The MIT Chorallaries

The Chorallaries are a mixed group of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The group has been around for a very long time and has enjoyed many impressive accomplishments, including a trip to the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella finals last year.

Members of the group took the time to answer questions from A Cappella Blog co-founder Mike Chin.

A Cappella Blog (ACB): The MIT Chorallaries have the unique benefit a long and storied history, since their inception in 1976. From your own experience and knowledge about the group, how has it changed over the years?

MIT Chorallaries (MITC): The group's structure is defined by a written constitution, approved by the Association of Student Activities, so our basic structure (including the size of the group) has not varied greatly over the past 30 years. The group has no fixed musical flavor; our repertoire is chosen by current members. Given that the group's membership turns over every four years, there is, if anything, surprising continuity. For example, each of our last three CDs, spanning nine years, has two Tori Amos songs.

ACB: The Chorallaries had quite the run in this year's International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella, including the unique honor of getting to win their semi-final round of competition "at home" right at MIT.

What was it like to enjoy that kind of success right in your own backyard? Was having the "home field" an advantage? How did your friends and fans at MIT respond to your success?

MITC: We were extremely thrilled, especially since we only compete every three years and this year in particular, we almost decided not to compete at all. I would be lying if I said being at MIT for semi-finals didn't give us an advantage in terms of being comfortable in the performing space, but Kresge Auditorium, which was where the competition was held, is a great space for anyone, and we have always enjoyed singing there.

The semi-finals happened to fall during MIT's spring break, so only a few of our local fans were able to watch.

ACB: Walk me through a typical Chorallaries rehearsal. How does the group operate behind the scenes? Does the nature of rehearsals change before a big show?

MITC: Rehearsals are very much as you might expect for a college a cappella group. We have two three-hours rehearsals a week. We start with warm-ups, and then spend about half an hour on each song. When rehearsing a song, we generally perform the entire song, listen to comments from the arranger and music director, and repeat. It's that simple.

In the middle of rehearsal we have a break, then a meeting to deal with scheduling and administrative issues.

Before our major concerts we increase the number of rehearsals, incorporate choreography, and attempt to polish the songs. We often move rehearsals into the performance space in the week before a concert.

ACB: What would you say is the most important element to having a successful collegiate a cappella group?

MITC: Dedication. The members need to love what they're doing. Ambivalence never makes for a good show.

ACB: How do the Chorallaries go about deciding what songs to add to their repertoire?

MITC: We arrange all our own music, which means that the songs the group sings really depend on the tastes of the group members at the time. We do 6-8 new songs every semester, and anyone in the group may arrange. So at the beginning of each semester, anyone who has arranged a song can bring it in to the group and we sing through it. If we get too many submissions each semester, we then take the opinions of the members and decide what songs to sing for the semester. Songs that get cut often get re-submitted after modifications or improvements and get sung eventually.

ACB: Aside from their general excellence as musicians, The Chorallaries are known for their annual "Bad Taste" concert. What exactly is a Bad Taste concert? Where did the idea come from, and what happens at one of these shows?

MITC: The Chorallaries present the Nth annual concert in Bad Taste each year in late February or early March. The performance is a mix of rewritten songs and original skits that go outside the bounds of political correctness to reach for a whole new level of humor. Our goal is to make people laugh, and we are happy to do so often, and insult them along the way. We prepare for Bad Taste nearly two months in advance, meeting in groups to come up with skits, and rewrite lyrics to our favorite songs.

We do not charge admission to any of our concerts, so fans tend to wait in line for the best seats. For Bad Taste this tradition is especially strong, with students lining up 72 hours or more in advance every year. Students can be seen camping outside of the stage with tents, laptops, TV's, sleeping bags, and even Twister mats, just to pass the time. Once you're inside, mayhem ensues. The audience makes a valiant attempt to peg us with toilet paper rolls and plastic disks as we do our best to project, unamplified, to the ends of the 450 person hall (microphones would be destroyed by the flying objects). By the end of the night, you'll be lucky if you can still see the floor through the debris.

The Chorallaries have been running the Bad Taste concert for roughly 26 years, however, the tradition has been at MIT much longer. Before the Chorallaries existed, random groups of students would assemble and perform one or two skits or songs each at one large annual gathering. Today, the Chorallaries are the keepers of the tradition.

ACB: What were the origins of The Chorallaries' well-known "Engineers' Drinking Song?"

MITC: The song's origins are apocryphal, but it appears to be tied to Godiva's hymn, and may have originated in England in the early 1800's with a different tune. It is not known how long it has been sung at MIT, but certainly most of the 20th century. The song was arranged for four-part harmony by the founder of the Chorallaries, who converted the original simple drinking song into an astoundingly complex piece with countless changes in key and time signature, and multiple solos in a variety of styles. This arrangement has been sung at MIT for the past thirty years, and is now the best-known version.

ACB: What drew you, personally, to collegiate a cappella in the first place?

MITC: I have always loved the sound of a cappella, but coming from abroad, I never really had much of a chance to do anything like it. So when I got here and heard about a cappella, there was no question but to go audition right away.

If you would like to learn more about The MIT Chorallaries, you can visit the group online at http://web.mit.edu/choral/.