All-female a cappella group Signature, above, will be accompanying Cadenza and Medleys tonight at the Fowler Museum for A Cappella Night. The group will be performing the jazz number “Someone to Watch Over Me” at tonight’s performance.
courtesy of GWENNA MCKEE
“Harry Potter” fans would have been delighted to hear the melodic sound of female voices coming from Schoenberg Hall as “Aunt Petunia” and “Uncle Vernon” were repeatedly sung four times each.
Passers-by may have been surprised to find that this was simply the sound of the ladies of Cadenza A Cappella warming up their voices before a rehearsal in preparation for this evening’s A Cappella Night event at the Fowler Museum.
Today’s show is being put on by Fowler Out Loud and will take place at 6 p.m. in the Fowler’s outdoor courtyard.
This event will feature performances by three of UCLA’s a cappella groups: Cadenza, Signature and Medleys.
“It will be a solid night of a cappella, and there will be a lot of music that people will recognize as well as some new spins,” said Jennifer Lin, a fourth-year music composition student and music director of the all-female Cadenza A Cappella.
“We have to compete with “˜Glee’ now, and we do a lot of music by artists like Adele, Duffy and Jason Mraz.”
At this evening’s a cappella showcase, each group will perform for 20 to 30 minutes to entertain the audience with popular songs as well as some more jazz-inspired arrangements in keeping with the Fowler Museum’s “Jam Session” exhibit, which highlights the work of American jazz musicians who were sent abroad during the 1950s through the 1970s.
“We’re excited to show off our jazz side since we tend to do popular music,” Lin said. “It’s nice that we get to feature a particular style of music.”
Laura Zdrowski, a fourth-year English student and member of the all-female Signature said they will be performing the jazz number “Someone to Watch Over Me.”
“A few of our members have become really passionate about arranging a cappella music, and we’ve grown in our repertoire, experience and the variety of songs we sing. All of our music is arranged by girls in the group, which gives us a lot of freedom in choosing songs,” Zdrowski said.
This celebration of a cappella music will also be a chance for the groups to present some of their most complicated material. Third-year global studies student and Medleys A Cappella member Sara Ketcham said her group wishes to challenge itself tonight at the Fowler event.
“”˜Drumming Song’ by Florence and the Machine has a lot of body percussion, so we’re most likely going to perform that song,” Ketcham said. “It will be interesting to see how a cappella and jazz overlap. Jazz can be really hard to sing because it has close harmonies and big jumps.”
Over the past few years, these vocalists have performed songs by John Legend, Sara Bareilles, The Beatles, Miley Cyrus and many other well-known artists. In addition to this musical range, each group also represents a wide variety of student interests.
Ketcham said that Medleys, which started out as a group of medical students who sang in hospitals, hopes to continue bringing such entertainment to tonight’s show.
“We try to bring a smile to people who need it the most,” Ketcham said. “That’s what we’re about. We try to sing upbeat songs or songs that are inspirational in some way.”
While the audience will have an opportunity to become better acquainted with a cappella music, A Cappella Night will also give these three groups a chance to hear and learn from each other.
“It’s always fun to see what other groups come up with,” said Vanessa Szeto, a third-year communication studies student and president of Cadenza A Cappella. “It’s a chance for us to get inspired by other groups.”
Because A Cappella Night will be Fowler Out Loud’s final show of the year, Lin, Zdrowski and Ketcham said their groups hope to do their part to make the evening an enjoyable musical experience for the audience as the school year comes to a close.
Singing is something that you have to have a passion for,” Ketcham said. “A cappella music is such a good opportunity to combine really great music with really involved performances.”