Musical Monday #2 -- a cappella

On Whatcha Readin' Wednesdays I'll probably mostly talk about the fiction I'm reading, since that's what I read the most of, at least in books. (Newspapers and magazines are a whole other story.) But today I'd like to mention one of the non-fiction books in my pile, Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate A CAPPELLA Glory by Mickey Rapkin. Frankly, I haven't opened it yet, except to glance at the pictures in the middle, but I found it intriguing enough to grab it off the shelf at the same time I got Silks. I'm working hard to get through the Foreigner series first, but since even new non-fiction can be renewed for up to two months at my library, I grabbed it when I saw it.

I've been intrigued by college a cappella groups for a relatively short time, since Katie showed me this video last winter. (Go watch it, you'll love it!) But when I saw that video, I remembered my early love for the (original) Swingle Singers. And, for that matter, Rockapella. You may know of them through their connection with the kids TV show "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?"

There's just something about the unaccompanied human voice...(And yet, while I love a cappella harmony, I'm not such a fan of chant.)

Where is this all going? Nowhere, exactly, except that our church choir is slowly starting to sing more a cappella music. (This is a return to the roots, since the phrase means "as in the chapel"; that is, singing without the organ, which was too big for the chapel.) Right now we are mostly singing accompanied songs, and the pianist simply drops out on the final repeat. That way nobody knows if we've gone flat, not even us. But we have a piece we are learning for our Christmas concert which is unaccompanied except for string bass and drums. Will we keep in tune? Only time will tell!