Beyond the Score: A Cappella in College Life

In my first post I trace some of the historical and musical developments in collegiate a cappella, connecting our current atmosphere to longstanding Ivy-League music societies influenced by post-war pop music. It is easy to base an understanding of a cappella within the musical output and developing history, but in this post I want to go further. I’m looking for the reason a cappella resonates so strongly with the singers themselves, and how it contributes to personal and community development on college campuses.

As a reference I’d like to introduce the work of André de Quadros, a conductor and ethnomusicologist at Boston University, and in particular his work directing choirs in prisons through the umbrella of Boston University’s Prison Education Program.

These choir rehearsals are three-hour participatory music sessions where participants sing and move together, incorporating poetry, imagery and group improvisations to create an egalitarian and inclusive musical community. Instead of imposing a curriculum of the classical masterworks or teaching inmates to sing and read music, the focus is on personal empowerment, finding a voice, and discovering oneself through the act of singing.

As I read through his work, I was struck by the similarities between the inmate choirs and a cappella groups. Both are situated in high stress environments dominated by routines and great expectations, both behavioral and academic. And still, music provides an outlet for each group to not only find comfort and community, but also find themselves during a time of intense personal development.

De Quadros frames the personal transformation of the prisoners as a consequence of the artistic process, illustrating a holistic concept of health that utilizes music as a ‘resource for life, not the object of living’. Here, I wish to extend this thinking to the world of a cappella.

To Find Voice Through Singing

A holistic concept of health constitutes “a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. If we are to believe that music is essential to well-being (a well argued statement), then it would not be much of a stretch to claim that a cappella singing contributes to one’s health in college, both through musical acts like singing and the group connections formed in association with singing.

Central to this claim is the is the idea that musical participation can lead to meaningful transformation in the lives of individual singers and groups as a whole. Each singers brings their own experience to their group, but some overarching themes abound.

For one, the close bonds that groups form encourage security and comfort for the singers. Although new members are auditioned, their induction into groups at the beginning of their freshman year provides them with a warmhearted resource network that is willing to help in the transition to college life. This ultimately leads to the formation of an identity (aligned with that of the particular group) which is carried throughout an undergraduate career.

Access to music also provides opportunities for self-discovery. Empowering people to make art unlocks latent capacities that may otherwise lay untapped due to existing notions of artistry (i.e. that true art can only be made by professionals). By discovering their art, singers discover themselves and in the process discover the world around them.

The attitude of collaboration that permeates a cappella groups also contains valuable lessons. Singing in circles displaces conventional notions of authority and the nature of a student-run group promotes egalitarian principles. The resulting familial atmosphere most groups foster is certainly not just contained in the social realm: a cappella groups develop warm group spirits that affirm each individual’s musical personality and connects the content of the music to it’s personal character.

All of this forms a welcoming musical environment. Singers are encouraged to take risks, because they know that they will be supported if they do not succeed. But these are not the risks that you typically associate with college-aged students. A cappella singers take risks by breaking social taboos, singing aloud and in public and showing tenderness and vulnerability towards others. Here are students who are not afraid to express who they are, whether it be a guy singing in falsetto, a girl beatboxing like a drum machine, unashamed displays of emotion or proud declarations of individuality. In a world that frequently tries to fit in, a cappella encourages people to stand out.

Why should universities care? Because it is not just the health of the participants that is affected by singing, but also those with whom they interact. The health of individual students constitutes the health of the university as a whole, and access to musical outlets - especially those that are not just musical, like a cappella groups - is a resounding step in the right direction.

Music as a 'Resource For Life’

There is no doubt that the role of music in everyday life is not what it used to be. Before the recording age, music-making was commonplace in homes and people sang to pass time, connect with others and preserve important cultural values and traditions. However, the ability to record and distribute music digitally, combined with the professionalization of the music industry has left many out of touch with their innate artistic capacity. De Quadros articulates this nicely:

[Most of the prisoners] … have become habituated to listening to music on the radio, to consume theatre on television, and are losing or have lost the ability, if they ever had it, to make art as part of everyday life, to sing, to dance, to write, to paint, to carve, to tell stories, to build narrative. Therefore, our approach seeks to empower them to make art. - André de Quadros, Boston University.

Music, and art more generally, has served an important role in human evolution. The work of Dennis Dutton suggests that art may have served as an evolutionary advantage. Despite the fact that we know so little about the environment of our Pleistocene ancestors, it is important to recognize the longstanding role art has played in human development.

Another well known researcher, Daniel Levitin, illustrates exactly how music affects us in his pioneering book This Is Your Brain On Music. Standing at the crossroads of art and neuroscience, Levitin masterfully draws from both to paint a dynamic picture of the musical brain. Musical interpretation requires the entire brain - not just one area - and is intimately connected to regions associated with language and communication. This provides a neurological basis for extra-musicality and displays the complexity of determining musical meaning.

We can see that music is a dynamic human invention that touches on many of the essential traits of the human experience. A cappella is no exception. But much of our current understanding of the genre focuses on repertoire or singing style, and neglects the important developmental and communicative aspects.

Humans are genetically hardwired to make art. And a cappella singing on college campuses is a way for college students to step back from the intense academic pressure, rediscover this important aspect of our humanity, and cultivate wellbeing. Ultimately, we can see that a cappella has much more meaning than a simple musical understanding provides.

I am very excited to be introduced to the work of Dr. De Quadros. He will be visiting WashU the first week of October as a visiting professor. To stay updated, either subscribe here or visit music.wustl.edu.

Thanks for reading!