Pop culture: A capella music — raising the bar

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“Listen up A-ca-ballers!” your “Trebles” are about to be over! Pitch Perfect 2 hits theatres soon on May 15. The sequel to the summer of 2012’s outrageously funny comedy is envisioned to be even better than the last! I don’t know about you… but I intend to be “vertical-running” to the movie theatre on its release date.

The art of a cappella has grown immensely due to the popularity and buzz of Pitch Perfect because millions of people have become more aware to this creative, unique, and artistic way of performance. New a cappella groups are forming in high schools and colleges everywhere. In fact, there is a substantial number of collegiate groups participating in the International Championship of Collegiate a cappella (ICCA) in New York this coming April. According to the ICCA website, this competition “[gives] college and high school singers the opportunity to interact, compete, learn from each other, get feedback from the pros, and perform in fantastic venues around the globe.”

Whoever is unaware of the musical art of a cappella, as Bumper Allen from Pitch Perfect would say, “Your weirdness is actually affecting my vocal chords, so I’m gonna need you to scoot! Skedaddle!” because it is genius. A cappella has even been recognized and acknowledged at the Grammy’s that took place this past Sunday. A-ca-believe it!! The group “Pentatonix” has been breaking new ground with their unique a cappella style. The vocal quintet became an Internet sensation and consistently has more than 600 million viewers and has about 7 million subscribers on YouTube. Congratulations to Pentatonix on winning their first Grammy, and compelling the Academy to create a new category of “Best Arrangement, Instrumental, or A Cappella” for their Daft Punk arrangement on their Volume 2 CD.

A cappella has been trending and continues to be an awe-inspiring source of entertainment for millions of people. If you are one of those a cappella girls and you have a cappella boy (or have a-ca-children) then getting together to go watch this fantastic movie is highly recommended, and should most likely be enforced.