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