With the semester nearing its end, NC State’s a cappella groups are wrapping up an eventful semester with their annual spring concerts.
NC State’s co-ed a cappella group, Acappology, performed its spring Black and Gold concert in the State Ballroom of the Talley Student Union Sunday. The 14 students of Acappology sang a number of songs and welcomed Elon University’s co-ed a cappella group, Twisted Measure to join them onstage for a few joint numbers.
Grains of Time held its spring concert Saturday in the same location. The performance, titled “Hunger Grains,” played off of the movie “The Hunger Games.” The group performed the song “The Hanging Tree” from the soundtrack “Mockingjay—Part One.” The Grains performed throughout the night, but the group made it appear as though members were dying off as the night went on.
“We went all out with the theme this year,” said Brennan Clark, the music director of Grains of Time.
The Ladies in Red, NC State’s all-female a cappella group, performed Wednesday in Titmus Theatre. A high school a cappella group from Chapel Hill joined the women on stage for a guest performance.
At the show, Erin Jones, a senior studying criminology, performed a beatboxing solo and, at one point, helped the crowd learn how to beatbox.
Wolfgang, a co-ed a cappella group with about 18 members, will hold its April Madness A Cappella Concert Saturday at Trinity United Methodist Church in Troy, North Carolina.
NC State’s four a cappella groups—Grains of Time, Acappology, the Ladies in Red and Wolfgang—competed in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella south quarterfinals competition at Duke University in February.
Grains of Time placed first at the quarterfinals and moved on to the semifinals in Gainsville, Florida.
“We did really well, but we didn’t win anything there,” Clark said.
Accapology won third place at the quarterfinals and also received an award for best choreography.
For Ladies in Red, Jones’s beatboxing won the group an award for best vocal percussionist.
Wolfgang received an award for best soloist at the quarterfinals.
Founded in 1994, Acappology has been on NC State’s campus for 21 years. Anna Shelton, the vice president of Acappology, said the Black and Gold concert was inspired by the group’s theme at the ICCA competition.
Acappology opened up the concert night with “Rather Be” by Clean Bandit and then the group members proceeded to introduce themselves to the audience of families and students. The members wore outfits of black and gold and kept the energy of the performances up with choreographed dancing and break-out solos to highlight some of their group members’ voices.
“They have a very unique style and they’re very put together. They do cool stuff and have really cool arrangements,” Clark said.
Between the song performances, Accapology members presented their soon to be graduating seniors with superlative posters and talked about their individual contributions to the group and to each other’s lives.
“I think the performance is incredible. They have such diverse talent, and with all the different voices, and their choreography makes for a very amazing show,” said Rachel Raineri, a sophomore studying textile engineering.
After the last song performance listed in the program handouts, members of Acappology surprised the seniors with a goodbye video that displayed photos of them together and their shared memories. After these moments, Acappology sang a song with alumni from the audience on stage.
The Ladies in Red and Grains of Time also said goodbye to their seniors at their shows.
“This was my third year leading the group,” Clark said of Grains of Time. “It is sad to go, but it is definitely in good hands.”
