Ryan ChartrandCal Poly’s a capella group, Take It SLO, will be competing this Saturday in the International Championship of Collegiate A Capella Quarterfinals at UC Santa Barbara.
This will be the first time the group has competed since it began five years ago. They are expecting some tough competition from schools like USC, UCLA and UCSD.
Six groups will perform a 12- minute piece compiled of their best pop/rock a capella. They could then move to the semifinals in Marin and then possibly to the finals in New York.
Take It SLO will perform an arrangement of three songs: Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” Kelly Clarkson’s “Because of You” and Destiny’s Child’s “Survivor.”
“The reason we chose those songs is because we wrote all of them and we are judged on original arrangements,” said Nicolle MacDonald, student manager of Take It SLO. “Those were the ones where we got the most compliments.
Specific people in the group will write new arrangements and then the music director will teach the song, MacDonald added. In this case, Take It SLO has taken older songs and made it a group effort to teach the seven new members that joined this fall.
“It’s so much fun, but it basically takes up all my life,” Take it SLO member James Huang said. The group practiced four hours on Monday and then an additional three hours on Tuesday to prepare for the competition.
“We are all student led and every group (in the competition) is primarily student led,” MacDonald said.
This year, the group decided to add numerous officer positions. MacDonald, participating for a second year, is making adjustments, in her first year as the group’s manager.
“For the first part of the year, because we hadn’t allocated jobs out to everybody, I was doing all the networking and setting up sideshows,” MacDonald said.
Take It SLO has done seven shows since the beginning of the school year. The majority of the shows were in San Luis Obispo and another was in Los Angeles, where the group performed three times in one day.
As Take It SLO heads off to Santa Barbara this weekend, they will be preparing for a rigorous set of criteria that must be met in order to move on in the competition.
Two sections, including vocal performance and visual performance, have specific subcategories. These include sections like the balance and blend of the group, the arrangement of songs, rhythmic accuracy and the tone and diction of the group.
In addition, components like cohesiveness, effectiveness of presentation, stage presence and creativity of movement make up the visual portion.
“This is our first time competing, and we are trying to keep an open mind,” said Rory Fratkin, music director of Take It Slo.
“This is really all about the experience though, and I think it’s going to be a really incredible experience for the whole group, and we are going to figure things out about ourselves when we are in performance mode,” Fratkin said.
The group has an exciting line-up of songs that they have made their own. Fratkin explained the basics of what goes into modifying songs for a particular performance. Arrangements are done by ear into parts like alto, tenor and bass.
“Note for note, it’s not going to be exactly what’s in the song, as opposed to piano or guitar,” Fratkin said. “There’s a lot that goes into how to distribute the different instruments for the different voice parts and that’s making it original.”
Fratkin gave examples within the group’s performance that he hopes will “wow” the judges, like in the song “Because of You.”
“In one part of the song, that piece will be still going on, and in the background you’ll hear ‘Since You’ve Been Gone,'” Fratkin said.
“Because of You” and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” have been in the group’s repertoire for a couple years, and both pieces have evolved with different soloists and different choreography. “Survivor” is the group’s newest piece, “We will give it our all because it’s got a whole bunch of funk,” Fratkin said.
The performance starts at 7 p.m. and it costs $10 for students and $15 for the public.
For more information check out the group’s Web site at www.takeitslo.com.