Should groups only perform new songs?
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This week's topic: Enough collegiate a cappella groups have covered enough songs to make it very difficult for a group to uncover an older tune that hasn't already been performed to death. Rather than continuing to beat dead horses, it's best for groups not to look to the past, and rather focus on performing new songs.
True: "Lean on Me" is a great song. Almost as great, in fact, as "Stand by Me." Regardless, I don't feel any need to hear another group interpret either of these songs again. Too often, groups depend on songs they've already heard sung a cappella, and that they know will lend themselves well to an a cappella translation. It's infinitely more exciting to hear a group sing that new song on the radio. It shows the group is working hard, and hustling to put together new pieces, rather than settling for stock arrangements that have hung around the group for the better part of a decade.
Groups should do themselves and their audiences a favor and keep blazing new trails, focusing on the newest music out there to cover.
False: One of the neat things collegiate a cappella is that there's a near infinite catalog of songs to work from. Sure, you can pick a trendy top 40 hit. You could also go with your favorite artist's B-side, though, or an album cut. You can turn back the hands of time and cover a favorite from your childhood, or something from your parents' generation, or earlier yet. Sure, there are some songs that have been done to death. But for every "Blackbird" there are a dozen underappreciated Beatles songs; for every "Seasons of Love" of there are scores of songs from musicals I haven't seen tackled on the a cappella stage. While an older song does have a better chance of having been covered by someone, somewhere before, it's a real stretch to say that the entire American (much less world) canon has gotten its a cappella due, and so I say, if you haven't heard it yet, it's fair game. And for that matter, there are some songs that deserve to be done to death. Who cares if 75 percent of the a cappella groups in this country have sung "Good Ol' A Cappella" at one time or another? It's still a great, iconic song for the a cappella community, so I say to the other 25 percent, what are you waiting for?