There is more to a university than the intramural sports teams, student organizations and study group sessions. At N.C. State, there are characteristics specific to the University such as Packa palooza, The Power Sound of the South and the multiple a cappella groups here.

N.C. State has four unique a cappella groups. Grains of Time is the premier men’s a cappella group and has ex isted since 1966. Ladies in Red is the premiere women’s group and has been at the University since 1993. Acap pology is a co-ed a cappella group which has been at the University since 1994, and Wolfgang is a co-ed a cappella group from 1997.

With albums, awards and performances, these groups have been successful in the past and are looking forward to a bright future. However, something rather drastic is changing this year: the audi tion process.

Each group has always had its own separate audi tion during both semesters in the past. Inspired by the film Pitch Perfect and initi ated by Luke Miller, a senior in psychology and the chore ographer of Grains of Time, the four a cappella groups are holding one, unified audition that includes all groups this fall.

According to Joshua Apke, a junior in computer engi neering and the president of Grains of Time, there had been some conflict with stu dents choosing their very first group in the past with the original style of auditions.

“Some people audition for the first group, get in and lat er down the road think, ‘That other group might be a better fit for me,’” Apke said. “Or it caused a lot of problems for people trying to audition for multiple groups. They felt like whichever group they audi tioned for, if they got in, they were in that group. We just wanted something to make it a little easier for people com ing in to audition.”

Miller also said he believes this new audition style will fix this problem.

“It will increase member ship loyalty to each group because you will know for sure that they are in the group they want to be in,” Miller said. “It will also increase group-to-group interaction and bonding, which in turn, will get us closer to an Aca-family at State instead of four separated groups.”

Once Miller pitched the idea to other members in the four groups, they started holding conversations and throwing ideas around.

“We created the A Cappella Council Board of N.C. State,” Apke said. “That’s what we’ve been calling ourselves. Basi cally, there are four members from every group and the main time we’ve met was to hammer out the details for the audition process to see if it was possible, if all the groups could agree on it, and if it was going to be something we ac tually wanted to do.”

Miller said the new audi tion style will make the four groups more unified next year, but the unification pro cess has already begun.

“We’ve already bonded a lot more just because we’ve all communicated through this board,” said Kenzie Richards, junior in Natural Resources and co-director of Acappology. “We’re now sharing our events on the board and the groups are sharing other groups’ events, too. We’re forming a network we haven’t had before, which I don’t know why we haven’t.”

The new audition style will be a multi-step, Sunday-to- Sunday process, according to Apke. The audition room will be split into two sections.

“There’s going to be one main section, which will be open auditions,” Apke said. “All but one or two members from every group will be sit ting in that room watching the people come audition on stage, which may seem in timidating, but that’s why we made them ‘open’ auditions, so they can bring friends and support.”

During the technical part of the audition, the students will do a skills test, pitch rec ognition and a range test, ac cording to Apke. Then they will perform the solo of their choice.

After these Sunday audi tions, each group will meet individual ly and choose which singers they want for callbacks. After these meet ings, the A Cappella Council Board will hold a meeting right after where they send a unified email to all those who auditioned and inform them of the news. For those who received a callback op portunity, the email will list the groups who would like them to come for callbacks.

“Callbacks mean that in those 10 minutes where we saw you, we like you enough that we want to hear more from you,” Apke said. “You get personal time, sing anoth er solo, you get to sing with the group, which is where we first get to hear if you blend with the group. The callbacks are really where we get to see if someone is going to be a good fit.”

During the week after the first Sunday audition, each day will be a different groups’ callback day. By Thursday night, all of the callbacks will be finished, and the A Cap pella Board will meet and dis cuss the people the groups are interested in.

“Each group will compile a list of the people they want in their group,” Apke said, “and then we’ll send out an email saying these are the groups that want you. Now we want you to rank what groups you would prefer to be in.”

Now, the finalists get the opportunity to choose which group they want to be in the most and the

least.

“We’ll get all those emails back on Friday, and then the A Cappella board mem bers meet again,” Apke said. “We’ll look through the list and if a group is listed as someone’s first choice, then that group has first pick. They can say, ‘yes we want that person,’ but if they don’t, the second group has the next priority if they want to take them. We’ll go through each person.”

Apke said the groups will be finalized Saturday and all the groups will come together and do some type of a cele bratory party including the new people (similar to Pitch Perfect).

Apke said the attitude be tween the four N.C. State a cappella groups was notice ably different during his freshman year.

“There was this underlin ing tension between all four groups of who’s the best group and gets the most fans at their shows,” Apke said. “And that was difficult to watch, considering that we are all trying to do the same thing, trying to make great music and show. I think that’s when it finally hit home: If we’re working against each other and our groups are trying to be the best at this school, then it’s just going to tear our groups apart, and we won’t look united or progress forward.”

However, one purpose of this new process is to make the groups united. Apke said incoming freshmen will feel more welcome to audition and make other friends in different groups because of the groups’ friendship. Alexis Carson, a sophomore in computer science and the business manager of Ladies in Red, agrees.

“I’m really glad that we’ll be able to be seen more as a community from an outside perspective,” Carson said.

John Ritter, a junior in chemical engineering and the music director of Wolfgang, said the four N.C. State a cap pella groups are hoping for a great event and are excited for the new audition process.

“I think this event will be a huge success and hopefully will become an N.C. State tra dition. I think we will have more auditionees than ever,” Ritter said. “We are one big a cappella family here at State. Who wouldn’t want to join in on all the fun?”