Name: Megan Nardo
Major: Speech Therapy
Hometown: Miami, FL
When Megan Nardo commits to something it is out of passion, and the want to spend her extra time on personally growing as a person. She was initially drawn to a cappella because of her long history of being involved with other singing groups, but what she ultimately gained is a whole new family on campus.
Her Campus: How did the Sedocataves form?
Megan Nardo: “The Sedoctaves were formed way back in 2004. We actually just had our 10 year anniversary last year, which was really exciting. It was formed on the principles that UF didn’t have an opportunity for a group of women to sing anything besides choral music. And choral music is great for people into classical and developing their voices in that manner, but it’s not for everyone. It’s taxing vocally and in terms of your schedule, it’s basically an official class. Our founders wanted to have something more socially oriented and fun. It’s just getting together with your friends and making music.”
HC: How did you get involved?
MN: “I didn’t know any of the a cappella groups on campus. I had heard of No Southern Accent, who are arguably one of the best well known groups because they’ve been around forever. They’re OG a capella at UF. I was walking past Turlington and just stopped to listen. After they were passing out flyers to audition. There was this one girl who promoting the Sedoctaves, so I just went for it. It was one of those instances of absolute serendipity. I never stop to talk to people, but it was meant to be.”
HC: The Sedoctaves describe themselves as a family, how do you form a close bond with all the members?
MN: “I’m very family oriented and needed that family vibe away from my actual family and the group provides an atmosphere that is therapeutic and comforting. I had to find a small group of girls but also something that pushed and challenged me. We make sure our members personalities mesh well with our identity and culture as a group before anything else. Someone can have a rockstar, Aretha Franklin voice, but if we don’t think that your priorities match with ours, we just say it’s not mutually beneficial. We encourage quirkiness, spontaneity, hanging out outside of rehearsals. During rehearsal we’ll just sit down in a circle and talk about our highs and lows of the week. We just want to make everyone feel comfortable and confident as they possibly can, which adds to the culture of our group.”
HC: What kind of events are the Sedoctaves involved in and what kind of music do you all usually perform?
MN: “We have a close partnership with the Women’s Student Association. Every year we perform at their first general body meeting. We do a Fa La La concert where all the a cappella groups come together and just do Christmas carols. It’s a free event and last year we raised money to donate to a charity. And of course we compete at ICCA, the exact competition from Pitch Perfect. We do a lot of contemporary music. We don’t always stick to female vocalists but branch out to male vocalists as well. We just do whatever we think is fun because if we’re not into the genre, we’re not going to perform it well. We’ve done X Ambassadors, ‘Unsteady,’ we thought it was cool before anybody else and even did a music video that now has over 11,000 views on YouTube. Which is amazing! Who knew we had street cred?”
HC: A capella groups are pretty popular now – do you think an appreciation for them will continue?
MN: “I hope so. I think a cappella has become accepted and more mainstream since Pitch Perfect, which has really helped us. A lot of girls are afraid of joining an all-female group, but with Pitch Perfect’s, ‘Barden Bellas’ who are a powerhouse, all-female group who are confident, cool, sexy, fierce and hysterical it hyped up our reputation as a credible group.”
HC: Do you have any advice for women who want to be involved in any type of organization, but are afraid to try something new?
MN: “Just do it. Take out your earphones at Turlington because you never know who you’re going to come across. You never know what part people are going to play in your life in college and even beyond. Take the risk, don’t doubt yourself. People want to meet you and listen to what you have to say. Be confident about what you can do, because you can contribute and have a voice. People want friendship, especially in college. It’s my family away from my family. All the girls have positively impacted my life beyond ways I can describe.”
Photo courtesy of: Megan Nardo