Geneseo a cappella starts off with a bang

This past Saturday evening on Oct. 14, students, families, friends, and random onlookers congregated in Wadsworth Auditorium to see all five of SUNY Geneseo’s a cappella groups for the first of two a cappella concerts in the fall semester. While there have been various gigs and smaller performances by the groups around campus, each semester only has two of these concerts in the Wadsworth Auditorium. 

This being the first concert of the year, each group announced the new members that have joined their respective groups. Hips N’ Harmony took the cake with a whopping twelve new members. The setlist for the night was as follows: 

Southside Boys performed “Good ol” (a song they sing at the start of every year), Billy Joel’s “My Life,” They Might Be Giants’ “Istanbul (Not Constantinople),” and Outkast’s “Hey Ya!” 

Hips n’ Harmony performed Fugees’ “Killing Me Softly,” Fleetwood Mac’s “Little Lies,” Harry Styles’ “Boyfriends,” and Lizzo’s “Juice.”

Between the Lines (BTL) performed Harbour’s “Judy You Hung the Moon,” Sheppard’s “Geronimo,” the Lumineers’ “Gloria,” and “Throw Away Your Mask,” from the popular 2016 role-playing game Persona 5.

Emmelodics performed Hozier’s “Jackie and Wilson,” Lord Huron’s “The Night We Met,” Grouplove’s “Tongue Tied,” and Cody Fry’s “Underground.”

Exit 8 performed Fun’s “Some Nights,” Maroon 5’s “This Love,” One Republic’s “West Coast,” and an Adele mashup of “Rumor Has It” and “Someone Like You.”

Following the tradition of the past few years, Southside Boys and Hips n’ Harmony joined together for a combined song, this time performing an electric rendition of “Thriller/Heads Will Roll” arranged by Southside Boy Bradley Adams.

Hips n’ Harmony was kind enough to livestream the entire night of music on their Instagram page, and the recording of the stream can still be found on Instagram at @hipsnharmony. If they have not already, each group is also likely to upload their own songs to their respective YouTube channels. 

Each of the five a cappella groups has a unique appeal and different reasons why people would want to join each one. As a Southside Boy and Emmelodic, I am probably quite biased. I joined Southside Boys as a freshman in order to make friends with other men who also liked to sing, and Emmelodics last year because they always have good vibes. The other three a cappella groups also have lots of appealing reasons to join, like Exit 8’s caliber of arrangements, BTL’s close-knit friend group, and Hips n’ Harmony’s positive spin on a “pseudo-sorority” type of organization.

A cappella also offers many opportunities outside of the two concerts per semester, such as gigs, invitationals, parties, and fundraisers. If you are looking for a way to make friends, perform, and become a bigger part of your community, a cappella is a great way to get more involved.

There will be another a cappella performance on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023. Anyone interested in joining a cappella is encouraged to audition next semester when all five groups will be open to accepting new members.