A teacher. A director. A performer. At the heart of the huge undertaking that is the The National A Cappella Convention.
For Episode 32 of Vocal HERspective, Amanda and Rachael sit down with Shannon McNulty, to talk about all of these things and more, debuting at 9:30 pm EDT/6:30 pm PDT tonight, plus two rebroadcasts on Sunday at 10:30 am & pm PDT. Don’t forget to subscribe for the podcast, released every Monday!
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!
What better way to celebrate the holiday mashup week of the year, than with a tune from The Nightmare Before Christmas?
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.
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
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.
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.
Winner of “Outstanding Aesthetic” at NACC 2019, All-Night Yahtzee gave us this treat of their entire competition set from 2019.
This quartet out of Australia certainly wins best use of the “wind machine” with their George Michael cover.
While we were out enjoy the sun, the sand, the surf, and all of the other spoils of summer, the titans of a cappella still churned out some great new music. Here are the highlights:
There were a lot of mixed feelings about the Lion King remake, but there no questioning the PTX take on this classic song off the soundtrack.
Not to be outdone, the men of Vocal Point released their own Lion King harmonies with their cover of Circle of Life.
It was a busy summer as always for these Singapore superstars and rumor has it there will be even more music coming soon. Get your abbreviated Chinese music history lesson now.
It is almost time to submit your applications for the 2020 ICCA season. Be inspired by the set from the 2019 champions.
They may not have made an ICCA appearance last season, but these collegiate powerhouses did take their talents to Memphis to win the NACC Collegiate Competition.
There’s never a bad time for Earth, Wind & Fire, especially not when covered by m-Pact, who we can’t wait to see in November for the m-Pact Vocal Festival in Kansas City.
SING! Texas is just around the corner, but not before you can relive this gem of an original written by Hannah Lewis.
Plus, they released another new original “Broke My Window.”
This year’s BHS International 5th place medalists have been making quite a slash with their music videos. Have a little fun with this cover from the Goofy Movie, a follow up to their Spiderman Theme Song.
If this is how the ladies of Pitch Slapped are kicking off the new year, we’ve got a lot more amazing music coming our way.
Harmony, Inc. unleashed part of the winning set from the 2018 International Champions. Enjoy “I See The Light” arranged by Kevin Keller.
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.
