Texas Wesleyan’s new a capella group held its second meeting on Friday, Jan. 19 at the Science Lecture Theatre in the McFadden Science Center.
The group was formed two weeks ago following an interest meeting and is led and directed by Professor Will Chandler, the director of choral activities in the Wesleyan music department. Chandler was a part of acapella groups while in college and directed groups at Western Hills High School.
“Acapella is just people… there’s no instruments,” Chandler said. “Everything that you are hearing is coming out of the bodies of human beings that think and feel and cooperate and learn to sing together.”
Members of the group share the sentiment that a capella is so much more than just music.
“To me, acapella is a family,” junior music major Lindsey Salgado said. “We have a group of people who all have an interest in acapella music and using our voices to make the instruments rather than having to rely on the instruments ourselves.”
Salgado, an active member of the choir group and Mariachi band on campus, as well as an aspiring opera singer, describes acapella as yet another avenue for her musical expression.
“[A capella] is really cool because it actually expands my ability to sing in different styles of music,” Salgado said.
“[A capella] is harmony,” junior music education major Thalia Veloz said. “It’s a form to connect with other people and make music to where you connect on a deeper level.”
Veloz had prior experience with acapella in high school.
“Acapella is another form of expressing yourself to where you’re using your whole body to be able to perform because you’re not using an instrument.”
The group’s first rehearsal began with the members participating in a few vocal exercises, singing alongside a piano.
Eventually, they transitioned to some sight reading, performing “Someone Like U” from the soundtrack of the Pixar film “Turning Red.”
Chandler’s hands-on and interactive instruction guided the group through the new piece as they worked as a team to define roles, strengths and weaknesses for the better of the group.
“I think we’re still in the early stages of just coming together, singing and having fun,” Chandler said. “…We’re still trying to kind of figure out like an identity. We’re still trying to kind of figure out what we want our style to be, what kind of genres of music [we want to perform].”
Affiliated with and supported by the Texas Wesleyan Music Department, the group could be performing on a stage near you in the future.
When asked about the group’s future and current ambitions, Chandler replied, “I think public performances will be a possibility and eventually it would be cool to do some competitions.”
The group holds weekly rehearsals every Friday in the Science Lecture Theatre. Email Professor Will Chandler @[email protected] for more information.