The Skidmore Sonneteers

The Sonneteers are an all-female group out of Skidmore College. Lindsay Thomas from the group took the time to answer questions from The A Cappella Blog.

The A Cappella Blog (ACB)Are there any unique traditions or pieces of history attached to your group?

Lindsay Thomas (LT): The Sonneteers were formed in 1947, making us the oldest group on Skidmore campus. And since our world revolves around singing, I think it´s only appropriate that our longest tradition is a song, called “Every Time We Say Goodbye.” Every year we sing it to our graduating seniors as they depart off into the real world.

ACB: How do The Sonneteers go about recruiting new members?

LT: It´s all about advertising, because there is one other all female group and two co-ed groups, and of course we want all the best girls! Through Facebook invites, a freshmen showcase (where we get to strut our stuff) and through word of mouth, we just try to make the whole campus aware of our auditions.

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

LT: We pride ourselves in being incredibly democratic about these types of decisions, so each semester we have a Song Night, where each girl is allowed to bring one song. After we´ve listened to all of them, we vote and the majority wins.

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

LT: I fell hopelessly in love the first time I heard University of Oregon´s On the Rocks. I was a freshmen in high school and all of a sudden I´d forgotten all about the Backstreet Boys and instead of listening to “I Want It That Way,” I was listening to Kyrie and Yellow. I will never forget the time I attended the ICCA´s and Peter Hollens sat next to me-- that was hands down one of the best celebrity sightings I´ve ever had.

ACB: What is your favorite song to perform with The Sonneteers, and why?

LT: Without a doubt, “Hide and Seek” by Imogen Heap. It´s hard to use words to explain how it feels when we really get it, but I can feel that there´s a connection between every single girl. We´re all breathing together, we´re all thinking the same thing and all of our voices are contributing to this incredible sound. We´ve never been a group to shy from dissonance and I think “Hide and Seek” is the perfect opportunity to show how powerful a cappella can be.

If you would like to learn more about The Skidmore Sonnetteers, you can visit their official website here.