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The Night Owls (also known as the "Owls") is the oldest continuous women's and genderqueer a cappella group in the United States. Formed in 1942, [1] they are Vassar College's oldest a cappella group. The Night Owls are a soprano/alto jazz ensemble that performs a range of music from jazz standards to current pop hits to indie-folk music.
The Night Owls perform in all-black to honor the tradition of the group's founding. In the midst of a polio outbreak in 1942, sixteen students left their quarantined dormitories, dressed in black, and sneaked into the library basement at night to perform for their classmates. [2] [3]
The group performs throughout Vassar's academic year including at final concerts in December and May, local fundraisers, joint concerts with other Vassar and non-Vassar a cappella groups, and Vassar events. Alumnae of the group include actress Meryl Streep. [2]
In 1996, The Night Owls performed as the opening act for Hillary Clinton when she spoke at Vassar College. The group had been invited to sing at the inauguration of Bill Clinton in January 1993, but were unable to appear until Clinton's second inauguration. [4] That same year, The Night Owls competed in the semi-finals of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) at Haverford College. [5] While they did not move onto the finals at Lincoln Center in New York City, then-musical director Amanda Weeden 1997 won “Best Soloist” for her performance of Captain and Tennille's “Love Will Keep Us Together,” beating out the University of Pennsylvania Counterparts’ soloist John Stephens, better known today as John Legend. [6]
In 2001, The Night Owls appeared in an episode of Comedy Central Presents featuring Zach Galifianakis singing "Eternal Flame" originally by The Bangles.
Robert Keith McFerrin Jr. is an American folk and jazz singer. He is known for his vocal techniques, such as singing fluidly but with quick and considerable jumps in pitch—for example, sustaining a melody while also rapidly alternating with arpeggios and harmonies—as well as scat singing, polyphonic overtone singing, and improvisational vocal percussion. He is widely known for performing and recording regularly as an unaccompanied solo vocal artist. He has frequently collaborated with other artists from both the jazz and classical scenes.
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.
The Idlers of the United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) are an all-male collegiate a cappella ensemble specializing in the performance of sea shanties and patriotic music.
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 was the first TTBB a cappella group at Yale to become all-gender in 2017.
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.
BYU Vocal Point, or simply Vocal Point, is a nine-member, male a cappella group at Brigham Young University (BYU). Founded by two students, Bob Ahlander & Dave Boyce, in 1991, Vocal Point was under the direction of Emmy award-winning director and former member, McKay Crockett. However in December 2022, Crockett decided to leave as director for a new job opportunity. He is replaced by former member Carson Trautman.
The Binghamton Crosbys are a TTBB a cappella group at Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York, USA. They are four-time national championship finalists and won the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) in 2003.
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.
DJs A Cappella (formerly known as the Dicks and Janes) is one of the 15 officially recognized a cappella groups of the University of Michigan, according to the Michigan A Cappella Council. Created in 1998, the group continues to perform a cappella music in Ann Arbor, MI and around the country, as well as in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella. The group is notable for being featured on three Best of Collegiate A Cappella recordings, as well as hosting Acappellooza, a well-known annual invitational concert. The group is coed and entirely self-run and self-funded.
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 Accidentals are an all-male collegiate a cappella group. Formed in 1974, the Accidentals are the oldest a cappella group at the University of Georgia. The Accidentals are typically anywhere from 12 to 17 members and hold auditions every fall and occasionally at the end of the spring
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 Academical Village People (AVP) is an a cappella group at the University of Virginia founded in 1993 by a group of people who vowed to "never take themselves too seriously." They set themselves apart from other groups by being able to keep professional while maintaining their lax attitude, wild antics while performing, and their less traditional uniform of a garage mechanic style shirt. The name "Academical Village People" comes from Thomas Jefferson's Academical Village at the university in Charlottesville, Virginia. As of 2017, AVP, as it is often called for short, has released thirteen studio albums, including a greatest hits album, DECADEmical: Best of 1993-2003, of its first ten years in existence. The group has recorded many notable performances such as opening for Dana Carvey and Girl Talk, performing for Reba McEntire at the White House, concerts at the Kennedy Center, and performances in such countries as England, Spain, and Scotland.
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.
BYU Noteworthy is a nine-member, female Brigham Young University (BYU) a cappella group, based in Provo, Utah, United States. They won 1st place at the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) in 2007 and appeared on the first season of NBC's a cappella competition reality show The Sing-Off in 2009. Esther Yoder formed the group in 2003, aided by members of BYU's Vocal Point. Noteworthy began operating under the direction of the Performing Arts Management (PAM) at BYU in 2014. One of their most popular music videos is a cover of Amazing Grace, which won the Contemporary A Cappella Society (CARA) award for Best Religious Video and has garnered millions of views on YouTube since its release. Noteworthy has released six albums since its formation in 2003. In 2018, Noteworthy performed "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" for a Mormon Message for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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.
The Night Owls were among nine musical groups selected to perform on "The Voice of America," the final float in President Clinton's inaugural parade. Sadly, the float's brakes locked entering the parade, forcing it to remain on the sidelines.
