On Monday evening, prospective members of Whiffenpoofs and Whim ’n Rhythm anxiously awaited a phone call that would determine their admission into the two prestigious, all-senior singing groups.

This year’s new tap class represented breaks from tradition. For the first time in the group’s history, the Whiffenpoofs welcomed a female musical director, Eunice Oh ’26, as one of its 14 members.

“As soon as one of the members introduced the news, at that moment, it really just felt warm to be welcomed into a family,” said Yixiao Zhang ’26, a new Whiffenpoofs member from the Alley Cats.

New Whiffenpoofs member Noah Jung ’26, of the Alley Cats, was pacing around Beinecke Plaza when he received the FaceTime call. On the other side of the phone, current Whiffenpoof members gathered to welcome taps and shared memories from their year of concertizing and traveling the world.

According to Jung, the anxiety leading up to the call made the “super, super energetic phone call” worth it.

Isabelle Millman ’26, the new pitch of Whim ’n Rhythm and current pitch of Something Extra, said that she was “equal parts excited and terrified.” 

When her phone rang, Millman ran out of her music class and took the call in the hallway, where a former Something Extra member and current Whim ’n Rhythm member notified her of her acceptance.

When Oh received the call from Logan Foy ’25, the Whiff’s current pitch, she knew that she had gotten the position.

“I was in shock throughout the phone call; there’s kind of a sense that it doesn’t feel real,” said Oh.

Historically, the Whiffenpoofs have consisted of all-male seniors, while Whim ’n Rhythm only tapped female seniors. In 2018, both groups began admitting taps of all genders — the Whiffenpoofs tap singers with tenor and bass vocal range, while Whim ’n Rhythm perform a soprano and alto repertoire.

This year marks the first time in the Whiffenpoofs’ 116-year history that the illustrious pitch position has been awarded to a woman.

While this achievement is a first for the group, Oh is no stranger to this role. Over the past year, Oh served as the first female pitch and musical director of the a cappella Society of Orpheus and Bacchus, or SOBs, an experience she believes has prepared her for this new challenge.

“I think that the transition from a co-ed space to co-ed leadership is something that I’ve navigated, so I’m excited to figure out how that works for this new group,” she said.

In addition to Oh and Zhang, the Whiffenpoofs tapped Gui Medeiros Costa Pereira ’26, Emily Frances Patrick ’26, Charlie Calkins ’26, Benjamin Jimenez ’26, Lucas Oland ’26, Brandon Lee ’26, Quincy Rosenzweig ’26, Joseph Aguilar ’26, Peighton Lotwis ’26, Elijah Lee ’26, Noah Jung ’26 and Tabatha Stewart ’26.

Whim ’n Rhythm selected Millman, Sophie Garcia ’26, Sophia Lahik ’26, Estelle Balsirow ’26, Anjal Jain ’26, Jaime Cha ’26, Genevieve Kim ’26, Aryana Ramos-Vazquez ’26, Hai Yen Tran ’26, Kate Van Tassel ’26, Graciana Doster ’26, Leila Glotzer Martin ’26, Lu Arie ’26 and Joanne Lee ’26, who is also the co-podcast editor at the News. 

For both groups, the tap and audition processes are incredibly similar — consisting of warm-ups, pitch matching and memory exercises, solo performances and interviews. 

As many seniors noted, the rush process for the senior a cappella groups is different from the audition process for other a cappella groups. For one, there are no callback auditions, and decisions are announced a mere few days after auditions. 

According to Oh, her audition was much longer for the Whiffenpoofs. She had to go through a pitch audition process, which involved leading a 40-minute rehearsal through two arrangements, followed by a 20-minute interview. 

Aryana Ramos-Vazquez ’26 described the Whim ’n Rhythm audition process as a “lovely” and “supportive environment.”

For some taps, the idea of singing in Whiffenpoofs was on their radar before arriving at Yale. Charlie Calkins ’26, of the Alley Cats, attended his first Whiffenpoofs concert with his father in sixth grade. From that moment, he knew he wanted to be a member. “It was really a dream come true to be tapped,” he said.

New taps from both groups are incredibly excited for what’s to come in the following year. With many members already part of Yale’s a cappella community, prospective members said that they look forward to strengthening existing friendships and creating new ones.

“I really look forward to getting to know my fellow people much better,” Lahik said. “I don’t really know many of them, so I look forward to mixing and building new connections and relationships with them. I’ve heard great things from every Whim class so far.”

Tap night for both Whiffenpoofs and Whim ’n Rhythm was on Old Campus on Tuesday.