Collegiate a cappella ensembles are college-affiliated singing groups, primarily in the United States, and, increasingly, the United Kingdom and Ireland, that perform entirely without musical instruments. The groups are typically composed of, operated by, and directed by students. In the context of collegiate a cappella, the term a cappella typically also refers to the music genre performed by pop-centric student singing groups. Consequently, an ensemble that sings unaccompanied classical music may not be considered an a cappella group, even though technically it is performing a cappella.
This article contains detailed information on a number of student groups at Dartmouth College. For more information on athletic teams, please see Dartmouth College athletic teams. For more information on college publications, please see Dartmouth College publications.
Out of the Blue (OOTB) is an all-male a cappella group from the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University in Oxford, England. The student-run group sings an eclectic mix of songs, focusing on covers of modern rock and pop hits.
The UC Men's Octet, sometimes termed the Cal Men’s Octet or the UC Berkeley Men’s Octet, is an eight-member male a cappella group at the University of California, Berkeley. Founded in 1948 as a member of the UC Choral Ensembles, the group's broad repertoire features several genres of music including barbershop, doo-wop, pop and alternative, and a healthy dose of Berkeley fight songs. The Octet has recorded over a dozen albums and is one of only three multiple-time champions of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA)—the other two being USC's SoCal VoCals and Berklee's Pitch Slapped—having won the competition in both 1998 and 2000.
Stanford Talisman is a student a cappella group at Stanford University, dedicated to sharing stories through music. Started in 1990 by Stanford student Joseph Pigato, their roots are in music from South Africa and the African diaspora, but they have since broadened their horizons to include music from all over the world. They perform not only locally in the greater San Francisco Bay Area but also around the world. Their most recent tour was to Mumbai and Udaipur, India, in spring of 2019. The group has also traveled to South Africa (2016) and Hawai'i (2018). The group won the 1997 ICCA competition and notable performances include the 1996 Olympic Games, the White House, with 10-time Grammy award winner Bobby McFerrin in 2005 and 2019, with Seal in 2009, with Joan Baez in 2019, annually at Stanford Graduation Baccalaureate, and their sold-out 25th Anniversary Show in Bing Concert Hall in 2015.
The Virginia Gentlemen (VGs) is a lower voices collegiate a cappella group and the oldest a cappella group at the University of Virginia. The group was founded in 1953 as an elite octet of the Virginia Glee Club. Since establishing independence from the Virginia Glee Club in 1987, the group has continued to perform a mix of contemporary pop and classic vocal music.
The Trojan Men is an all-male a cappella group at the University of Southern California. Founded in 2005, the group has participated in and earned numerous awards from competitions such as the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella and USC's Absolut A Cappella contest. The group currently performs around USC, Los Angeles, and Long Beach area.
Voices in Your Head is a student-run a cappella group from the University of Chicago who aim to "push the bounds of contemporary a cappella." Founded in 1998, the group has consisted of both undergraduate and graduate students whose studies range from Economics to Music to MD/PhD programs. Its unique repertoire includes original pieces, as well as an eclectic mix of pop, R&B, rock, and alternative music. Voices competes regularly in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) and releases studio recordings of their arrangements.
The Midnight Ramblers (Ramblers) are an award-winning TTBB a cappella group based at the University of Rochester. Since their founding in 1998, they have been entirely student organized and directed. They are also made up exclusively of members of Rochester's undergraduate community. The Ramblers finished third in the 2005 International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella; they were also the Mid-Atlantic Champions. In April 2008, they celebrated their tenth anniversary, with nearly every alumnus of the group in attendance. Following the show, they became the first undergraduate organization to sponsor a scholarship for incoming students at the university.
The SoCal VoCals are the first of nine a cappella groups from the University of Southern California. Founded in 1996, the group's signature achievement is being the only a cappella group to win five titles in ICCA, which it accomplished in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2018. In 2020, The A Cappella Archive ranked The SoCal VoCals at #1 out of all ICCA-competing groups.
Deep Treble is the premier co-ed a cappella group at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. The group was founded in September, 1998 by Hanna Schwartz, a then-sophomore in Rutgers College and Jordan Ullman, a then-graduate student at the Rutgers University Graduate School of Education. It was the first co-ed A Cappella group on campus and since its inception, has been entirely student-run. The group travels across the eastern seaboard, and has participated in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella several times, making it to the finals twice and picking up several awards along the way. They recently celebrated their 25th Anniversary Season.
The Brown Derbies is an a cappella group at Brown University. They were founded by Darryl Shrock in 1982 and have released fourteen albums. They sing a variety of different genres, ranging from Rock, to Pop, to R&B and are known in the a cappella community for their unique use of syllables in the background vocals. They have toured throughout the United States and internationally, with recent performances in Beijing, China, Shanghai, China, and New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1997, the group performed for President Bill Clinton at the White House. In November 2007, they were featured on the CBS Early Show in a segment about the rising popularity of a cappella groups on college campuses, and in July 2011 they were featured on the Gospel Music Channel reality show America Sings. In January 2012, they performed in the London A Cappella Festival.
The Virginia Sil'hooettes are a student-run, all-female identifying a cappella group at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. Once just the vision of four UVA students in the winter of 1988, the Sil'hooettes are now the most award-winning a cappella group at UVA. They have performed for thousands of people at venues including the Kennedy Center, The White House, John Paul Jones Arena, Baltimore Orioles home baseball games, and Boston Red Sox home baseball games.
The Compulsive Lyres is an a cappella group at the University of Michigan. The group includes both music and non-music majors and sings various arrangements of pop, rock, and R&B songs.
The Yale Alley Cats is an undergraduate a cappella singing group at Yale University. Founded in 1943, it is the college's third-oldest underclassman a cappella group.
The Spokes are an all-female-identifying collegiate a cappella group at the University of California, Davis. They have performed at various a cappella shows, the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella, and their annual a cappella showcase, HellaCappella at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.
Mosaic Whispers is a Washington University all-gender a cappella group that performs music from a variety of genres. The group has performed on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews as well as on local radio stations such as 93.7 The Bull. The group competed in the international finals of the 2016 ICCA competition. They have progressed to the regional level of multiple ICCA competitions and the final four of a national competition to sing with Andy Grammer. They have toured nationally, opened for Ben Folds and Straight No Chaser, received a number of CARA nominations, and have been included on a number of national a cappella compilation albums.
The Chordials are a collegiate all-gender a cappella group from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. They are known for their edgy and passionate style, and perform a broad variety of music genres ranging from rock to alternative/indie to pop.
The Techtonics are an all-male a cappella group from Imperial College London. The group was formed in 2008, and has since risen to prominence in the world a cappella scene.
