Courtesy of Shades of Yale

As spring arrives at Yale, halls have filled with a cappella performances as Yale’s various singing groups perform their annual jams. 

Yale’s a cappella scene is unusually large, with 16 different officially-registered a cappella groups in addition to other singing and musical groups across campus. The a cappella groups go on tour over school breaks and perform concerts throughout the year, with nearly all performing an end-of-year jam during the spring semester. 

“Being in a cappella gives you a constant social space and group of close friends that you can always lean back on,” said Logan Foy ’25, a member of The Alley Cats. “It’s also a great opportunity to grow as a musician alongside people you really care about. You spend so much time … together as a group both in musical and non-musical spaces, they really become family in a lot of ways. That is definitely my favorite part.”

Yale’s Singing Group Council, or SGC, coordinates with all of its member groups in advance to try to spread a cappella jams across different weekends, so that they do not conflict with one another.

Venue and sound are key aspects of preparing for an a cappella jam. Groups have the opportunity to book spaces on Yale’s campus, with Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall and Sudler Hall being particular favorites of many groups. Groups can rent sound equipment from the University and most hire sound engineers to set up microphones. 

Due to the pandemic, on-campus venues are only allowed to be filled to 75 percent capacity and the vaccination status of attendees must be checked. Unlike last year when concerts were mostly virtual, this year fully vaccinated family and friends from outside the Yale community were able to attend and support concerts.

The Alley Cats, one of Yale’s all-male a cappella groups, held their jam on April 17. During concert weeks, the Alley Cats spend large amounts of time together conducting full-dress rehearsals and a “memorizing party” — an Alley Cat tradition. This is an informal space outside whole group rehearsals for members to spend time together and practice the songs they will sing at performances that week.

“Since the Alley Cats perform so often, my favorite parts of any concert are the random improvised acting, singing, and dancing that we throw in the set to keep the whole group on its toes,” Foy said. “Many priceless laughs and inside jokes come from these moments.”

Lourdes Rohan ’22, a member of “Out of the Blue,” or OOTB, one of Yale’s all-gender a cappella groups, told the News that it felt “surreal” to perform in her final jam before she graduated. OOTB’s jam took place on April 6. 

Rohan told the News that her favorite part of being in OOTB were the people and the culture they established, both through concerts like their jam and beyond.

“One of our biggest priorities is our friendships and our social connections with each other,” Rohan said. “We focus more on being in community with each other rather than just sounding perfect. We are people who like to sing. We are very close friends, which is very beautiful, very serendipitous, it isn’t promised everyone will get along the way we do. We’ve been so lucky we all are able to work so well together and exhibit such beautiful care and love.”

OOTB’s sense of community was strengthened over spring break when they toured Las Vegas, Nev. The location was not chosen for the glitzy nightlife and casinos, but instead because one of the new taps offered his family home in the suburbs for the 18 tour members to stay. Rohan told the News that OOTB tours always involve staying in members’ homes because it is the only affordable option and helps make tours accessible for all members of the group. Rohan also described having 18 very close friends in someone’s family home as a bonding experience like no other. 

Social connection outside the group was another highlight of the tour because most of the performances were at schools and retirement homes. Rohan described how the groups of children and the residents in retirement homes were so appreciative of the group being there and would come up to them after the performance to tell them how beautiful the songs were and how it brightened their days. 

“A lot of our members are shower singers, people who are so talented but never had the opportunity to get formal training in high school and did this as a passion,” Rohan said. “We do genuinely really try to pick people who sing not because it’s something that they’ve done their whole life necessarily, but because it’s something that they really care about and something makes them feel fulfilled.”

Another aspect of spring jams are their alumni involvement. Ivana Ramirez ’25, a member of the all-gender a cappella group Mixed Company, described how many alumni were present at their April 10 jam.

According to Ramirez, during the rush process some things that stood out to her aside from Mixed Co.’s sound were the personalities of the members and the care they have for each other. Whilst a cappella groups offer a social space for members to meet people from all years at Yale, many alumni are still involved and come back to campus to support concerts. 

“Mixed Co has a really special a group of alumni who are super excited to support performances. Their level of energy throughout the whole concert makes all of our hard work worth it,” Ramirez said.

A cappella groups will hold their next rush, when new members can audition to join, at the beginning of the fall 2022 semester.