I arrived at Herter Hall room 107 prepared to silently take notes, a mere observer to the Vocal Suspects’ rehearsal. I watched as the group circled up, and to my surprise, they asked me if I’d like to join in on their warm-ups. They were quick to welcome me into their world, making space for a journalist to become one of them for the night.
The Vocal Suspects are one of 10 a cappella groups at the University of Massachusetts, and are the oldest mixed a cappella group on campus. They rehearse music and choreography multiple times a week, perform at a variety of gigs and, this semester, arrange all their own music. One of the biggest gigs they host is an event called Acapellooza, in which all 10 a cappella groups perform every spring.
Just before warm-ups, the agenda at rehearsal included a quick slideshow presentation, which allowed everyone to give a “one sentence” check-in. The only rule, besides only getting one sentence, is that just saying “I’m alive” is banned. This style of check-in quickly created a relaxed vibe before everyone settled in and circled up for warm-ups and practice.
Valentina Burlack, a junior biology and psychology student, presented the check-in slideshow with a smile and a welcoming presence. It’s a way for her to continue facilitating the community aspect of the group that first made her want to join.
“The second that you walk into the room, it just feels like a community. And that’s something that I was really looking for my freshman year,” Burlack said. “Fall semester, I really felt like I was missing music in my life and the community that comes with it.”
As co-general manager of the Vocal Suspects, Burlack keeps the group organized, gives announcements and makes sure that everyone knows what they’re supposed to be doing.
Burlack said that the Vocal Suspects look for people who are eager to learn, love music and are willing to work collaboratively. She explained that members don’t necessarily have to be “music prodigies” to make it into the group.
After the slideshow and community-building exercise, the group warmed up their voices. The variety of vocal warm-ups prepared both the range of their voices and diction.
That night, one of the warm-ups included singing the phrase “Danger! Men at work.” The group members broke up the syllables of each of those four words into an impressively chaotic jumble and sang it repeatedly. This style of warm-up had each member focusing on their diction, to prepare them for practice.
Suddenly realizing that it was International Women’s Day, the group decided to switch the warm-up phrase to “Danger! Girl at work.” Members giggled as they lightheartedly argued over what words would fit best in terms of syllables.
I tried to keep up with the fast pace of the group’s singing but ended up stuck in the tongue-twister. Everybody else was simultaneously amused and focused on nailing the warm-up, trying it multiple times to give themselves a chance to get it right.
Following warm-ups, the Vocal Suspects used the rest of rehearsal to run through a variety of songs from their setlist, stopping to workshop any notes that needed work. One song that stuck out was Two Dog Night’s “Never Been to Spain,” which was soloed by Marco Zavala, a freshman political science major. The song was upbeat and allowed the group to bring up their energy, as Zavala did choreography while he sang.
As of this semester, Zavala is the event coordinator of the Vocal Suspects, meaning that he plans all their unofficial group hangouts. Recovering from being sick, Zavala showed up ready to sing while wearing a mask for rehearsal.
“I probably should be bed-resting, but I didn’t want to miss this rehearsal, and I really didn’t want to miss the stuff that we had planned afterwards, where we’re going to do a jeopardy night,” Zavala said.
Jeopardy night is just one of the many group bonding activities that the Vocal Suspects have done. Outside of rehearsals and performances, the group takes trips and plans informal group dinners at the campus dining halls.
At the end of the fall semester, the group carpooled, sang in the car and took a trip to Brattleboro, Vermont. They got food, went thrift shopping and played pool, and it even started snowing.
“It was kind of magical,” William Carrasco, a freshman with a double major in biology and theater, said of the trip.
Carrasco is an assistant music director of the Vocal Suspects. He helps run warm-ups, arranges music and is a vocal percussionist within the group.
The bond between group members was apparent during rehearsal, even during times when they had to fix parts of songs. There seemed to be an underlying respect for one another’s opinions, as anyone, not just leadership members, could chime in and give a suggestion about how everyone could improve.
The group members, or “suspects” for short, say that one of the best things about a cappella on campus is the community it creates.
“It’s just such a nice community. I would honestly bet that there are very few communities on UMass that are just so nice … there’s no real beef,” Zavala said.
Olivia Foo, a junior-year biology major and co-general manager of the group, also appreciates the community aspect of a cappella. Foo loves all her fellow Vocal Suspects and said that “there’s a certain whimsy that this group has.” Joining the group has “honestly been the best decision I’ve made my entire college career,” she said.
I observed an additional Vocal Suspects rehearsal on March 12, when a few group members were absent. It was interesting to see other members, such as Carrasco, take on a larger leadership role to fill in the spaces when other suspects couldn’t make it.
The group took pauses a few times during that rehearsal to ensure that their pitches were blending properly, and that their consonant and vowel sounds were all coming through clearly. Their homework was to continue working on memorizing the songs on their setlist.
When the suspects had to troubleshoot a song, they broke off into sectionals so that each voice part could perfect its section. As the groups broke off into different rooms, I stayed back to watch the altos practice.
Two altos focused on perfecting their portion of the song, but the energy in the room still maintained the Vocal Suspects’ playful dynamic, as others stayed joking around, turning off the lights on each other and laughing.
One group member sprawled out on a couple of desks at the front of the room, pretending to take a nap, while another stood at the lectern at the front of the room and made funny voices into the microphone.
With jokesters going in and out of the room, altos singing and jokes amplified by a microphone, the Vocal Suspects truly looked like a little family. This moment was highly representative of the group’s balance of work and play, as they were clearly comfortable enough with each other to have a mix of both.
As Foo said, “I love all of these people to death.”
Kaitlyn Saperstein can be reached at [email protected].
