Daily Bruin

Sofie Sheldon and David Marcus once played traditional camp-themed music together at Camp Kesem.

Now they will take the Spring Sing stage as a singer-songwriter duo.

Sheldon, a third-year world arts and cultures student, said she and Marcus became friends three years ago while working at UCLA’s chapter of Camp Kesem, a nationwide summer camp for children whose parents have had cancer. Since then, the duo has transitioned to jamming in Marcus’ Hedrick Hall dorm room. At Spring Sing, Sheldon will sing her original song “Back to Venus,” while Marcus, a third-year cognitive science and music industry student, will accompany her on the guitar.”

“Camp Kesem provided the initial scaffolding for (our duo), then in my mind (Sheldon) did the rest of the work there by being a great friend,” Marcus said. “I wouldn’t want to do this with anybody else.”

The duo’s audition process for this year’s competition began when they submitted an iPhone recording of “Back to Venus” that became popular on SoundCloud, Sheldon said. Their days at camp brought their musical act together, Marcus said, with their individual jazz backgrounds and past performances contributing to their style. Ultimately, their shared history helps them use nonverbal communication to balance the right amount of space with lyrics in the performance, Marcus said.

“(‘Back to Venus’) is a really great song, but a really great song can be played lackluster, and a really bad song can be played really well,” Marcus said. “I think the difference is how we play together and how we communicate to fill up the space.”

The song’s jazz roots trace back to the two members’ distinct backgrounds in the genre, Sheldon said. Sheldon had jazz-focused vocal training throughout school, while Marcus played both jazz guitar and Latin percussion in a big band during high school. The duo applied fundamental aspects of jazz, such as guitar and vocal improvisation, to their act, he said.

“Jazz is insanely dynamic – probably the most dynamic form of music,” Marcus said. “When you use a genre like that, that’s when the duo starts to sound really good.”

Sheldon said these improvisation skills played an important role in the development of “Back to Venus.” The pair improvised different forms of the song before settling on a sound they liked, she said. It doesn’t fit cleanly into any genre, Marcus said, but draws mostly from jazz and R&B. He said the sound is reminiscent of Norah Jones’ music.

Though the pair haven’t played more than a handful of gigs since they became active as a duo three years ago, Sheldon said they frequently jam in each other’s apartments and perform for friends. They sometimes play originals like “Back to Venus,” but Marcus said they also often play covers of popular songs for the audience and their own enjoyment, including “I Want You Back” by Lake Street Dive.

Simon Hirschfield, a second-year environmental science student, played acoustic guitar alongside Sheldon and Marcus at Camp Kesem and has continued to jam with them throughout college. Having also attended some of their gigs, he said the duo’s confidence in the music and each other is obvious in their body language and expressions when they take the stage.

“The way they work together is very jazzy but also very free,” Hirschfield said. “It’s kind of free-form improvisation.”

Neither Sheldon nor Marcus is unfamiliar performing in Spring Sing – last year, Sheldon sang and played the ukulele solo, while Marcus played guitar for Cole Heramb and the Flame Train. This year, in addition to the duet, Marcus will also perform in a band called BUTR. Sheldon said her bond with Marcus will make it easier to play off his energy rather than go onstage alone like she did last year. Additionally, the duo’s music is much more lighthearted and jazz-inspired than her past solo performance, which she said focused on sexual harassment and how women interact with one another.

“I think (last year’s song) had such a different message and mission compared to this year, which is really just painting a beautiful picture and having fun with David onstage,” Sheldon said.

Colin Tandy, a fourth-year English student and Marcus’ roommate, said the pair’s musical bond would have driven them to perform in other venues even if they had not gotten into Spring Sing.

“They’re not just playing to win Spring Sing or play in front of a huge crowd,” Tandy said. “The music is what they love.”

Hirschfield said the duo has progressed since both last year’s Spring Sing and their first collaboration at Camp Kesem. Though Sheldon and Marcus started with camp songs, Hirschfield said he has enjoyed watching them progress to more dynamic jazz covers.

Ultimately, Sheldon and Marcus said they want to keep making music, whether that’s jamming in each other’s apartments or recording an album. Finding a musical partnership based in a friendship like their own can be rare in the music industry, Marcus said.

“Really taking artistic risks with people can be really intimidating and scary,” Sheldon said, “But together we know there’s no judgment in the room, which is really special.”

Bruin Harmony will take the Spring Sing stage again this year, after winning the a cappella category in 2018.

The group consists of 19 members, some of whom featured in last year’s champion team. Seventeen members will perform a rendition of John Mayer’s “Gravity,” on Friday night. Will Nazareno, the group’s music director and arranger and fourth-year music performance student, said an arrangement of the song on YouTube inspired the piece, but he had to adapt it to fit the all-male group and the many voices backing each soloist. The group views this year’s performance as a sequel to last year’s, he said.

“We did ‘Creep’ (by Radiohead) last year and I think ‘Gravity’ now is like the firm acceptance of yourself and hanging on and believing in yourself,” Nazareno said. “‘Gravity’ is about just hanging on to the light in times of darkness (when) you’re feeling like you’re just at your lowest moments.”

Bruin Harmony Business Manager Spencer Padgett said group members spend a lot of time discussing the emotions and meaning of the songs. They aim to connect to the music and bare their souls to the audience, he said.

“We spend a lot of time talking about how each person needs to picture something as they’re singing the song,” said Padgett, a fourth-year political science student.

Bruin Harmony President Justin Baker said group members wanted to be careful not to make their choreography so flashy it detracts from their vocal performance. Baker, group choreographer and fourth-year musical theater student, said he works on formations that elevate the music by sticking to the song lyrics, rather than over-the-top movements.

Baker added the a cappella group has focused on cultivating its sound through hard work, as was the goal last year.

“It’s not about putting on the best performance, (it’s about) trying really hard to make it perfect because that was a goal that we set out to do last year, and it turned out really well with us winning Spring Sing,” Baker said. “We’re just trying to create a solid performance for everyone to enjoy.”

Third-year musical theater student Michael Wells assisted with the choreography for the performance. Wells said the choreographed movements create holistic images through group formations where members’ bodies are oriented to resemble arcs and circles; these appear as tightly bound units that spread outward, almost as if the group is exploding. Last year, the performance was more individualized, but this year the movements will be more about unity and about supporting the soloists by working more with the ensemble, Wells said.

“One of the things that we like to focus on with (choreography) is just making sure the story we are trying to create with the song comes across not only through our voices, but through our movement and through our gestures and articulations,” Wells said.

John Webster, a first-year business economics student, is one of the group’s youngest members and will be performing at Spring Sing for the first time. Webster said he is looking forward to being onstage in front of such a large crowd, in a group that has already had so much success. The climax of “Gravity” brings the group together when everybody starts to smile or cry due to the powerful connection, Webster said. He said Bruin Harmony is special to him because he feels united with both the members and the outside world in a meaningful way.

“We want to bring the energy, the hype, (and) we also want to show a good representation of our group,” Webster said. “We want to show the dream of Bruin Harmony, the connection, (and) the love.”

Jahanvi Srinivasan and Matheus Gorski said they want to convey a simple message through an uncluttered song.

At Spring Sing, the duo will perform “A Little Help.” Srinivasan, who wrote the song, said it is about asking for help during times of struggle – a message she hopes other students can relate to. By utilizing unadorned instrumentals and a straightforward message, the fourth-year psychology student said she hopes the audience will relate to her message.

“It’s not a super fancy song. It’s a simple melody, it’s a simple message,” Srinivasan said. “But I think it’s something that people don’t talk about that much and it’s something that is important to me and (Gorski).”

The pair met in a music ensemble class in session C in 2018, in which they were grouped together to compose a song. At the time, Srinivasan had been considering auditioning for Spring Sing, but said she wasn’t a strong guitarist on her own. Gorski messed around on all the instruments available to them – piano, drums and guitar – while they were rehearsing for the project. After working with Gorski and seeing his talent on the guitar, she asked him to accompany her for the performance.

Gorski lived in Brazil until he was 10, where the fourth-year electrical engineering student said he was inspired by bossa nova music, a Brazilian style combining samba and jazz. His father and uncles taught him how to play guitar, and he said he applied a finger-picking style to match the song’s simple theme.

Srinivasan, on the other hand, comes from a pop music background, having been exposed to the genre on English radio stations in India. She said Gorski’s guitar style helped elevate her simple song without making it over-the-top, as he would suggest subtle chord changes.

Their song “A Little Help” was inspired by Srinivasan’s personal experiences. She said she felt sad and anxious during her second year of college, which was exasperated by home being so far away. She set out to convey her feelings through music. She said mental health is important to her, and that she felt other college students could relate to what the song is about – feeling downcast and not knowing how to feel better.

“I think everyone goes through at least one sad period during college when you’re trying to find yourself, you’re away from home,” Srinivasan said.

The pair also spent five hours in a recording studio laying down vocals and instrumentals for the song, and they plan to release the recording after their performance. There were a variety of extra production aspects they could have incorporated to modify the song, but Srinivasan said they still wanted to keep the song simple, and only added a few harmonies to the background.

Natasha Pasternak, a lecturer in the UCLA Herp Albert School of Music and Srinivasan’s teacher in an advanced songwriting class, said she gave her suggestions about the lyrics after she approached her privately after class. In her class, Pasternak said she discusses the importance of the journey a song takes the listener on – finding moments of tension and honesty in one’s work. Because listeners tend to be attracted to artists with defined personal styles, Pasternak said it’s important to succinctly highlight one’s message.

“I love clarity, I love it being poignant and I like to trim the fat,” she said. “Just make sure what you’re putting in your music serves a purpose.”

To highlight such simplicity and help cultivate the feeling of intimacy during their performance, Gorski said he will not be strumming chords on his guitar. Instead, he will pluck the chords – similar to the way someone might pluck harp strings – to create an aerial vibe and leave empty space within the song.

“(The audience) gets the opportunity to watch us express something intimate as opposed to us going out there and shouting out a message,” Gorski said.

“Yungin'” is a phrase Ulani Mafate’s little brother used to say frequently.

Mafate said “yungin'” – meaning to be young on the outside and grown on the inside – is a perfect illustration of how societal discrimination affects the life and behavior of black people.

The second-year English student titled her Spring Sing duet with third-year political science student Kevin Jang after the slang word. The original song stems from the men Mafate grew up around, and Jang said it exemplifies the duo’s mutual interest in social commentary. Jang, who will accompany Mafate’s vocals on the piano, said they aim to highlight the difficulties African Americans face.

“In the song, (Mafate) describes how black men are fetishized a lot, but people at the same time don’t recognize the marginalization they face,” Jang said. “We want to examine a different side of the black experience.”

The performance comments on how the racial stereotyping, fetishizing and romanticizing of black people can lead to a loss of identity, Mafate said. “Yungin'” introduces these ideas with the first couple of lines: “Dreadlocks, gold chain, and his face looks blue in the moonlight.”

This specific image of black people often contributes to them being seen as cultural commodities, Jang said. The song, Mafate said, moves from the initial image people associate with black people, into a more realistic portrayal of black life in America with the lyric: “25th Street on the East Side, broken lights, he don’t know no other life.”

“We’re basically painting a picture of what is seen on the outside, which is very beautiful and very personal to (the black community) yet it goes a lot deeper than that,” Mafate said. “Black people are more than just their physical appearance, but they are oftentimes reduced to that. I want to bring that to light.”

Black boys are forced into manhood at a very early age, she said, as they face the harsh realities of a country where black people are five times more likely to be incarcerated than white people. Mafate said she drew on such statistics while writing the song, made especially resonant as her little brother has now personally experienced the American prison system.

Mafate and Jang, who met as members of Awaken A Capella, said they want every audience member to have their own awakening regarding social and racial issues. Awaken president Danielle Singer, a third-year communication student, said she has not heard their song yet. However, she said she is interested in seeing what they have been up to since their departure from her club, and what message they will present in the song.

While “Yungin'” has an immediate meaning to black communities, Jang said it also carries a universal theme. Audiences should realize people are not one-dimensional, he said, and should be understood beyond their physical appearance by looking instead to their personal backstories and origins.

Mafate hopes the duo’s passion in preparing for Spring Sing will pay off at the show. She is specifically looking forward to the joy of sharing the song she and Jang have poured their hearts into during the past year.

“It’s a song that stresses how important it is to know who you are in a world where there’s hegemony.” Mafate said. “And I want (people) to understand that while the song applies to black men, it can also apply to everyone because the theme is universal.”