The newest a cappella group to hit campus may be about to make its name known to a much wider audience: America.
The , led by senior Shane Stever, was started last spring but hasn’t had the chance to rehearse as a group or perform until the start of this semester. Now they have the opportunity to compete on a national stage when they audition Wednesday in Atlanta for the chance to have a spot on a new show, "," which will debut in primetime next fall.
Dubbed "the ultimate a cappella competition," "The Sing Off" will feature a variety of choirs who compete for a recording contract from . "From what we can tell they're looking for all sorts of a cappella groups, from collegiate groups to professional quartets, female groups, co-ed groups, so it's going to be a big grab bag," Stever said. "It'll sort of be like an '' thing where a group gets voted off each week."
The chance to audition came when senior John Baunach, vice president of the group, got an e-mail from an NBC talent producer working with casting for the show. Baunach told the group "and it was just kind of like, 'OK, let's do this,'" Stever said. "We didn't know anything about it until then. It's next Wednesday, so a lot of us are skipping classes, skipping labs, skipping opera rehearsals to make this happen. ... We're making sacrifices for it, but we feel like it's a pretty big deal and worth it."
The group is familiar with new opportunities suddenly appearing. One year ago, forming a new a cappella choir was just a passing thought.
"It's actually an idea I had sophomore year," Stever said. "I talked to some of these guys about it then, they thought it'd be cool, but I kinda forgot about it, went abroad, came back and John Baunach sends me an e-mail that says, 'Hey, weren't you going to start an a cappella group?' And I was like, 'Uh yeah, I was.'"
After talking to some of his friends that he "knew could sing," Stever had a core group of nine guys who were interested.
"It's gone surprisingly easy," he said, "And then we auditioned, and auditions went surprisingly well. We had almost 30 guys audition. It was really competitive, and we weren't expecting that kind of turnout for our first year. But it worked out and it turns out that the talent pool we have is really strong."
This group is so strong that many of the guys can arrange music in addition to singing. The two songs the Melodores are performing at the NBC audition are members' arrangements: "Sweetest Thing," which they performed at "Spotlight," was arranged by musical director Jeff Cutts, and "This Love" by is from the song's soloist, senior Matt Sen.
"It's hard because we just got together and then the NBC thing came," said sophomore Ryan Korell. "We have to get these two songs perfect. ... We have one week. We found out last Wednesday and we perform next Wednesday. It's a challenge."
But the idea of performing to an audience larger than just Vanderbilt students is something Stever says fits perfectly with the group's mission, so he says it's a challenge they're up for.
"We really want to reach out," Stever said. "We want to be more than just students. We want to reach faculty, the community, the Nashville community. In the same way we want our team, the Melodores, to be a strong community, we want to reach out and branch out into the Nashville community."
He says the Melodores don’t feel much pressure to prove themselves.
"Our focus isn't to be better than other groups on campus," Stever said. "If that were our focus, we would inevitably fail, because then it becomes about bitterness, then it becomes about being better than other people, and honestly our goal is higher than that. Our goal is to reach out into the community, to produce good music and have fun doing it. That's our goal. It's musical excellence and delight in doing so. That's what it's all about. And it's bigger than Vanderbilt."
Many members also pointed out that the Melodores isn’t a splinter from the Dodecs, another men's a cappella group on campus, although two Melodores were originally part of that group.
"I ended up switching, I guess just because the focus of the groups, the attitudes are just a little bit different," Korell said. "I feel like Melodores is more about making good music and having a good time with the music. Being serious but having fun with it, ... more of this cohesive community, and that's what I was looking for."
Stever said the focus has always been on how the group functions as a whole, so while a musical background was important, it wasn't everything.
"When we were recruiting we weren't looking (for Blair students). We turned away some Blair students," he said. "Musicality is very important, but it's not just about musicality. It's about the group, the community, the cohesiveness, the structure. That's all really important to us. We've got a wide range of experience."
And a wide range of majors, with only six of the 15 coming from Blair.
"I'm biomedical engineering," said freshman Matthew Thompson, "but I really like doing this."
Sen, a Blair student, says there was something about the group that made him stick around.
"I thought I didn't want to spend my time with it," he said. "I have to deal with music a lot, anyway." But after sitting in on rehearsals he decided to give it a go.
"I was just going to sing with them for Spotlight and then leave, and I just ended up kind of staying around I guess."
The variety of backgrounds parallels the variety of music the Melodores plan on singing — that's what sets them apart, many members said, and makes this experience different from anything they study in the classroom.
"Blair is strictly classical, whereas we branch out into different genres like jazz, rock, pop, R&B," said sophomore Shaun Kahler.
"Even on a national level, college a cappella groups do a lot of goofy stuff and a lot of the Ivy League ones are very straight-laced and do a lot of traditional stuff," Stever said. "We're really making an effort to branch out into all different styles: barbershop, jazz, classic rock, pop and some other classical pieces. Really trying to reach the whole gamut. And we feel that we'll appeal to more people that way. Because again that ties into our mission of affecting the community on broader level."
And that seems to be something everyone is excited about.
"We make our own artistic decisions as a group," Sen said. "I don't know of any other group like this where it seems like everybody wants to work hard and sound good. Having fun doesn't have to be something different than making good music."
"And it's not something we have to do," said senior Bradford Threlkeld. "It's not compulsory. It's something we want to do."
Despite the sacrifices, Wednesday's audition is something the group wants to do as well.
"We know it's a long shot, but why not," Stever said. "It's bringing the group together, it's making us better, it's good, it's something for the community to get excited about, it's fun."
"And it's cool because it's brand new," Cutts said. "It's not like 'American Idol' where we know what the standards are already."
The lack of expectations is nothing new, either.
"The show's new, we're new. There are a lot of question marks," Stever said, "but we're just excited and ready to get ready for it and give it absolutely our best shot."
