Ever since the movie Pitch Perfect hit screens in 2012, it seems like there has been an a cappella frenzy on college campuses throughout the US. If Rebel Wilson can do it, so can anyone, right? Well it turns out using only your voice to create all sorts of musical sounds isn’t as aca-easy as it seems. Her Campus sat down with Ellie Newby and Hali Erickson, the brains and musical genius behind Chapman’s newest a cappella group, ChapTones. Here is what they had to say about musical inspiration and creating a new group with a whole new sound.
ChapTones practicing their tunes (co-founder Hali Erickson center right)
GS: What was your inspiration for establishing ChapTones? How did you get started?
EN: Well this summer I was talking to one of my good friends who is the current president of the Treblemakers at Boston University, and she gave me the idea to start my own group at Chapman. BU has 5 or 6 groups and so do many other schools so I just thought, why not Chapman too? We definitely have enough talent for more groups, and a cappella is so popular now I didn’t see how it could be a bad idea!
GS: Well it seems like you’ve been sucessful so far! So we have to ask: how accurate is Pitch Perfect when it comes to desciribing a college a cappella group?
EN: (laughs) Well, I love pitch perfect and a lot of things in the movie are realistic but it is very over dramatized.
HE: The competition they go to in the movie is real though! It’s the ICCA’s and I think the other 3 Chapman groups are all going this year. We’re hoping ChapTones will be able to audition for next year’s competition, so we’ll see how that goes. It might be a little overly optimistic, but we’re confident in our group.
GS: Say someone is interested in joining ChapTones. How do they go about that? Walk on? Audition? Give up their first born?
HE: Typically we will have auditions in the fall to fill the spots of whoever graduated. Our numbers won’t exceed 18 because usually that’s the largest size of collegiate a cappella groups. However, this year we’re going to have spring auditions, too. We want the group to continue to grow and we think adding a few more members for spring will balance out our sound nicely. One of our girls is transferring next semester, so we’re at 11 members now and hoping to add 3 or 4 with spring auditions. Audition! It’s such a rewarding experience. You won’t regret it!
ChapTones member Elijah Richardson
GS: It must be really challenging using only your voices to make music. How do you decide which songs to sing?
HE: To pick songs, we choose a day every few weeks to let people pitch song ideas. We listen to each song and let the person who pitched it explain their vision for it and then we vote on them.
EN: My favorite song we’re working on now is a mashup of Dog Days Are Over by Florence and the Machine and Feel Again by OneRepublic.
GS: From the perspective of its creators, what is the best part about being a member of ChapTones?
EN: Well, basically everything. I just love ChapTones and all the people in it like crazy. I love getting to sing in a group again, and hanging out with those weirdos is always the highlight of my day. I’m just really proud of how much everyone else loves it too. Our group has bonded a ton already and I can’t wait to see where we are even just a year from now.
Co-Founder Ellie Newby performing a solo
GS: Wow, it sounds like you are already a close-knit group. That’s amazing! Where can we see you perform next?
EN: We’re performing at Midnight Breakfast next, so make sure to come eat free food and hear our stuff! It will be our first time performing the Dog Days Are Over and Feel Again mashup.
There you have it. Be sure to head to Midnight Breakfast this finals week to see the amazing ChapTones show off their stuff. It’s sure to be aca-AWESOME.