On November 19, 2012 my roommate and I attended Stockton’s fall a Cappella concert. It was a beautiful combination of popular songs sung by three different a cappella groups. As a whole, all three groups are called Stockton a Cappella. Stocktata is an all girl group and the youngest of all three groups. The Stocktones is a co-ed group of college students that attend Stockton College. The third group is called Stockapella and is the oldest and most experienced a cappella group at Stockton. This group competes with other a cappella groups across the nation. Stockapella began competing in 2011 and every competition since that point, they have qualified for the quarterfinals of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella. That is an incredible feat! What is even more exciting for me personally is that my boyfriend is in this group!

            The show was a huge success. There were more people in the audience than seats. Each group wore a different color, accented throughout their outfits. Stockata, the all girls group, was given the color purple. Their clothes were splashed with bits of purple and their particular songs were written in purple in the program. The Stocktones were blue and the Stockapella group was yellow. These color differentiations made it easy to see and distinguish who was in which group. It was also interesting to see what some students would do with their color! One of the girls in the Stocktones actually dyed her hair blue!

Stockton a Cappella opened up with “Some Nights” by F.U.N.  It was beautifully sung and the harmonies were phenomenal. This song is one of my favorites to listen to, so this excellent performance of it made it exponentially more exciting for me. Some of the other songs that were sung were: “Give Your Heart A Break” by Demi Lovato, “Summer of ‘69” by Brian Adams,  “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved” by The Script, “Over My Head” by The Fray, and “Happy Ending” by Mika, in addition to about ten other songs. The closing song, “Happy Ending” by Mika, was described as very special to the Stockton a Cappella groups because it has been a tradition to close the concert with this song. They also invite all of the Stockton a Cappella alumni to come to the stage to sing it with the current members. This concept is familiar to me because in my high school’s winter choir concerts, we had a tradition of singing Carol of the Bells and O Holy Night. We, like Stockton a Cappella, would invite all PTHS alumni to join us in singing O Holy Night on stage. I think this is a great way to continue to involve the alumni in something that they used to love so much.

Not only was I glad that I came to this concert to support my boyfriend, but I also thoroughly enjoyed every song that was sung and performed. These students worked so incredibly hard to reach this final point, and you can tell that their hard work paid off. They all had large grins on their faces and they looked like they were having a great time as they swayed with the musing, bounced their knees, and tapped their feet. As a performer, I know how empowering it is to hear that loud audience cheer for you. At this concert, the audience didn’t cheer after every song, they screamed. They loved every minute of the concert, just as my roommate and I had. I will most definitely attend more Stockton a Cappella concerts and I know others will too. I think they should move their concerts over into the PAC where there are more seats!