Last Friday night to kick off family weekend, all of the campus a capella groups performed in McGaw Chapel. The four campus groups put on a dazzling performance for Wooster students and their parents.
These groups are student-led, giving them vast freedom in what music they choose to focus on and perform.
After These Messages, one of two all-female a capella groups, was the first group to perform.
They sang some beautiful music, but the highlight of their performance was their commercial break, which gives them their name, After These Messages.
This highlight set the crowd roaring with laughter with three advertisements about Coca-Cola, a manly soap and K9 Advantix.
The manly soap jingle started with Scottish vocal percusion, but was cut off by the soloist, who began ranting with perfect accent about soap filled with glass.
Though this was amusing, K9Advantix was the true crowd pleaser as one member of the group acted as the dog, with wagging tail and all.
The group was followed by the only all-male a capella group on campus , Merry Kuween of Skots.
This men’s ensemble delighted the crowd with popular music, introducing each song with a witty comment or funny anecdote. It was really the introductions which made this group particularly memorable, though the singing and vocal percussion were highly enjoyable.
Most amusing of the introductions was the one in which a member of the group gave his impression of a velociraptor. Not only did this include a hair-raising screech but also details on how to act like a velociraptor, because clearly, posture is everything.
Next came the C.O.W. Belles, the second all-female a capella group.
Each group had a dress code but all these girls wore a black top with Wooster plaid accessories.
Their outfits were particularly appropriate, as the group sang a song they had written at Wooster about college love.
They opened with the statistic that 80 percent of Wooster graduates marry another Wooster graduate and directed the song toward Grant H. Cornwell ‚Ä” a particularly appropriate addition to the night, as people always loves a song that they can relate to.
This was just one of their pieces, each song was a delight to the ears as they swayed to the beat of their own music.
A Round of Monkeys is the only male and female a capella group on campus; this in itself sets them apart from the other groups.
This group opened with the theme from the television show “The Monkees” and then proceeded to tell the audience each group member’s monkey name, a name bestowed on them by the group.
“Stand by Me,” another of the group’s pieces, was an enormous crowd pleaser.
All and all, the night was a gigantic success with music ranging from commercial jingles to popular music and the oldies.
Audience members were engaged, bobbing their heads along with the beat and clapping their hands when it was warranted.
The night ended with a tumult of applause for all the a capella groups, showing that, in an age of iPod, people still appreciate live music. It seems that the first a capella performance of the year left people satisfied and waiting for more.