Episode 8: Scholastic A Cappella in the Pandemic

This week, Polyphony digs into the pandemic’s effect on scholastic a cappella. Tonight’s panelists include Dennis Gephart of Limited Edition, Port Washington, Justin Glodich of Valley Central Middle School and The Aca-Education Podcast, and Lisa Marien of Nathan Hale Arts Magnet School – hear the conversation at 8 pm Eastern/5 pm Pacific!

The Pulse – Twin Cities A Cappella 2020

Coming tonight at 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific, it’s the jam-packed second half from the Twin Cities A Cappella Festival, featuring Limited Edition, Port WashingtonConvocadence#Midori from Hopkins High School, and the #RedKnotes from Benilde-St. Margaret’s! Tune in at http://acaville.org/ (press the big blue button on the top!) or download the Acaville Radio app from the App Store and listen on the go.

Rebroadcast happens Sunday at 1pm Eastern/10am Pacific and again 12 hours later.

New Tunesday – May 28, 2019

Summer unofficially kicked off here in the U.S. while the new a cappella releases stay hot. Here are this week’s top new releases:

Pentatonix

The wave from Dear Evan Hansen hasn’t crested yet, and PTX rides it just fine.

2018 AIC Show Highlights

Counting down the minutes until the BHS International Convention in Salt Lake City this  summer? Well, this probably isn’t going to alleviate that excitement – some highlights from last year’s AIC Show:

MAZE Voices

A beautiful original song with a spot on music video – watching this group out of Aarhus makes us a little extra sad we aren’t in Denmark this week!

Limited Edition

One of the best high school groups in the US, this Ben Rector cover is the perfect fit for the powerhouses from Port Washington.

The Lost Keys

Everyone loves a good couch video and this Bastille cover hits all the right places. Check out the latest from this superstar CAL group out of NYC.

Take Flight 

Perhaps the first cover of an Avi Kaplan original since the former Pentatonix bass pursued his solo career, done by Harmony Sweepstakes finalists, Take Flight.

Collaborate

A relatively new group out of London, Collaborate put a little shine on their live performance of My My My.

Tonal Ecstasy

McGill University’s oldest a cappella group performed a Vulfpeck cover to close out the spring semester.

 

Nor’easters Capture NACC Title as AEA Announces Huge News

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.