Over the years, a cappella has adjusted to the changing times and continues to persist, with performers embracing advances in music technology, particularly in the recording studio.
“When we recorded, we went to a studio and got around a couple of microphones and recorded it exactly as we would perform it live,” 30-year-old Rapkin said of his days in an a cappella group at Cornell University. “Now it’s a much bigger enterprise.”
Producers use computer effects and Auto Tune, a computer software program that corrects pitch in vocal and instrumental performances (a favorite technique of modern rappers and R&B artists), to create more precisely tuned recordings.
While using computer technology in recording might seem contradictory to the claim that a cappella is organically created with the human voice, Rapkin said he once heard that with a cappella “what you can perform live is a measure of your talent, and what you can do in the studio is a measure of your imagination.”
“I think that somewhere along the way people changed the songs they were singing and made it more contemporary, made it feel more alive again,” Rapkin said. “More people want to participate in it, and with the Internet, compilation albums and competitions spreading the message across the country, it’s like saying, ‘hey, this is what everyone else is doing, can you one-up that?'”
Some organizations today are even devoted to the promotion and encouragement of contemporary a cappella music, including the Contemporary A Cappella Society of America and Varsity Vocals, which produces competitions for college and high school a cappella groups like the International Championships of A Cappella.
Girard said a cappella is appealing to many individuals because it is not necessary to have a strong background in music theory or music composition to find success.
“It provides someone not studying music to be part of a musical ensemble; it’s an outlet for people not trying to be serious musicians,” Girard said.
Furthermore, because a cappella groups have become commonplace on college campuses, they often enable students to find a passion or calling, Girard suggested.
In fact, Rapkin reported in his book that the number of college a cappella groups has grown in the past 25 years to 1,200 from 200.
“It’s the closest thing that college students will ever get to being a rock star,” Rapkin said. “I found that the groups are all looking for…a place to belong on campus and a chance to perform and be noticed. On every school I went to, I found that members of a cappella groups were constantly recognized on campus.”
Trying to continue with a cappella after college, however, is a completely different and more difficult ball game.
Finding a group of people who live close enough to practice often and feel passionate enough about a cappella to commit can be a struggle, Girard said, particularly in a city like Boston where dozens of colleges boast their own groups.
“We have people who were willing to prioritize it within their personal lives,” Girard said. “We’re getting more and more gigs every year, every season even, and so I think on any rubric we are succeeding.”
Since its conception as a summer street performance group traveling coastal New England, Overboard has recorded two albums. The group’s repertoire includes 70 songs, some contemporary for younger fans and others like “Blue Moon” and “Stand by Me” for older fans. Overboard also performs about 20 holiday songs.
“Our repertoire is as varied as possible so that no matter who’s in front of us, we can sing and entertain,” Girard said. “We make our look and our songs representative of the audience we’re performing for.”
Some of the group’s most successful moments were being selected as a top five finalist in the Boyz II Men/CBS Early Show a cappella competition and placing third at the 2008 Boston Regional Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival.
“When you sing, you almost feel yourself being in tune with the other people, and it’s a really cool physical feeling,” Gerard said. “That’s what I like most about it when compared to instrumental music.”
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