The Hangovers are a men's collegiate a cappella ensemble based at Cornell University. Founded in 1968, they are the oldest active a cappella group on campus and are the official a cappella subset of the Cornell University Glee Club, itself the oldest student organization of any kind at Cornell University. The Hangovers' repertoire consists mainly of popular songs arranged for the ensemble by its members and alumni, but the group also performs traditional Cornell songs, as well as selections from the Glee Club repertoire on occasion.
GLAD is one of the pioneers of Christian pop/rock and a cappella music, forming as a progressive rock group in 1972 and discovering a large audience for their a cappella music in 1988. Today, with over 1.5 million albums sold, they continue to perform concerts and release occasional recordings. The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel noted that when most contemporary Christian music reflected the "showbiz" style of Southern California or Nashville's country or gospel music, GLAD emphasized jazz, rhythm & blues, and fusion. As CCM Magazine described it, "GLAD's elegant vocals helped set them apart from other pioneers of Contemporary Christian music. That vocal sound has since evolved into a complex, self-sustaining life form of its own..."
The Cornell University Glee Club (CUGC), founded in 1868, is the oldest student organization at Cornell University. The CUGC is a thirty-nine member chorus for tenor and bass voices, with repertoire including classical, folk, 20th-century music, and traditional Cornell songs. The Glee Club also performs major works with the Cornell University Chorus such as Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Handel's Messiah, and Bach's Mass in B Minor.
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.
The Hullabahoos are a student-run, all-male a cappella group at the University of Virginia. The group was founded in 1987 by Halsted Sullivan and recorded its 24th studio album in 2024. They have appeared as the fictional group "Here Comes Treble" on an episode of NBC's The Office, were featured in the 2012 blockbuster film Pitch Perfect, and have performed at events like the 2004 Republican National Convention, Washington Nationals baseball games, Good Morning America, in the Philippines, weddings, and private parties. Other performance requests have included invitations from the White House, the Kennedy Center, and NBC's The Today Show.
The Virginia Glee Club is a men's chorus based at the University of Virginia. It performs both traditional and contemporary vocal works typically in TTBB arrangements. Founded in 1871, the Glee Club is the university's oldest musical organization and one of the oldest all-male collegiate vocal ensembles in the United States. It is currently conducted by Frank Albinder.
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.
Founded in the 1962, the California Golden Overtones, previously the deciBelles (1970s), sometimes called the Golden Overtones or the Tones, is a six to thirteen-member female a cappella group at the University of California, Berkeley. The group's prolific repertoire spans many genres of music and grows each year with new arrangements and contributions of past and popular songs. From rap to doo-wop to country, the group embraces all styles and interprets them into a strong female sound.
After Dark (AD) is a co-ed a cappella group at Washington University in St. Louis specializing in contemporary rock and pop music.
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 Bear Necessities is an American TTBB acappella group from Brown University. Also known as "The Bears", they were established in 1992, making them the youngest of the two TTBB acappella groups at Brown. The Bears have released 8 albums, and are currently in the process of recording an EP to be released in late 2024. They are best known for wearing suspenders and former member Masi Oka, one of the best known alumnus of a college a cappella group and actor in the television series Heroes. The group performs at Brown, across the country and internationally. Their repertoire ranges from R&B to jazz to classic rock to pop to Disney songs. Founded as an alternative a cappella ensemble, the group has a tradition of highly theatrical, interactive performance and is acclaimed for creating a fun, down-to-earth atmosphere in both rehearsal and concert. This is evident in the final track of each of their albums, titled “Bear-a-oke,” a karaoke version of one of the album’s songs designed to invite the listener to sing along. The group’s alumni song is "Streets of Philadelphia" by Bruce Springsteen, arranged by member Andrew Callard in 1995.
Not Too Sharp is an all-male a cappella group from the University of New Hampshire in Durham, New Hampshire, USA. Begun in 2002, the 9-12 man group performs live on the college campus, at other groups’ venues, and in the New Hampshire community. Their annual benefit show supports the American Cancer Society. The ensemble has previously competed twice in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella in 2015 and 2018. The Recorded Acappella Review Board says of Not Too Sharp, “All male, slightly goofy and possessed of an infectious energy… Charisma just drips out of the speakers.” In 2010, the group was presented with a "Best of New Hampshire" award for contemporary a cappella.
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 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.
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 Northwestern Undertones are a 20-member co-ed collegiate a cappella group from Northwestern University in Evanston. Founded in 2001 by Jeni Noerenberg, the group was originally called Something Old, Something NU, but the name changed within a year.
The Chordials is 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.
Eight Beat Measure is the oldest Tenor-Baritone-Bass collegiate a cappella group at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).
