A cappella music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this fashion. The term a cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato musical styles. In the 19th century, a renewed interest in Renaissance polyphony, coupled with an ignorance of the fact that vocal parts were often doubled by instrumentalists, led to the term coming to mean unaccompanied vocal music. The term is also used, rarely, as a synonym for alla breve.
Hatikvah is the national anthem of the State of Israel. Part of 19th-century Jewish poetry, the theme of the Romantic composition reflects the 2,000-year-old desire of the Jewish people to return to the Land of Israel in order to reclaim it as a free and sovereign nation-state. The piece's lyrics are adapted from a work by Naftali Herz Imber, a Jewish poet from Złoczów, Austrian Galicia. Imber wrote the first version of the poem in 1877, when he was hosted by a Jewish scholar in Iași, Romania.
The music of Israel is a combination of Jewish and non-Jewish music traditions that have come together over the course of a century to create a distinctive musical culture. For almost 150 years, musicians have sought original stylistic elements that would define the emerging national spirit. In addition to creating an Israeli style and sound, Israel's musicians have made significant contributions to classical, jazz, pop rock and other international music genres. Since the 1970s, there has been a flowering of musical diversity, with Israeli rock, folk and jazz musicians creating and performing extensively, both locally and abroad. Many of the world's top classical musicians are Israelis or Israeli expatriates. The works of Israeli classical composers have been performed by leading orchestras worldwide.
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.
Zemirot or Z'miros are Jewish hymns, usually sung in the Hebrew or Aramaic languages, but sometimes also in Yiddish or Ladino. The best known zemirot are those sung around the table during Shabbat and to some extent the Jewish holidays. The Shabbat zemirot are specifically associated with each of the three obligatory meals of Shabbat, such as those sung for the Friday evening meal, the Saturday day meal, and the third Sabbath meal just before sundown on Saturday afternoon. In some editions of the Jewish prayerbook (siddur), the words to these hymns are printed after the opening prayer (kiddush) for each meal.
The Harvard Din & Tonics are a signature, five-part jazz a cappella group from Harvard University, founded in 1979.
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.
The Spizzwinks, stylized as The Spizzwinks(?), are an a cappella singing group of undergraduates from Yale University. Founded in late 1913, the Spizzwinks(?) are the oldest underclassman a cappella group in the United States, dating back to a first performance in early 1914.
Doox of Yale are an all-gender undergraduate a cappella group at Yale University. The group was founded by first-year students in 1952, and in 2017, was the first TTBB a cappella group in the 21st century at Yale to become all-gender.
The Princeton Nassoons are a ten to twenty-member low-voice a cappella group at Princeton University. The group has been officially self-selecting since 1941, although the original group is known to have sung together as early as 1939. The Nassoons are the oldest a cappella group at Princeton University.
Shir Appeal is Tufts University’s only mixed-gender Jewish a cappella group. Founded in 1995 with assistance from the Jewish Agency, Shir Appeal is one of the nation’s oldest collegiate Jewish a cappella groups. The group sings music from a wide range of genres, including Israeli rock and pop, traditional and liturgical Jewish songs, Jewish world music, and English music with strong Jewish themes. Though based at Tufts University outside Boston, Shir Appeal has gone on tour to numerous areas in the United States, including New York City, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, and Chicago, as well as the New England and Boston areas. Shir Appeal has been on Best of College a Cappella (BOCA) four times. It was the first non-secular a cappella group to be recognized on BOCA, and the only Jewish group to have ever been featured on it.
Chicago a cappella is a non-profit organization devoted to furthering the art of ensemble singing without any instruments. The group of professional singers began in 1993 by Jonathan Miller and conduct a series of performances annually. The organization displays a yearly subscription series for Chicago residents, produces studio recordings as well as live and broadcast-media musical content, and performs on tour and in special arrangements. The ensemble is known for their outstanding vocal abilities, innovative programming, and have a reputation of being a leader within the choral field. Expanding from a collection of a Gregorian chants to the Beatles and beyond, the singers are known for their wide repertoire including early works, vocal jazz, and spirituals. The ensemble is also a champion of performing works by living composers.
Turetsky Choir is a Russian men's a cappella ensemble and musical collective under the direction of Mikhail Turetsky. Their voices range from tenore contraltino to basso profundo.
Redhot & Blue, usually called Redhot or RHB, is Yale University's oldest all-gender a cappella group. Founded in 1977, the group has released 17 albums. It regularly tours the United States, and it tours internationally once a year, to locations such as China, Japan, France, Italy, and Brazil. The group’s repertoire is based in the jazz genre, but has expanded to include an array of musical styles. Redhot is a member of the Singing Group Council of Yale.
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 Maccabeats are an American Orthodox Jewish all-male a cappella group. Founded in 2007 at Yeshiva University, Manhattan, New York, the 14-member group specializes in covers and parodies of contemporary hits using Jewish-themed lyrics. Their breakout 2010 Hanukkah music video for "Candlelight", a parody of Mike Tompkins' a cappella music video for Taio Cruz's "Dynamite", logged more than two million hits in its first ten days; the video has been viewed more than 16 million times as of 2022. They have recorded three albums and one EP, and frequently release music videos in conjunction with Jewish holidays. They tour worldwide and have performed at the White House and the Knesset.
Mixed Company of Yale is an all-gender undergraduate a cappella group from Yale University. Founded in 1981, Mixed Company was originally formed as a group specializing in both sketch comedy and a cappella. Today, the group focuses primarily on singing, though the group often integrates skits and other comedy into performances. The group has toured on five continents and regularly performs for world leaders visiting Yale's campus. Mixed Company has released 18 studio albums, and their most recent recording, Third Degree, was released in summer 2021.
Out of the Blue is a co-ed a cappella group from Yale University. Out of the Blue's repertoire includes music that spans 50 years and several genres, including pop, folk, and R&B. The group has won multiple a cappella competitions, awards, and accolades, shared the stage with Ben Folds and Sister Hazel, and performed for audiences all over the world. Out of the Blue records a full-length studio album every two years. The group's sixteenth studio album, Late Nights, was released in February 2021.
The Princeton Katzenjammers are the oldest co-educational collegiate a cappella group in the Ivy League. The group consists of fourteen to eighteen Princeton University students and holds auditions at the beginning of each semester. Its repertoire includes a wide variety of musical styles, with an emphasis on jazz, pop, and classical.
The CU Buffoons is the oldest collegiate a cappella group at the University of Colorado-Boulder, founded in 1962 by Dr. Oakleigh Thorne II with help from Don Grusin and Roger Nelson. The group consists of 12-18 undergraduate students, with new members being auditioned at the start of every fall semester. With arranging being done in house by current and former group members, their repertoire consists of covers of pieces from a wide variety of musical genres, including jazz, rock, RnB, pop, and even show tunes.
