The Adventures of SoJam with the Outskirts!!!

By: Katrina Leung aka KatKatRinRin

I am a senior at Haverford College (...graduating soon yikes!), which means that I have been singing with the 'skirts for almost 4 years now. I have always felt close with my fellow acabuddies and we have always strived to create great music, but in my opinion SoJam was a turning point for us. SoJam brought the group together even closer than we have been before and inspired us to push for more musically.

One of the most important things we learned at SoJam was how good we could be as a group. We saw multiple collegiate as well as professional groups perform and their energy, music and choreography were all on point. The groups at SoJam had a completely different attitude towards acapella than the groups on our campus. They made us believe that we could improve and the workshops gave us the starting tools to make that change. Some things we learned were how to emote as a soloist, run an efficient rehearsal, really warm up our voices and how to think out of the box. We also performed at SoJam, but we were not ready in any sense when we got to North Carolina. I was nervous. After a not so successful rehearsal the night before our Acabomb, we only had a 1 hr lunch break before the performance to get our act together. After just half a day of classes and watching the acapella groups compete the night before, we were inspired, focused and determined to perfect our set before it was our time to sing. The set we had before that 1 hr of rehearsal before the performance was completely different to the set after. If you had heard just a recording of the before and after you might think that it was two different groups singing. We were emoting, utilizing dynamics fully, we had so much energy and we felt like one unit. I was in awe of our fast improvement and it really showed me and hopefully all of us that if we could improve that much in 1 hr, what we could do in a year is mind boggling. By the end of the weekend all of us were pumped to get back to school and really get working on our music.

We worked hard at SoJam but we also had so much fun. We all love to sing, so the classes and performances were so great! The (10 hr) car ride to and from SoJam was a great bonding experience. You can imagine how much singing was involved with a car full of acapella people. After each day of classes we would go back to our hotel and hang out. These were probably the most precious moments for me because I got to know the 'skirts in a whole new context. I feel like we became so much closer as a group because of this experience.

All in all, SoJam was a very positive experience for our music, inspiration and bonding. It will be a memory I carry with me long past May 17 2015 (my graduation). Joining the Outskirts was one of the best decisions I made during my college career and I can't wait to see where this new knowledge and energy from SoJam brings us!

The Outskirts Take SoJam 2014 (by Hannah)

SoJam was an absolutely wonderful experience. We had so much fun and bonded as a group through all of our adventures.

I was in Amira's car on the way down. We braved DC traffic and carefully drove through a thunderstorm, but we made it to Durham safe and sound (sa-ha-ha-ou-ound). We arrived just in time for the collegiate competition on Friday night. Both of the final groups, the Acabelles and All-Night Yahtzee, were amazing and it was a ton of fun to watch.

We had a lot of great times as a group over the course of the weekend. I loved the silly evenings and spontaneous adventures. A particular highlights were hanging out in the hotel laughing at old Outskirts videos, going out for post-dinner milkshakes, collectively fangirling at the various aca-celebs at the festival, and driving home singing Disney songs with Amira, Marilee, Erica, and Emily.

Of course, we also thoroughly enjoyed and learned tons from all of the workshops on Saturday and Sunday. Here's what I learned from some of the workshops:

Sing Like You Mean It with Ariel Arbisser

Sing Like You Mean It
by Ariel Arbisser of The Funx
In this workshop, we learned how to interpret and perform solos.

As Arbisser put it, the most important part of exploring a solo is learning how to "live truthfully in imaginary circumstances." She suggested:

• Think of the solo like a monologue - what are you saying?
• The more specific you can make the emotion, the better
• For example, if you are singing to a romantic interest, who is it? What is your relationship? Why are you singing? What has this person done? Create the entire scenario.
• Feel emotions honestly
• Lyrics don't always match the tone of the song
• Interpret the lyrics - you are not tied to the original interpretation!
• Follow the meaning of the song rather than the tone of the music
• Eye contact with the audience puts you in control

Separately, she also gave some advice for groups designing choreography. Specifically, make sure the choreography adds to the meaning of the song; choreography for the sake of having something to do is distracting.

Marilee and PriPriLuLu jammin' out

You Be the Judge
by Michael Marcus & RARB Staff

This workshop focused on how to create memorable and original a cappella pieces. They focused particularly on reviewing albums, but there was a lot of good general information as well.

The most memorable advice from that workshop was:

• Focus on the emotional impact of a song - ask will I remember this tomorrow?
• Think about the narrative arc of the set
• Use the strengths of your particular group
• Don't try to mimic a 5 person sound with 12 singers
• Silence is useful - as long as it is purposeful
• Balance repetition and variation
• Dynamics are important
• The bridge should not sound like the rest of the song

Musical Leadership with Diana Galeano

Nuanced Direction: Advanced Methods and Musical Leadership

by Diana Galeano

This workshop focused on strategies for effectively leading an a cappella group.

• Warm-ups
• think about why you're warming up
• use warm-ups to focus the group
• use passages, chords from the pieces that the group is working on
• If you want a standard, set and enforce it
• The group needs drive to work through common goals
• motivation comes from a director
• give feedback positively
• use quartets
• Use dynamic exercises in warmups
• Breath support exercises
• If the group needs a break, take it

Rob Dietz explaining The Preparation Wheel

Rehearsal Techniques
by Rob Dietz of the Funx

Dietz used a method called "The Preparation Wheel" to explain how to get the most out of a song in rehearsal.

The preparation wheel has four sections: the Genesis, the Technical Character, Crafting the Arc, and the Emotional Core.

The Genesis

• Why am I singing this song?
• What do I want to communicate?
• Discuss the song as a group - crystallize a basic understanding
• How does the song fit into your set?

The Technical Character

• Model physically what you want to see
• Showing is better than telling
• Tuning
• Can address this in warmups
• Start in unison, expand from there
• Build chords in both directions (up and down)
• Hold and shift complex chords
• Blend
• Vowel matching
• Hand shapes for the different vowels
• Rhythm
• Clapping, stepping the beat
• Speaking rhythmically in a higher register
• Dynamics
• Concentric circles - show volume on a physical plane
• Assign colors (red/blue) to mood
• Model as the leader
• Articulation
• Tempo

Crafting the Arc

• The mirror exercise
• Tableaux
• Free movement
• Rope-pull exercise - phrasing, resistance

The Emotional Core

• Discuss and reflect
• Find the emotional center of the song
• This is where Arbisser's workshop could come in

In general, the seminars taught us how to work together as a group, get the most out of a rehearsal, and perform a song effectively. By exploring the seminars together, we have grown as a individual singers and as a cohesive group.

Looking forward, I think the group can achieve great things this year using what we learned at SoJam. We work together well and are able to navigate musically complex pieces. This year, we hope to grow the group in new directions. We are trying out more complex arrangements, pursuing musical opportunities outside the Haverbubble, and participating in competitions, particularly the ICCAs in a few months! I can't wait to see what great things the Outskirts will do next.

Our Big Adventure (by Liz)

Like most great adventures, our SoJam excursion began with a car ride. There were four of us stuffed into Jade’s mildly tiny four-door – Emily and Jade up front shouting about Jessie McCartney, and Sza and I in the back making friendship bracelets. We sang loudly and often, and we may or may not have made questionable merging choices. As I sat in the backseat, surrounded on all sides by unquenchable enthusiasm and genuine excitement, I could only think: I’m having the time of my life.

We arrived at SoJam and received our beautifitious name tags…

The workshops were amazing – more learning experiences than lectures, and learn we did. The instructors were engaging, intelligent, and super funny.

Neat things I learned…

• Vocal percussion! I had never perced before in my life, so basically everything the instructor talked about was new to me. Most VPs have one basic beat, but the best VPs can mix it up almost indefinitely. I definitely want to work on my percing skillz – maybe I’ll even be good at it, but only after tons of practice.
• How to use warm-ups effectively! It was interesting to see the different ways warm-ups can be used, especially since to me, warm-ups used to seem not that important. But now I know: they can be the most important part of rehearsal! It’ll be great to integrate this new-found knowledge into regular skirts rehearsal.
• Avi Kaplan has a beautiful voice. (Because we met him. [!!!])

                                                        (He's right here)

All in all, it was an incredibly beneficial experience. I think we learned a lot, both about being an a cappella group and about each other as people. I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world, and I’m incredibly thankful to our sponsors for this opportunity.

SoJam!! (by Amira)

I was lame and didn’t take photos so bear with me.

SoJam was nothing short of euphoric for many reasons. A cappella performances so good you didn’t know what to do with yourself, laughter scattered from one end of the trip to the other, the constant company of kind, sassy, hilarious ladies, and of course Avi Kaplan (long live the green-eyed king of a cappella bass).

The trip began (and ended) with a car ride. I love car rides for so many reasons. Something about having to confess when you need to pee and being crammed against another person eating trail mix and taking exit 17A instead of 17B brings everyone together. After burning through two tanks of Minimum Octane Rating 87 and about ten albums (mainly a cappella), we ended up in Durham, NC. My car was late but we made it to the second and final rounds of the collegiate competition that evening. The emceeing was terrible but the groups were incredible and so we were handed shots of musical awesomeness between woefully cheesy jokes. It was all part of the fun.

The next day we went to workshops. Marilee and I swaggered in to two vocal percussion lessons and proceeded to have no clue what was going on. But they were really helpful, regardless of what VP experience you had. Our first workshop, “Active Listening for Drummers” emphasized rhythmic accuracy over elaborate beats. The instructor, Dave Baumgartner, walked us through several songs and repeatedly asked us to state the bare minimum percussion required to keep the beat in the song. The answer was always surprisingly little: often just a kickdrum or some other form of downbeat, sometimes with a kick. The exercise emphasized that the job of a VP is to enhance a song, not embark on a one-man beatboxing show. The second workshop, “Improve Your VP” taught by Matt Murphy carried a similar message, but focused more on how to practice VP.  He explained how every person’s anatomy is different, and so we all can make sounds that are completely unique. He said that the best way to develop percussion for a song is describe a section of the song (haunting, mellow, tense, relaxed, fast, slow, etc.), then use your strengths and abilities to emulate that emotion. You don’t need to recreate the percussion in the original song; the advantage of being a vocal percussionist is that you will create unique sounds that can emote differently than an instrument can.

Two other really helpful workshops we went to were Diana Galeano’s “Nuanced Direction: Advanced Methods in Musical Leadership” and Rob Dietz’s “Rehearsal Techniques.” Both focused on improving productivity during rehearsal through effective leadership. We learned that when practicing songs, leaders should always include positive feedback when delivering criticism because members will be more receptive to critique this way and it maintains a positive rehearsal atmosphere. Also, leaders should show how things should be sung rather than explaining. For example, leaders can round their mouths into an “o” shape in front of the group if they want that vowel to be used. Mimic what is needed, rather than trying to explain. This seems obvious when you think back to your high school choir director who, with bulging eyes, inhaled massive volumes of air when the group was supposed to breath, but something good to keep in mind now. Another bit of advice given (especially applicable to all of us a cappella groups who have late night rehearsals when productivity is hard to come by) is to take five minute breaks to regain focus in a group.

There was so much more taught and learned in those few days, but there was also plenty of entertainment outside of workshops. Collegiate a cappella groups strutted their stuff in Aca-bombs, 15 minute performances between classes. There was also a lovely barbershop showcase on Saturday, and the contemporary a cappella performances by the Funx and Duwende were incredible (at one point, the audience got out of their seats, ran to the front of the stage, and jumped/danced/raved to the music). It was great.

But my favorite part of the trip, of course, was just hanging out with the other ‘Skirts. And our miniskirts are so wonderful! We all had fun nearly getting lost on our way from the parking garage to the School of the Arts (about two blocks…with iPhone Maps), reporting Avi sightings in the hotel, eating cookie pizzas, eating regular pizzas, and just hanging out. I love these girls so much, and I’m so happy that we got to go on this trip together!

What I learned at SoJam 2014 (by Eoz)

As a junior, I've had a lot of memorable moments with the Outskirts, including 2 tours and the ICCAs, and I didn't think those weekends could be topped.  But attending SoJam 2014 this fall with all my fellow skirts, including our beautiful newbies, definitely is up there at the top of the list now.

The drive down to NC... Eek! 

The holy grail for the weekend... the schedule!

Including seeing/meeting one of our aca-idols, Avi Kaplan, the bass extraordinate of Pentatonix, about 6 times over the course of the weekend (including a very intimate Q&A as the last workshop of the conference!), this weekend was full of crazy antics, laughter, learning, being in awe of other a cappella groups, embarrassing moments, singing, more laughing, and not enough sleep.

AVI KAPLAN in the flesh

What I learned at SoJam, related to music, and things to think about:

Vocal percussion help sheet!

• Demand a connection with your audience.  Establish eye contact.  
• Don't do choreo for choreo's sake.  Does your choreo reflect the journey of your song?
• A cappella leaves music interpretation up to you.  An arrangement can be anything you want it to be.  If the lyrics of an upbeat, pop dance anthem sound more like a Blues song to you, then make it into a blues song!  The possibilities are endless.  
• One of the best ways to learn how to perc (vocal percussion, beat boxing) is to listen to the drumming in the back of real rock songs, try to imitate, then try to make your own over the song.  Don't just copy/paste each verse, chorus... make the song build.  
• Practice percing with a metronome! 

Vocal percussion workshop

• If you leave rehearsal satisfied, you probably just polished something you were already good at, and didn't do any actual work.
• Arranging with improvisation- the motor, the interlock, the contrast.  
• Blend: matching vowels, agreeing on shape, color, dark/bright, volume
• Switching up who stands where, based on voice part, vibrato, voice brightness/darkness, volume, even handedness, can have an affect on how the overall sound is.  Play around with it.  Don't always just do the boring old single arc. 
• Practicing dynamics VISUALLY- i.e. stepping forward into a circle when crescendoing and backwards when decrescendoing, you can see if the whole group is together
• Break down long held whole notes into subdivided units, practice like that! 
• Rope pull exercise for long phrases 
• Create hand motions for each vowel shape, "Ah, ayy, eee, oh, ooooh" to get everyone on the same page, can signal to people during a song what shape to be singing 
• Practice dynamically growing in volume counting from 1 to 5, or 1 to 10... if this is practiced enough, then the group has a general idea of what a "4" sounds like, or what an "8" sounds like, and can be used to communicate dynamics about a song 

What I learned at SoJam 2014, unrelated to music:

• Breakfast isn't included.
• Avi Kaplan is one of the most down to earth celebrities in the universe.  
• An all-access pass doesn't get you everything you want in life.  Adjust your expectations.
• Ben Bram literally brought the Pentatonix together single handedly 
• There is no the in Pentatonix

All-Access!!!!

Some important quotations... 

"My life just peaked" -Youkun, after meeting Avi Kaplan

"God, I'm sweatin' like Nixon" -Vocal percussion workshop leader

Everyone- "hahahah!" Sarah ~*from Edinburgh*~, "... What" 

"Marilee has LEFT THE CHORD" -Jade, resident Enforcer 

"There were girls in choir and I was like, great I like girls, so I joined" -Avi Kaplan

"The songs we cover I don't even like" -Avi Kaplan, on Pentatonix song choices 

"I'm a classically trained opera singer.  I don't blend" -"Improving your sound" workshop leader

"(sung) Don't know what I'm doin', I'm too focused on the cheetah" -Volunteer in "arranging with improv" workshop