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About the Trinity College Dischords
Acappella Group
[Ok, so I'm
interested in this thing you call the Dischords. Tell me more.]
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Acappella: why?
[Did you lose your
drums?] |
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Acappella is
a genre of singing where there are no instruments- only vocals. This is not to
say that any of the Dischords are instrumentally challenged, mind you. In fact,
it is well documented that Danielle, for example, is quite the saxophonist. And Bryce was actually
able to convince large numbers of people that he could play the piano during his
tenure in the group. But I
digress. The Dischords are an acappella group, and they only use their voices
to make music, along with the occasional clap, snap, stomp, whistle, or other
nondescript mouth sound.
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Auditions
[Sing what you love.] |
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| At the beginning of every semester,
all five of Trinity's acappella groups hold one auditions concert,
usually in Hamlin Hall. The Dischords hold auditions after this concert
and any Trinity student is welcome and encouraged to audition. During an
audition, singers are asked to sing a verse and a chorus of a song that they feel
shows off their vocal talents. Then the auditionees are taken through
some basic vocal exercises. After that? Well, you'll have to get that
far to see. |
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Rehearsal
[Practice] |
| The Dischords rehearse five hours a week. At the beginning of each semester, all
the Dischords sit down and arrange a rehearsal schedule that is best for
everyone and that does not conflict with academics. In recent semesters,
rehearsals have been at various times in the evenings on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday
and Thursday for 75 minutes. Oftentimes, the rehearsals preceding a big
performance are extended slightly to work on performance logistics and such. |
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Performances
[The part where we sing.] |
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| In addition to performing at the
auditions concert every semester, the Dischords always hold a Final
Concert at the end of the semester. Throughout the semester the
Dischords host groups from other schools, and also visit other schools
to collaborate with groups. We sing at many on-campus events throughout
the year and are available for performances in the Greater Hartford area
during the academic year. If you are interested in booking us, please
contact Audrey Blumstein at
trinitycollegedischords[at]gmail.com |
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The Repertoire
[Cool song, where’d you find it?] |
The Dischords pick new music in a slightly unusual way in that we choose specific
arrangements of songs, rather than songs themselves. This means that individual
group members can choose to arrange any song they’d like. (Assuming that it is
not already chosen by another of Trinity’s acappella groups). Most of us use a scorewriting program like Finale or
Sibelius to create
vocal parts by listening to a song and looking at the sheet music or chord
diagrams for that song. The arrangement is then presented to the group and the
group decides through voting and discussion whether or not to learn and perform
that particular arrangement, with the Musical Director leading the decision
making process.
This method
of choosing new music means that the individual members of the Dischords who
arrange music are always trying new and exciting things in their arrangements,
and the Dischords have no shortage of original acappella arrangements to draw
from. Additionally, when the group chooses a new arrangement to sing, we often
begin learning it within a day or two. This fast turnaround allows us to learn
songs quickly, and to have a large repertoire. As far as
the musical flavor of the group goes, most of the current repertoire is pop rock
and alternative rock music from the last decade, but there are exceptions. |
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Group
Organization
[The serious stuff] |
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The Dischords have five formal
positions, four of which are officers:
-The Social Director (Audrey
Blumstein) is the counterpart to the Musical Director in leadership and is
responsible for all scheduling, logistics, membership issues, group
responsibilities, and the general organization of the Dischords. He or
she is typically a senior member of the group with good leadership
qualities and organizational skills.
-The Musical director (Matt Piros)
steers the musical "direction" of the group, and is responsible for
overseeing auditions, running rehearsals, proofreading arrangements, and
the general musical prowess of the group. He or she typically has some
knowledge of music theory and vocal technique.
-The Treasurer (Ben
Cooper)
is responsible for overseeing the Dischords spending and arranging
fundraising. This is a person you can trust.
-The Public Relations Manager (Tierney
Nolen)
assists the Social Director in many functions, but is specifically
focused on advertising for performances and contacting non-Trinity
acappella groups to arrange hosting and visits. The P.R. Manager also
oversees all social networking websites as well as the website.
-The Archivist (Tierney Nolen)
is a non-officer position. He or she is responsible for keeping an
accurate history of the Dischords, including membership, repertoire,
performances and such. The archivist is also responsible for maintaining
the Dischords Archive, which contains all of the past arrangements,
recordings, promotional materials, and merchandise.
There are
many other responsibilities in the day-to-day of the Dischords that members take
care of in a more informal way. There are always flyers to be put up, websites
to be updated, people to be bugged to update the website, and so on.
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