Carol B. Emert '88, also of the Pitches, says that it is a challenge to get a real laugh, especially for all-female groups. Emert says audiences expect female groups to be more tasteful. "A basic question always is. "What can we, as women, get away with?'"

And when straight comedy fails, there are always "gimmicks." Take, for example, the last Veritones concert when Nobel Prize winner Baird Professor of Science Dudley R. Herschbach served as master of ceremonies.

"Professor Herschbach has always been known for his off-the-wall humor. We had him do a couple of chemistry experiments. I think it went off really well," says Lee L. Eichen '89, a member of the Veritones.

The Din and Tonics, an all-male a capella group founded in 1979, took an even more unconventional tack with its "Free Stuff Giveaway" at their latest concert last weekend.

"We gave away motor oil, chicken soup, tuna, t-shirts, records--anything we could think of," says Din member Lawrence I. Witdorchic '88.

"We really pushed the bounds of tackiness with that stunt, but it got the audience involved and was a lot of fun," says Din President Alexander F. Beckett '88.

Auditions

The singing groups says that when the applause dies down, their audiences sometimes come back for more--at membership auditions.

Every a capella group at Harvard "consistently attracts large numbers of interested students to auditions every year," says Mischa A. Frusztajer '89, musical director of the 1988 Krokodiloes. "Anybody who sees a concert enjoys it. They see that we're having a good time and want to get involved."

The Kroks attracted more than 60 students to their spring auditions, the Pitches 75, and the Callbacks about 40, members say.

Part of the allure of the groups are their frequent singing tours. Group members say that their organizations are self-supporting and raise money from their concerts to pay for trips abroad during spring break and over summer vacation. "You might call it, 'travelling for a song,'" Frusztajer says.

This year the Kroks will be going on a summer tour of Europe and Asia, with an unprecedented stop in Moscow to sing behind the Iron Curtain. The Pitches traveled to Bermuda over spring break, and the Din and Tonics will be making a trek to East Asia.

Din Director Beckett says that "a typical tour involves making deals with various hotels. We perform in exchange for room and board. It's a great bargain."

All of which can make for stiff competition at audition time. Brian D. Bumby '91, one of the 60 undergraduates who auditioned this year and earned one of the seven available spots in the Kroks, says that he had wanted to join the group since he first saw them perform his freshman year of high school.

"It was really an intimidating process," Bumby says of his audition. "We had to perform solos, and there were several callbacks, and a lot of mixing and matching." At one point the Kroks "even put their ears right up to our mouths to check for tone," he says. "It's going to be a great challenge to sing at their caliber."