Providence College has three amazing a cappella groups - Strictly Speaking, which is co-ed - Special Guest, which is all male - and my old group, Anaclastic, which is all female.
Every Alumni Weekend, tons of ex-a cappella members return to the halls of the music building to create harmonious tones with their voices.
The first group up was Strictly Speaking. Strictly Speaking is the youngest of the three groups, and thus had the least amount of alums return - nonetheless, they did an awesome rendition of The Beatles Paperback Writer.
The ladies of Anaclastic were next up at bat, and we pleased the crowd with several fan favorites such as Mariah Carey's Always Be My Baby, Imogen Heap's Hide and Seek, and Gordon Lightfoot's Song For a Winter's Night.
To close the show was, per usual, Special Guest. Special Guest is the oldest of the three groups and always has the largest showing of alumni that return to sing. This year, there were easily 20-25 fellows who returned to belt out harmonies and vocal percussion that somehow cannot be forgotten over the years...In this photo, Dan Farrell sings the ultimate crowd pleaser: Sexual Healing.
In my four years at Providence College, all three groups grew in leaps and bounds. New voices came into the ranks and with them, new ideas and new ways of doing things. A cappella is such an amazing and fun thing, and I guess in a way, this post is trying to help support and show the importance of college a cappella. Groups are springing up all across the nation as more and more folks are understanding and embracing this unaccompanied genre of music. If you can join a group - DO IT! If you can go to a concert - DO IT! Either way, as a participant or a listener, you will definitely be satisfied by the totally vocal creation which is born in a cappella.
