University of Vermont Cat's Meow
Cat's Meow is an all-female group out of The University of Vermont. The group's business manager, Liz Ottman, took the time to answer questions from A Cappella Blog co-founder Mike Chin.
A Cappella Blog (ACB): You will soon be performing in the fifth annual A Cappella Homecoming Show at the University of Vermont. Can you describe the history of this event? Is performing at homecoming any different for your group than singing at other shows?
Liz Ottman (LO): Homecoming is always the most exciting show. We perform with the two other a cappella groups at UVM (the Top Cats and the Hit Paws) and it's a blast! The Homecoming show is always our biggest and most enthusiastic audience. New students, parents, and friends completely fill our chapel and it's so much fun. I'm not completely sure of the history, but I think that the Homecoming show used to be a Top Cats (the all-male group) show, but for the past 5 or 6 years, the Cat's Meow and Hit Paws have also been headliners. As a group, we always, obviously try to put as much enthusiasm into all of our shows, but Homecoming usually gets us a little bit more pumped up. It's our first big show of the year and the biggest show of the year. A lot of people see us and we want to make sure they leave knowing that the Cat's Meow are awesome!
ACB: Describe a typical Cat's Meow rehearsal. How often do you guys practice and what do you do to achieve such success by the time you hit the stage? Do rehearsals change before a big show? Before you guys go into competition?
LO: We practice 3 times a week for 2-3 hours each rehearsal. The week before a big show, we practice every night for 2-3 hours or until it sounds show-worthy. I've never been in the group before being in a competition, but this year we are auditioning for the ICCAs and I'm sure we will be rehearsing and preparing like crazy to make sure we sound our best. As for anything special we do to have an awesome performance, we have little things that we do to get everyone excited. This year we each secretly got a member of the group to write to and tell them how awesome we thought they are and how much we love having them in the group. It just let everyone know that each member is a strong and necessary member of the Cats Meow. A little confidence booster!
ACB: Are there any unique traditions or practices attached to your group?
LO: After auditions we always try to have a retreat to initiate new members. No hazing goes on! But, we all go somewhere together for a night and a day and make food and hang out and sing. It's a great time to get to know the new members and have the new members feel more comfortable with the group. It's also a long period of time when we are all together so that we can practice our repertoire!
ACB: What can we expect to see from your group in the future? Any new songs in the works? Any upcoming gigs of note?
LO: We have a bunch of offers/requests coming in to do some shows with other college groups, but I don't want to divulge any information until it's concrete. As for new songs, we just finished learning "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls (WHOOHOO!!) and will soon be learning "California" by Joni Mitchell.
ACB: What is the audition process like for Cat?s Meow?
LO: We try to make it as low-key as possible. We have girls come and sign up for a time slot and then one by one they come in and audition. We have them do scales to see their range, then have them sing the song they brought. Then we see how they blend/can hear harmonies with a few exercises, and finally, we have Anna Rawson our AMAZING beat-boxer) walk them through an easy vocal percussion exercise to see A) if they can do it and B) if they are willing to try. The majority of the group CANNOT beat-box, but it's nice to see if they're willing to look a little silly to get in the group. We all did it!
ACB: What drew you, personally, to collegiate a cappella in the first place?
LO: I was in an all-female a cappella group in high school and have loved to sing since I was little. I would always listen to college a cappella groups at school and think that they were SO good. It's weird to think that now I'm in one! I just decided to go for it and see what happened and luckily for me, it worked out!
ACB: What is your favorite song to perform with Cat's Meow?
LO: Tough question! I think my favorite song to perform would have to be either "Let Go" by Frou Frou or "Dream a Little Dream" by the Mamas and the Papas. I love "Let Go" because .. well I go the solo! But also I love the reaction that we get from the crowd when Anna does her percussion solo in the middle of the song. The audience goes WILD! It's also a really difficult arrangement for the rest of the group and most people give us a great response after we perform it. "Dream a Little Dream" is another crowd pleaser. People just love the song and the arrangement was beautifully done by a Cat's Meow alumna, Marissa Debowsky. It's very soft and wonderful and keeps the background parts on their toes.
ACB: Is there anything else you would like to share with the readers of The A Cappella Blog?
LO: Being in the Cat's Meow is absolutely wonderful. We're a group of girls who genuinely love being around each other and do hang out outside of rehearsal. We have fun together and I think that energy translates to our audience when we're on stage. We have a CD available on our website www.uvm.edu/~catsmeow and will be recording later this year! So look out for our new CD! Thanks for your interest!