The University’s newly founded a cappella group, The Sea Sharps, consisting of 14 female students, held their first concert “A Cappella Extravaganza” on Thursday, Dec. 5 in Woods Theatre.
According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, a cappella is defined as, “without instrumental music.” All of the sounds come from the girls individual singing voices, harmonizing to create music.
The group was founded this past semester by seniors Heather Siebert, Alexis Fox, and Chelsea Barreto.
Barreto said, “I was working with Dr. Daneshgar one day and we were discussing how the University did not have their own a cappella group. He said he would agree to be the advisor if I could set up a group of girls. I went to my friends Alexis and Heather and they were on board. The rest was history.”
“A Cappella Extravaganza” began with the group opening to “Royals,” originally sung by Lorde. The female members welcomed everyone to the show and introduced their opening act, The Casual Harmony a cappella group from Rutgers University. The Casual Harmony, a group exclusively for males, consisted of 14 members. The men opened with “Holy Grail” by Jay-Z. They then continued with a variety of songs, singing melodies of different holiday tradition songs. Their last song, “Memories” by Muse concluded their performance.
Michael Rosas, President of Boom Roasted Productions, acted as a master of ceremonies (MC), introducing each act. Boom Roasted Productions offered concessions as The Sea Sharps prepared to sing.
Raven Lake, an audience member and secondary education English education student, said, “I had never seen anything like this before! The performances from The Casual Harmony and The Sea Sharps were outstanding and I give them major props for their amazing talents.”
The a cappella group, wearing all black dresses, opened with “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons. As the girls sang they performed different choreographed dances that helped them interact with the audience and get them more involved with the music.
At one point in the show, Barreto chose a random male audience member from the crowd to serenade. The girls sang, “I’ll Make Love to You” by Boyz II Men.
Other songs that they sang included “We Can’t Stop” by Miley Cyrus, “Dream On” by Aerosmith, and “Wings” by Little Mix.
Fox said, “We have been performing all different types of genres this year. So far our catalogue ranges from R&B to classic rock and everywhere in between. All arrangements that we sing were created by group members which I think makes them even more special.”
At the end of the show, the younger members presented the seniors with flowers and they all performed their senior song, “No Diggity” by Blackstreet.
As the show came to a close, the girls gave their final bows and thanked all of the audience members who supported their performance, including The Casual Harmony a cappella group.
Fox said, “To be honest, I was not expecting the crazy buzz and turnout that we received at our concert on Thursday. To feel the warmth, energy, and excitement from an audience there to support we’ve all been working so hard on was such an achievement.”
The girls are expecting to move forward in their a cappella career and will begin competing next year. Barreto said, “We have just been accepted into the International Competition of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA). It’s the same competition the girls compete in, just like in the movie ‘Pitch Perfect.’” The competition will be taking place on Feb. 8 and the girls are expecting a great turnout.
PHOTO COURTESY of Mr. Stambaugh
