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Whffenpoofs
Yale's Whiffenpoof a cappella group is recognized as the first collegiate a cappella group. In January of 1909, five male members of the Yale Glee Club began meeting regularly in Mory's Temple Bar to practice and perform. These young men would improvise harmonizing vocals to songs they all knew and loved. As the group's popularity increased on Yale's campus, the group of singers chose to give themselves a name, the Whiffenpoofs. They would become the first official Collegiate a cappella group. -
ICCA
For many years, collegiate a cappella music focused heavily on music relating to its schools. In the early 1990s, these a cappella groups began incorporating popular music into their performances and, in turn, featuring new sounds such as contemporary style solo singing and vocal percussion. In 1996, the first International Championship of Collegiate A Capella was held. This competition has occurred annually since that year. -
Stockton's Stockapella
With collegiate a cappella groups growing in popularity, the Stockton's Acapella club started developing. The first group to form was Stockton A Cappella's Stockapella. Stockapella formed in 2006, and the first concert was performed in 2007. -
Glee
A television show on Fox titled, "Glee" aired its first episode in May of 2009. The show revolved around students involved in their school's glee club. This show became very popular for its music, and drew more attention to a cappella performances of popular music. -
Sing Off
In 2009, a televised a cappella competition called the "Sing Off" aired its first season. Although this show is not focused on college groups, it certainly featured groups who formed in school and absolutely brought more attention and popularity to acapella music.
Nota on the Sing Off -
Stocktones
The Stockton A Cappella club grew rapidly in popularity after the first concert in 2007, and the number of vocalists auditioning for the group increased each year. With a high volume of singers desiring to participate and a limited number of seats available each year in the group, a new group was added to the Stockton A Cappella club. A new a cappella group called the Stocktones was founded. Like Stockapella, Stocktones is a co-ed vocal ensemble. Stocktones' first performance wasin spring 2010. -
Stockata
The development of the Stocktones a cappella group in 2010 was not quite enough to place the many talented vocalists who attended auditions for the a cappella groups. There were especially a great number of female vocalists who wished to participate in Stockton A Cappella. Because of this, the third and youngest group was developed, Stockata. Stockata is an all female group that performs in the Stockton A Cappella concert, and it competed for the first time in spring of 2014. -
Competition
Stockton A Cappella's Stockapella group auditions for the ICCA competition each year, and has continued to reach at least quarter finals. In the most recent competition, Stockapella won awards for song arrangements and for best vocal percussoin.
ICCA 2014 -
Concert
Stockton A Cappella may have had 98 fewer years to grow and develop than Yale's Whiffenpoofs, but in just a few short years, it has truly grown into a well respected group whose sound improves with every new semester. In April of 2014, Stockton A Cappella performed its most recent concert in Stockton's Campus Center Theatre.
