
We tend to prepare for competition the same way each year. After reviewing music over winter break, we typically use our first rehearsals to learn and perfect our pieces. The latter half of our rehearsals are spent on creating and learning choreography created by our choreo team.
If you were to describe your group, or the set your group is planning for competition with just three words, what would they be?
Mysterious, fun, and blazing. We are never ones to give it all away too fast, but still manage to have an incredible time creating an experience for our audiences, no matter what that audience may be. And whether it's seeing us in concert or listening to our album, we make sure that our fiery passion is heard by our listeners.
You can follow The Melismatics online on Facebook at facebook.com/thelehighmelismatics/, on Twitter at twitter.com/lehighmels and on Instagram @thelehighmelismatics.