Tag: Florida State University

New Tunesday – November 5, 2019

Ah….we’ve hit that week of the year where Halloween smashes into Christmas. We promise to keep it *mostly* non-holiday around her until it’s actually the holidays, but forgive us if we sneak in a good one every now and then!

VoicePlay

What better way to celebrate the holiday mashup week of the year, than with a tune from The Nightmare Before Christmas?

Backtrack

Anytime of year is a good time for The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but Halloween was a great time for Backtrack to drop this new video. Especially when paired with the announcement of their Holiday album available now on Spotify.

A Cappella Academy

What better way to announce auditions for A Cappella Academy 2020 but with the release of videos from 2019? Check out the first three releases from last summer’s campers. Yeah, don’t worry – we want to quit a cappella, too.

The first, from the Academy Choir directed by Rob Dietz:

Evergreen by YEBBA performed by Vivace, directed by James Rose and Marisa Esposito:

Mueva Los Huesos by Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band performed by Cloud 9, directed by Amanda Taylor and Sean Patrick Riley

VOXID

Acaville had the pleasure of debuting this song with an interview with Daniel Barke, but just in case you missed it. More YEBBA, more awesome a cappella.

Austonettes

Adding a Halloween-feel to this iconic Britney tune, this Texas-based group adds some neon for that extra glow. Live in Austin, TX? They are also auditioning.

All-Night Yahtzee

Winner of “Outstanding Aesthetic” at NACC 2019, All-Night Yahtzee gave us this treat of their entire competition set from 2019.

Ginger and Tonic

This quartet out of Australia certainly wins best use of the “wind machine” with their George Michael cover.

Voices Only 2019 Special – Only On Acaville

TONIGHT at 8 pm Eastern/5 pm Pacific, we have a 3-hour special highlighting the songs and groups that were selected for Voices Only 2019! Hear the amazing tunes that made it on to the album, along with interviews from:

* Voices Only Productions‘ owner Corey Slutsky
* Fermata Town
* The Nor’easters
* Toccatatones
* m-pact
* From the Roots
* All-Night Yahtzee
* TAG – The A Cappella Group
* Reverb
* OneVoice
* Hyannis Sound
* RHS Walk the Line
* Stiletta
* Drums of War
* The Beltones
* Run For Cover
* The BluesTones
* Business Casual

You DO NOT want to miss this special, but if the timing isn’t good for you, we’ll be releasing all the interviews individually as podcast episodes on The Pulse. Check it out in Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, and Spotify, or at http://pulsepod.org!

Nor’easters Capture NACC Title as AEA Announces Huge News

Some of the best a cappella groups converged in Memphis this weekend to participate in the National A Cappella Convention for showcases, competitions, and educational sessions from the best in the business.

For the first time, the high school competition was swapped out for a showcase of ten top high school groups. While groups received full feedback from judges, the stress levels were reduced as no winner was named. Instead, the audience was the winner as each set was remarkable. With performances from groups like Limited Edition, Unstrumental, Forte, and G-E-T Vocal Point, this showcase was a true highlight of the weekend.

Saturday kicked off with a convention-wide TedTalk-like session from Convention founder and AEA President, Dr. J.D. Frizzell. His motivational talk put all attendees in the right mindset to learn and use their music to leave an impact on their audiences.

The day was a mix of classes, masterclasses, and more showcases, including performances from RESOUND, OneVoice, and Impromptu before the Convention came to a close with the Collegiate Invitational featuring:

EQ Blu
No Comment
The Green Tones
Voices In Your Head
The Nor’easters
Texas Songhorns
Mosaic Whispers
All-Night Yahtzee

With visually creative and emotional sets, the judges chose to honor:

Outstanding Aesthetic – All-Night Yahtzee
Outstanding Scene Painting – Voices in Your Head
Outstanding Choreography- UNT Green Tones
Outstanding Soloist – Anthony Rodriguez (The Nor’easters)

2nd Place: UNT Green Tones
WINNER: Nor’easters

The evening also featured a guest performance by Nomadic, the first group formed out of the June Foundation.

And just when we thought the weekend was over, Dr. Frizzell and Executive Producer A.J. Marino took the stage with a huge announcement – NACC would not happen in 2020. But before the audience could get too upset, Frizzell shared that the reason was that AEA will be hosting an even larger Convention in the Spring of 2021 in Orlando. Make your plans now, a cappella fans – it’s going to be the biggest event we’ve seen in a cappella yet.