This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Delaware chapter.
Behind the amazing performances of University of Delaware’s Creshendo a capella, is the very talented musical director, Sam Schneider!
Some basics:
Year: Junior
Major: Cognitive Science (Speech and Language Pathology)
Campus Involvements: Greek life, Gift of Life @ UD, Best Buddies, NSSLHA, UD Hillel, CresHENdo a Cappella
Her Campus: Please explain to our readers the reasoning behind the name creshendo
Sam Schneider: Our group recently rebranded and we needed to come up with a new name. “Crescendo” is a musical term meaning to get louder so my roommate came up with the pun “CresHENdo” to combine music and UD.
HC: What are your responsibilities as musical director of creshendo?
SS: I work with the Assistant Musical Director to coordinate all things music. That involves everything from coming up with our setlist, looking over musical arrangements, running rehearsals, and conducting most of our performances.
HC: What do you like about being part of an a cappella group?
SS: A cappella has given me a family of people who all have the same love as me. We work as a team during rehearsals and performances and a family at all other times. I’ve been able to grow my leadership and my skills by being surrounded by some of the most amazing musical people I know.
HC: What is your favorite arrangement that the group has done?
HC: What do you consider the most challenging part of being musical director?
SS: The time commitment makes things really difficult. I’m involved in a lot of other clubs, have an internship, and am taking a full load of credits while still committing 7+ hours to the group a week. It’s time consuming, but a lot of the times rehearsal is a break from day-to-day things, not a chore.
HC: What makes your group unique over other campus a cappella groups?
SS: While we work hard and love to perform, we are a fun and quirky bunch. We’re also holding Spring auditions in February!