By Amanda ValentovicStaff Writer
Members of Sigma’Capella will be singing for a bigger audience on Feb. 15 when they compete in the Northeast Regional International Competition of Collegiate a Capella. The a capella group was accepted into the competition held at Hofstra this winter. If they win, they will advance to the national finals.
Sigma’Capella has been on campus for 15 years, the oldest of all the a capella groups. Out of the 18 members, only about six of them are music majors. “It’s nice because they’re able to teach us music, but I love that we’re an outlet for people,” said Deanna Giulietti, public relations chair.
Other students in the group have majors varying from TV business to biology and chemistry. “We’re their creative outlet, they just love to sing,” said Giulietti, a senior drama major.
Every September Sigma’Capella performs at the club fair and holds signups for auditions. Students who audition sing a song of their choice and if they get a callback, they have time to learn a new one. “Then we see if everyone’s voices blend together and work well, and we figure out what the group needs,” said Giulietti. There is usually between 16 and 18 members in the group. “We would never go past 20,” she said. “This year we had so many amazing people audition.”
When Sigma’Capella takes the stage in February, they will be performing a set of three songs that they arranged themselves. To create a song, a few members usually use programs like Finale and Noteflight while listening and matching pitch with each other. “One time we listened to it together and made our own song by listening,” Giulietti said, referring to when the group arranged “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye. “That was the most fun.”
Each member usually chooses about three songs that they want to learn over the year, and then the group takes a majority vote on which ones they want to prioritize. “The reason we all learn songs so quickly is because we all love them,” said Giulietti.
To get to the regional ICCAs, Sigma’Capella made a video of themselves performing three songs with choreography. They recently found out they were accepted to the competition. “It’s been about a year that we’ve wanted to do it,” said Giulietti. “Last year we knew about the ICCAs, but we didn’t think it was feasible to enter.” The members decided to make an audition tape after finding out the competition would be held at Hofstra. “Even if we don’t pass through to the finals, [there are] so many groups,” she said.
One thing Sigma’Capella is excited about is building relationships with other collegiate a capella groups. “It’s so much fun to learn from people and go to their schools,” said Giulietti.
As far as competing this winter, the group has a two goals: to get to the finals and to have fun. “We want to win, but we also want to get a really good set list that the audience will like,” she said. Some favorite songs that Sigma’Capella likes to perform include Delta Rae’s “Morning Comes” and “Something to Talk About” by Bonnie Raitt, which is a tradition to perform with alumni. “We’re very excited; we want everyone to come,” Giulietti said.
Students have a chance to get a taste of what Sigma’Capella will be bringing to the stage in competition at their winter concert this week. The show is Dec. 6 at 3 p.m. in Monroe Hall.