On November 27th, I had the pleasure of attending the Stockton A Cappella Fall Concert. Having been an avid member of the choir at my high school and a music aficion, I’m always excited to watch musical performances and this was no exception.

Allow me to be honest, I had no idea what to expect. I have often listened to a cappella music and sung a great deal of it myself in choir, but this was my first a cappella concert. Having never even watched so much as a video of one, I had imagined something along the lines of Glee meets Pitch Perfect, complete with choreographed dancing and whatnot. Like I said, this was my first. I was a choir singer, which is a rigid art if I ever knew one, at least for my choir. A particular posture had to be maintained at all times and faces were meant to remain pleasantly emotionless, mouths opening in a uniform o-shape. We wore thick robes and were organized by vocal range.

When the performers from all ensembles entered the stage and began to sing their opening song “Already Home”,  I was pleasantly surprised at how familiar and yet unfamiliar I was with it all. The chorus was situated around the peripheral of the stage and in the center were the soloists. It was so…casual. No one was dressed in heavy robes  or standing rigid and unemotional. Quite contrarily, they were dressed in regular clothes, color coordinated according to their ensemble. They all bounced and swayed with the music.

And the music was phenomenal. All of the singers were very talented and harmonized perfectly with each other. And the repertoire was fantastic and apparently assembled and personalized by a Stockton team. And they were absolutely genius. My favorite song was sung by Stockapella. It was a mashup of  “Every Breath You Take” and Grease’s “You’re the One That I Want”. And at first, I couldn’t even identify these iconic songs. The mashup began with a slow and haunting rendition of “You’re the One That I Want” and melted into “Every Breath You Take” in the most chilling and emotional way. I had goosebumps.

The best part of the entire concert was the way the audience could feel the singers’ passion for making music and being on stage in the way that they bounced, swayed, and danced to the music. No doubt, the music was great, but a show is always better when you can tell that the performers are enjoying themselves as much as you are.

At the beginning of the semester, I was considering joining Stockton A Capella and decided against it, thinking it probably wouldn’t be something for me. Now having seen one of their concerts, I feel that I might have to audition next year. It seems like a blast.

Overall, I think the concert was amazing. The songs, the music, the atmosphere were all perfect for a music-lover like me and I can’t wait to see what Stockton A Capella has planned for the Spring Concert.