All-Male A Cappella

In this edition, we’re taking a look at The 5s of all-male a cappella groups.

Five reasons all-male a cappella works
1. It’s more fun.All-male a cappella tends to be more fun than all-female or mixed acts. It’s not necessarily fair but in our society there’s a still a lot more lee-way for guys to qualify as funny than there is for women—be it fart jokes, fat jokes, gay jokes, or any other uncouth source of humor. Furthermore, a group of strapping college lads can get credit (and laughs) just for attempting a complex choreography scheme, where as women tend to be looked at more seriously in this realm. Whatever the reason, all-male groups continue to have an unparalleled grip on the “fun” title for the a cappella world.
2. It’s louder. With a few notable exceptions all female and mixed groups generally just don’t generate the same level of volume as their all-male counterparts. That big booming sound is audience friendly, and has a way of luring people in, making you forget there are no instruments, and demonstrating the confidence of the group.
3. Translations of female songs. As a general rule, I discourage groups from crossing the gender line with their song selections. While there’s a pretty small number of female groups who have pulled off male songs well enough to justify the translation, there are a number of all-male groups who have made the reverse transition work in their favor. Whether it’s played for comedy like UC Berkeley’s work with Lady Gaga, or played stone cold serious like the number of male groups to cover Sarah McLachlan’s “When She Loved Me” all-male translations of female songs have the potential to do something really new and different with a piece.
4. The range of voices. One of my favorite turns in an a cappella act is to see a group transition from its heavy-duty artillery—the System of a Down or Muse stuff—over to something remarkably soft and sensitive. As a demonstration of range, consider the Yale Duke’s Men’s 2009 finals set, starting with iconic Ben Folds break up song “Gone,” moving to a positively beautiful rendering of The Barenaked Ladies’ “What A Good Boy,” ending it with Rihanna’s “Umbrella”—a diverse set with all kinds of different sounds, showing the different things the group could do.
5. Balls of steel. There’s no question that there are all-female and mixed groups that go out there and take chances, but in my experience, it tends to be the all-male groups that will really let it all hang out with “out there” songs selections, explosive performances. Think the rash of all male groups to take on Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” a few years ago, or The Washington University Stereotypes choosing “Jai Ho” as a set closer in 2010, or Syracuse University Orange Appeal incorporating Otto, the school mascot into their performance of the alma mater a few years back. This stuff is unconventional, risky, and very entertaining.

Five problems in all-male a cappella
1. Putting the music second. As entertaining and audience-friendly as all-male a cappella can be this can come at the expense great music—be it performing in all block chords to keep the music simple, or be it going way out of tune because you’re too worried about your box step. A cappella is, first and foremost, a musical art, and the music needs to come first.
2. Doing anything for a laugh. Hand in hand with putting music second is the increasingly common practice of trying to be funny at the expense delivering the optimal overall performance. Referring to the Yale Duke’s Men their performance of Rihanna’s “Umbrella” was musically stellar and had the potential to be an intense, powerful closer. On the contrary, the group elected to use the choreography to make it a comedic piece, robbing them of credibility in the process. Similarly, you have a group like The 2010 Potsdam Pointercounts with a ton of musical talent who opted to compete with an absurdist, openly racist version of “Kung Fu” fighting that I imagine got a lot of laughs in front of their hometown crowd, but didn’t get quite so many when the act made it to the ICCA semifinals stage, resulting in an awkward performance that took the group from contender status to not placing at all in the competition. Comedy’s great, but you need to find the proper time, place, and approach to make it successful in a cappella.
3. Party culture. All-male a cappella groups aren’t frats or sports teams, but have, over time, developed a comparable reputation for alcohol-fueled parties that have resulted in more than a few instances of trouble including another Yale group, The Baker’s Dozen falling under fire for serving alcohol to first year students. Alcohol is, to an extent, a part of college life, but the consumption is coming dangerously close to a black eye for a cappella, and at the risk of stereotyping, all-male groups are at the fore.
4. Stodgy culture. On the opposite end of the party culture spectrum, there are the “traditionalist” “boys’ club” groups with long histories and little sense of humor. I’m all for striving for excellence, and taking your group seriously, but collegiate a cappella also needs to have an element of fun.
5. Self-effacing raps. Hearing a geeky white guy on a rap break down is fun, to be sure, but it can only happen so many times before the novelty wears off and it’s just a tired joke amidst a musically lackluster performance.

My five favorite performances I’ve seen by all-male a cappella groups (in no particular order)

1. Rutgers University Casual Harmony, Spring 2006 Just a year into their existence, Casual Harmony made it’s first charge to the brink of the ICCA Finals with a show stopping set that included an impossibly intense rendition of “Dream On.”
2. The University of Rochester Midnight Ramblers, Spring 2007 It’s rare for a host group to steal the show at an ICCA competition to quite this degree, but when the judges took upwards of an hour and a half to deliberate, The Ramblers were more than prepared to roll on, and on, and on with unparalleled energy, style and substance.
3. The Washington University Stereotypes, Spring 2010 The Stereotypes asked the crowd not applaud between their songs because the set was so tightly-timed that they had sincere concerns about going over 12 minutes. A magnificent set followed, highlighted by a stunning solo on “I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You” and an absurdly spirited closer in “Jai Ho.”
4. The SUNY Binghamton Crosbys, Spring 2007 When you’re watching the ICCA Finals, there are some groups so good that you can’t help but wonder what it would have been like to see them all the way back at their quarterfinal, when they weren’t squaring off against equal competition, but performing alongside groups that were not in the same stratosphere. Such was the experience when I first saw The Crosbys compete, putting forth a positively electric set to stun the crowd in Potsdam.
5. Mt. San Antonio college Fermata Nowhere, Spring 2009 At the 2009 ICCA Finals, Fermata Nowhere took the stage in orange jumpsuits that would make you think they had just busted out of prison. The performance that followed supported the image of guys who were newly free, who were singing for their lives in a set that ranged from a soul-wrenching rendition of “Fall For You” to a hilarious, high energy, and truly unforgettable medley of the top pop songs of the day.