“I prayed a lot,” Paladino says of Final Night. “Going to sleep that night was definitely not easy.”

PRACTICE, POLISH, PERFORM

The intensity of audition week mirrors the hours of work that group members devote to planning, rehearsing, and performing sets.

A capella groups perform at a variety of functions, including semester jams, weddings, and dinner parties. Some groups also embark on annual national and international tours.

Taylor L. Vandick ’16, a member of Harvard’s oldest all-female group, the Radcliffe Pitches, says that she practices six hours with the entire Radcliffe Pitches group every week and then one hour with the music director fine-tuning her voice part. In the week leading up to a large concert or jam—christened Hell Week just like auditions—Vandick says that the group usually rehearses five-and-a-half hours every day.

Horton, Rosamilia, and Friedman also say that the Veritones practice about six hours a week with more rehearsal time to polish their sets in the weeks leading up to the group’s two main jams.

In addition to rehearsals, groups spend significant time thinking about their set list, conducting auditions to assign solos, and then polishing their performances.

Groups work with each other to coordinate song distributions and ensure that each ensemble sings different songs, a process that Horton says is “currently up for debate in the community.”

Some groups use a database to reserve songs. Others, according to Horton, work through a more relaxed system, in which song selections are based on which ensembles will sing together in concert.

Groups compete not only over members and songs but also for reputation within the a capella community. “Your group always wants to sing better and outdo the others at a jam,” Horton says.

COMMUNITY

Nonetheless, members of the a capella community say that performing music and the friendships formed between and within groups justify the busy schedule of a capella life.

“My favorite thing about a capella at Harvard is the community it provides,” Horton says.

Paladino agrees, saying that he enjoys the feeling of brotherhood and community provided by the Kroks. “Being a freshman Krok is definitely an interesting experience, as my world was quickly opened from the rather isolated social world of a freshman guy to someone who has 11 brothers around campus to hang out with, ask advice, and all sorts of other things,” he says.

Members say that despite some rivalry, relationships between groups are largely amicable and supportive. Moreover, many students view the growing number of groups as a positive.

“I think there is some friendly competition, but behind it all, some of my closest friends are in other groups,” Friedman says.

Paladino echoes Friedman’s sentiment. “We all just love music and love to sing,” he says.

—Staff writer Steven H. Tenzer can be reached at stenzer@college.harvard.edu.