A Cappella Is Getting Cooler
In Measure for Measure, A Cappella Blog contributor takes a look at both sides of a controversial issue in collegiate a cappella. Please note that the views expressed by columnists do not necessarily represent those of The ACB as an organization, nor do they necessarily represent the view of individual columnists. The purpose of this piece is to explore issues and further civil, intellectual debate.
In Measure for Measure, an A Cappella Blog contributor takes a look at both sides of a controversial issue in collegiate a cappella.
With more and more media exposure, and more groups than ever before a cappella is, quite frankly, getting cooler.
True: There was a time when it was easy not to know that a cappella existed. That time has long passed. For one thing, there’s TV exposure. You have major networks programming around the a cappella concept with shows like Glee and Sing Off. From there, a cappella has a way of working its way into more general programming—Mosaic’s rise in America’s Got Talent, the preponderance of collegiate a cappella alumni on American Idol. What’s more, a cappella is having its moments in mainstream media that, otherwise, has nothing to do with music, like Ed Helms’s character on The Office, and major showing in films like The Break Up and Step Brothers. On top of all of this, you have Straight No Chaser breaking out on the national scene over the holiday season, exploding into the public consciousness.
Taking all of this into consideration, a cappella is better known and more accessible than it has ever been before, and by extension it’s more understandable and more acceptable to say you’re an a cappella performer or a cappella fan, all adding up to make a cappella cooler than ever before.
False: There’s little question that a cappella has a higher profile now than it has had at any other time in recent memory. Despite this fact, it’s difficult to really assess it as cool by any normal definition.
True, a cappella has sprouted up all over media. And yet, it’s Ed Helms’s Andy Bernard character on the office who perhaps best sums up the public perception of a cappella. It’s sort of fun, and certainly require some talent, but its performers are also annoying, self-absorbed, and despite what they might think, are anything but cool. Note, I’m not suggesting that these perceptions are really true, but they are the perceptions that portrayals in The Office, Step Brothers, and so on do nothing but perpetuate.
All of this, and it’s still arguable that the general public is not really conscious of a cappella. Maybe folks know it exists, but how many are familiar with the ICCAs or BOCA, or have ever listened to a cappella of their own volition? The evidence suggests that a cappella is still not cool.