Who should be allowed to compete?
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.
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In response to allegations during last years ICCAs that some groups had formed for the sole purpose of winning competitions, ICCA should institute stricter rules about who can compete—setting minimum amounts of time a group must be together before it can compete, or a minimum repertoire.
True: Ideally, walking out of a competition as the winner should represent that your group was the best group in the competition. But if a group only knows how to perform three songs, can it really make a claim to being the best? And what of groups drawn together by music faculty, taking cream of the crop singers from the music program, and inserting them into a group for the express purpose of winning competitions?
From what I know, there’s no proof that any groups have been formed in such a way (in fact, I’ve heard groups accused of these practices come forward to refute the claims). Regardless, why not take away the speculation and set up some guidelines? Competitive collegiate a cappella groups should be consist of teams of students pulling together to form a group that performs on and maybe off campus. It should be a student group first, and competitive second. Stricter rules would help insure that this was the case.
False: To set up minimum standards of repertoire and longevity in competitive groups is to venture into some very gray territory. Do groups need to have 10 songs in their repertoire to compete? If they only know nine, does that mean they are less reputable as a group? Furthermore, if a faculty or staff member is willing to contribute the time to help recruit for, direct or advise a group, is that such a bad thing—especially if it results in a better overall product of a cappella?
All in all, if a group of students can put together a better 12 minute set than any of the opposition, they deserve to win a competition. Such a group may deprive itself of some of the joys of being a more conventional group—the camaraderie of experimenting with a wider array of songs and performing outside the confines of competition. This that groups own loss, as they will have less fun. This should not bar them from having opportunity to compete on an ICCA stage.