The competition for the few available spots every year among established a capella groups grew so rigorous in the past that it spawned several new organizations, including the appropriately named Callbacks.

"Last October a friend and I were looking at the billboards and noticed the huge number of callbacks and people that weren't making it into the groups," says Callbacks founder Hickman. "We decided to found our own singing club. We started out with 15 or 20 people singing informally on Thursday and Sunday nights, but by second semester we became more serious, expanded our repertoire, and eventually opened for the Veritones spring concert."

The Veritones, now in their third year, started off as a group of freshmen who had attended freshman-week auditions "that were so crowded we couldn't even leave our names," says co-founder Eichen. "We put together our own group of 16 freshmen just to see what we could do and have been together ever since," he says.

Similarly, the Din and Tonics were founded nine years ago because "a few former Kroks felt that there weren't enough a capella singing groups at Harvard," Beckett says.

Low Key

While competition among the groups for singers isn't intense, some of the new groups are eager to distinguish themselves from their older peers. Several, including McLane's Singing Rats who started out as a band of Christmas carollers, bill themselves as low-key.

"We are much more relaxed and informal than other a capella groups. You need practically no singing experience to join the Rats, and we really have a lot of fun," she says. The Singing Rats, whose name comes from the "mouse hole," a stage entrance in the Currier House fishbowl, say they do not require the ability to read sheet music.

For other groups, the differences are more a matter of style. "There has always been a friendly rivalry between the Dins and the Kroks," says the Dins' Witdorchic. "The Kroks typically sing traditional songs or '50s numbers. The Dins sing jazzier, more innovative arrangements. We also put on more of a stage show, using lights and special effects."

Says Pitches member Emert, "Groups like the Opportunes might have current or pop hits in their repertoire. We do more jazz and swing. Also other groups might rely on soloists more if they have one really talented singer. People like Fiona Anderson [88], who are making it big on their own now, were the dominant soloists in a capella groups a few years back." Anderson, who was formerly with the Opportunes and presently sings with a Jazz group called the Upside, plans to cut a solo gospel album after graduation.

Songsters says that the gender of the group also makes a difference in its style.

For the Pitches, single-sex sounds are limited. "We obviously don't have the same range as a co-ed group, but I personally prefer a single-sex sound to mixed. Even though we may not be able to sing in the lower octaves, we can still manage to perform many similar numbers," Emert say.

Because of these group-to-group variations, "there is not too much potential for overlap," Krok Director Frusztajer says tongue-in-cheek. "You'd probably never catch the Kroks singing a Din and Tonics song like "Walk Like an Egyptian."