Next Level A Cappella

Last week I had the incredible opportunity to attend Next Level Arrangements, an a cappella workshop led by Tom Anderson and hosted by The Vocal Company. To say that I learned something would be an understatement. It broadened my musical perspective, introduced me to warmhearted new friends/mentors and changed the way that I understand a cappella music.

The workshop was centered around hands-on learning and nicely balanced analysis with interaction and participation. While there were modules on storytelling and arc, advanced harmony, counterpoint and texture, we also had an overarching project: to collaboratively arrange and track a song from scratch (a lot harder than it sounds when you’re used to being plugged into Finale! - keep on the lookout for the final product released by TVC!)

Our lessons were taught over platefuls of scrambled eggs. Lessons led to tangents which led to more tangents. Jokes were made, arrangements were dissected, and we poured our soul into each musical moment. Ghost wings were consumed, and immediately regretted. The Apple TV chose to work – and not work – at just the right moments. And we had to redo an entire evening’s worth of recording and start over again - and were all the better for it.

My greatest learning was not in the specifics of the course material, as intriguing as it was. It instead lived within the interactions between passionate musicians and the experience of living in a house pulsing with creative, unbridled energy. It consumes you, immerses you in an inspired culture, and before long it’s 4 am and you’re singing under the stars, or 7am and you’re still in the studio.

I can already see the big influence that this experience will have on my senior project on a cappella.

A big nugget of advice that Tom brought up over and over again was the value of listening to anything and everything you can get your hands on. Much of what we spent our day doing was listening and talking about what we had listened to. While I’ve taken plenty of courses in music history and read as much as I can about the music of then, there was a particular immediacy and relevance to our subject matter - the music of now. Bach and Beethoven can teach a lot about music and how to write it, but Brian Wilson’s vocal writing and Paul Simon’s lyricism can lend much more to a cappella than can any chorale.

Tracing the precedents and outlines of the ongoing a cappella tradition showed me that I am a part of an rich cultural movement with diverse creative talent. But it also tied together seemingly disjointed aspects of my current experience and provided context to understand the roots of my musical thinking.

Another great insight, this time from TVC’s Director of Education and a cappella’s greatest professor, Dr. Ben Stevens, was that of a third perspective from which to analyze music in addition to the musical/artistic and historical. This would be the spiritual/personal resonance a piece of music carries. When a particular performer has conviction in their delivery it conveys an honesty and directness of artistic thought. It’s why music moves us and a song can bring you to tears.

The lightbulb moment for me was when James Taylor’s “That Lonesome Road” and the King’s Singer’s version of the same song were put side by side. The musical elements are all quite similar: melody, harmonization, lyrics, rhythm. Historically they are both part of the a cappella (i.e. non-instrumental) folk/choral tradition. However, there is an essence to the James Taylor version that does not transmit to the (musically impeccable) King’s Singers.

For many a cappella singers, it is this extra-musical element that makes singing such a genuine and fulfilling act. The ability to form a deep connection through honesty and openness. It is undeniable that you feel connected to others when you sing. That’s why groups foster close friendship and familial atmospheres. It’s what gives a cappella its magic.

And now I bring it to the quote that made me sit down to write this out in the first place. I think that this snippet from Ives sums up a lot of what I experienced in Rochester – the sense of place in tradition and the broader connections that help to enrich the music we make:

“Watch closely and reverently, look into his face and hear the music of the ages. Don’t pay too much attention to the sounds–for if you do, you may miss the music.” Charles Ives, Memos (1972).

A cappella thrives on that direct soul-to-soul connection shared by singing. And Next Level was filled with the genuine passion and excitement for singing that defines a cappella broadly. I have so much thanks for Tom Anderson, Ben Stevens, Dave Longo, everyone at The Vocal Company as well as my fellow classmates Mike, Taylor, Deshawn, Mel and Jonny.

I cannot wait to sing with you all again!