The MIT Chorallaries
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 Chorallaries of MIT! We’re competing at the February 18th quarterfinal in NYC.
How long has your group been around? Have you competed before?
Our group was founded in 1976. We actually just celebrated our 40th anniversary with a big concert where alumni from all different generations (including one of our founders) came back to perform again. We’ve been competing in ICCAs and local competitions since long before I was in the group. It’s always been something that has pushed us to be better performers.
Why are you competing this year? What does your group hope to accomplish or get out of the experience?
We have been a competitive group for a few decades now, but we are really striving to improve our musicality and competitiveness as the collegiate a cappella community becomes a more mainstream entity. We work really hard and think we have something really special to show for it, so we want to compete and display the results of all of our efforts! We’re hoping that the experience pushes us to the next level in terms of our stage presence and musicality as a group, and so far the pressure of preparing has been really helpful for promoting improvement within the group.
How is your group preparing for competition?
Our music directors started arranging our set over the summer, and as soon as we were all back together for fall semester, we started rehearsing. We also perform a lot in our area in addition to regular rehearsals, so every time we have the opportunity to showcase what we’ve been working on is an opportunity for us to take feedback from that and get better. We do all of our own arrangements and choreography, so any outside feedback we get is really helpful, so we’ll often have local alums help us review our work at rehearsals or gigs.
If you were to describe your group, or the set your group is planning for competition with just three words, what would they be?
Nerds sing too!
You can follow The Chorallaries one at the links below: