The Sing-Off Review

Usually I avoid the trendy pop-culture media, but in this case I am willing to make an exception. Finally the contemporary acappella genre has received national recognition for the creativity, musicality, and entertainment it represents. Eight groups from around the country put their lives on hold for the chance to win $10,000 and a Sony recording contract. Each group brings a unique understanding of the genre, harnessing the voice as a versatile instrument to produce a visually and orally entertaining atmosphere.

Being in the original founding group of a contemporary acappella group, working with OSU and UO's founders, competing, and researching on my own has provided me with the background to appreciate these groups. The amount of energy and commitment required to prepare for a performance that combines composition/arranging (knowledge of blend, harmony, part-writing, dynamics, tempo, choosing appropriate syllables or words), choreography and drama (interpreting the music and lyrics, using the space, timing, coordinating with singing, gesture and motion), and most importantly singing (choosing soloists, blending voices, proper and appropriate diction, dynamics, imitating instruments, complimenting other roles) which also includes the vocal percussionist (VP) more commonly known as beat-boxer. VP must understand how to adjust and maintain tempo to aid and compliment the singers, all while keeping the mouth moist and making the sounds consistently clear. Other duties a group's success rides upon is song selection. An arranger can make a wonderful arrangement of a song, but if the singers cannot interpret it right and the audience doesn't feel it, the performance suffers. Each part is integral to group. How all the parts come together and the quality of the individual areas and performance as a whole will decide the ultimate success of a group.

Acappella music puts a new spin on a range of other musical genres, including classics, popular music, jazz, rock, all contemporary. It allows music to be a mobile profession, something you take with you everywhere but requires the unit to be complete.

One aspect of the show that bothers me the most is Nicole Scherzinger as a judge. Her comments seem overly superficial and lack constructive criticism or even intellect. While others might believe her background as a lead vocalist for a pop group is enough to qualify her to judge a competition on group dynamics, I do not buy it. She knows nothing of the genre, nor does she seem to know much about music as an art and study. For those who dare compare this sort of competition to American Idol, understand this first, these groups focus on musicality, harmony, interpretation. This is not a scene where the group only sings their part without concern for the background vocals, instruments, choreographers, without knowing anything about music, how to read it or actually interpret it. Performing a solo and taking claim to all the credit and fame is not what the genre is about. They are real people, it is a competition of a popular variety, but the similarities end there. This is where real music begins.

Episodes are available to watch on nbc.com or hulu.com. It is on at 8pm channel 5 (cable) for only one or two more episodes (week-long competition). It takes a long time to prepare so many pieces so they had to make it doable for the groups by limiting the repertoire. Its not gimmicky; it may be annoying in a way to see the sudden hype when its been around awhile, but pleasing nonetheless. I recommend it to those willing to enjoy and appreciate it.