For the second year, three of ETSU’s a cappella groups gathered together to perform the opening concert for BucApella.
On Friday, ETSU a cappella groups, Harmonium, Swashbucklers and Greyscale performed in the D.P. Culp University Center Auditorium to kick off BucAppella. Each group performed a selection of popular songs, such as ‘If I Die Young,’ ‘Things We Lost In The Fire’ and ‘Believer’ to a packed auditorium.
“This event we get to perform with the two other groups, The SwashBucklers and Harmonium,” Greyscale member Will Ervin said. “It makes it just a little bit more of a community feel and usually we don’t get to perform with anybody else so that makes it just a little bit more special.”
According to Ervin, the groups have been hard at practice to bring the best show possible to the audience.
“So we usually rehearse during class, because our group is an actual class,” Ervin said. “We rehearse on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. But Wednesdays are two hours long and the rest are an hour and a half long. Every week this week we’ve spent about probably three, three and a half hours a day rehearsing.”
As a part of the BucAppella festival, Ben Bram, famous for his work on ‘Pitch Perfect,’ came in on March 24 to direct the different a cappella groups in master classes throughout the day before the finale concert that evening.
“We always like having those really well known people come in,” Ervin said. “People that have done a whole lot in their lives. They just really give good feedback and it’s always just really good. You can get feedback from people that are around you sometimes, but these people really give you the feedback that you need.”
Some of the people attending the opening concert participated in the master classes with Bram. Audience member Taylor Cooper is a part of Duly Noted, a female a cappella group at Dobyns-Bennett High School participating in BucAppella. She said she liked a cappella because it brings the members of the group together.
“For me, we’re an all girls group,” Cooper said. “And it’s just like, when you’re singing something, each part is so important that you feel this kind of bond with everyone and it’s something that I haven’t found anything else to compare to.”
