Why I Love A Cappella

A cappella - from an Italian phrase meaning "in a Church style" because historically in Church, music was provided by either an unaccompanied chant or choir.

And thus the style of music without instruments was born, and vocal chords became the instrument of choice.

Being in an a cappella group myself hasn't made me any more knowledgeable or any more qualified to talk about it, but it has inspired my love of a cappella so I would like to share that.

A cappella is not a modern term, nor does it only cover the unaccompanied pop we associate it with today although there does seem to be a revival of a cappella music in the past few years (think Pitch Perfect and Pentatonix).

And now I think it would be a good time to tell you why I believe a cappella music is the BUSINESS:

1. Breadth

So so so so so so so much stuff can be defined as a cappella, and that's what I love about it: it's not a genre of music - it's a style.

For example, this can be classified as a cappella music:

(Swingle Singers performing an a cappella version of Ave Verum Corpus by Mozart )


But this can also be classified as a cappella:

Both are incredible, and both are a cappella!

2. Technical skill

Don't get me wrong, I am in NO WAY saying that singing a cappella is more technically challenging than playing an instrument. I just think there's something especially commendable with singing 10 part harmony (for example) perfectly in tune, without going flat or sharp, and without the aid of pre-tuned instruments. And when you consider that a lot of a cappella songs nowadays are covers of regular songs, that means people are basically singing a guitar part anyway! Pretty darn cool eh? 

And again, I don't want to offend anyone but this post is about a cappella music in its true form - not those covers on youtube in which one person records and layers their voice for every instrument. There is definitely a LOT of skill involved in that process, but I just believe it's a different kind of skill to my idea of a cappella singing which is a bunch of people performing on-the-spot with no chance of re-recording or auto-tuning.

3. It's so fun

When else can you get away with singing incoherent noises that sound a lot like the "maaaooaaam" or "eeeeeeyooooore" to replicate guitar riffs or sound effects in songs? WITH THE ADDED BONUS THAT IT SOUNDS AMAZING.

(NB: For a simple beat box rhythm, repeat the phrase "boots and cats and boots and cats and..." over and over again without saying the vowel sounds)

Plus, no need to find an extension cable or wall socket or instruments or a tech guy or a room or electricity or space... you can just go and sing!

So

From the choral masterpieces of Thomas Tallis (check out If Ye Love Me), to Barbershop quartets, to modern pop covers, you're sure to find something you love. And I would definitely urge you to to find something! Or sing something... all it takes is one person!

Here are a few of my favourites to inspire you:

Pentatonix

Straight No Chaser

Swingle Singers

I might have accidentally on purpose dropped into the conversation that I'm in an a cappella group. We are an amateur Liverpool-based 5 part a cappella group called F#TM and we sing for fun. Sorry, I couldn't do this post without a tiny bit of self-promotion.

Here is a video of us performing:

Here is our channel:

F#TM Channel

And here is our Facebook page:

F#TM Facebook Page

Hope you enjoy it!

That's all for now, folks.