Apparently this rush is currently underway. I think it’s awesome that a Capella is so supported and the rush process sounds pretty well organized. My question is, does anyone know how competitive it is to get a spot? I’ve seen pictures of some groups and they seem pretty small. I’m trying not to text my son with questions, so anyone with experience that can chime in would be great. Also, how time consuming is it to be a part of these groups? Thanks!
Im sitting here giggling because I was going to try and not ask too many questions of my daughter and then lost that desire the first day of class. She is also rushing a Capella groups and from what she has said, it seems to be competitive. She has auditioned for 4 groups, invited to dinner to 3 of the 4 and has a second audition to at least one of the 4. There are first auditions, interviews, call backs and all are not cake walks. She said that the initial auditions for some of them were more intense than All State chorus auditions. She also said that there are only so many spots available and that its entirely possible that she doesn’t get on any of them. I have to say that it is very well organized and reminds me a lot of when I rushed a sorority in college. It seems to be a very exciting process.
@Memmsmom You are so lucky to be talking to your daughter! All I know is my son was auditioning for 4 groups. I have no idea if he was invited for meals, call backs, etc. I am holding back texting but it is very hard! But I did look online at two of the groups he is rushing and they seem to do a lot of touring. My son was just accepted to YSO so I’m not even sure if it’s possible to do both.
@Musicmom2015 - Congrats on the YSO! As far as touring, there are two weeks for spring break so he may tour with YSO for one week, and an a cappella group for the other. Of course that may mean that you do not see him over that long break.
@Musicmom2015 Just ask him- she was very excited to hear from them and I can only imagine that he would feel the same. My daughter is also going to do cheer so she picked ones that had less of a commitment so that she could do both. Cheer is not a big time taker but between the two, she had to be honest about what she could handle. Just ask him how the process went. They are doing Rush meals this week. Some do lunch, some dinner and some just dessert. At least that is what I have been told. Only one of the groups she went for was a mixed choir of boys and girls.
Well I tried! All I got was he would find out by next Wednesday. Sigh. I did see an article though that mentioned something like 60-80 kids auditioning for a group so that sounds like small odds. I can’t imagine there are many spots per group each year.
I’ll be curious as to how this turns out. I wonder if most people interested ultimately find a spot in one of the groups, or if the number trying out is significantly greater than the total number of spots across groups.
From what I can tell, it seems like a pretty competitive process to get a spot in some extracurricular activities, while with others pretty much all interested students can join . . . I’m not sure where a capella falls on that spectrum though.
There are a lot of a capella groups–if a student is a good singer, and isn’t too picky (i.e., is willing to look at both single-sex and coed groups), he has a good chance of finding a spot. (Although one male group was suspended from rush, so there aren’t quite as many spots as usual.)
Thanks Hunt - that’s good to hear.
Here’s a website with lots of info about the singing groups: http://yalesgc.com/
There are some other groups outside of this organizations, like the Russian Chorus.
Thanks Hunt - you’re right that site has a lot of information.
Thanks! There is a very detailed description of rush and the groups online. I was just thinking that the individual groups seem fairly small so there may not be many spots each year. My son isn’t saying much so we will see! He is not sure he will have time for it either but I know if he does get picked it will be hard to turn down. He is a pretty good singer but has always done instrumental music instead.
If he doesn’t get into a singing group, it’s probably not too late to join the YPMB.
@MusicMom15 - My son auditioned for 7 groups. I heard nothing about it until after Tap Night, i.e., callbacks, lunches, dinners etc… It is a pretty intense process and my son was extremely busy just meeting with all the members of the groups. It may be that your son doesn’t have the time because between shopping period and callbacks, he probably is swamped. Keep in mind that I found out all of this after my son chose which group he wanted to join. As I really had no information on the different dynamics of the groups, I wouldn’t have had any valuable input into the process.
Some of the groups will let you know that they want you to be a member before Tap Night. You can tell a group no ahead of time if you really aren’t interested. I am not sure if that is true for everyone, but it was for him. He told me that he spent several hours before Tap Night started deliberating and weighing the pros and cons of each group. My son knew which group he was going to join before the start of Tap Night.
Also, my son hasn’t been home for Spring Break because of tours. He was only home until the start of the new year because of Winter tours.
In my day (which was a whole lot of days ago), a cappella was very, very competitive and very, very time-consuming. Between graduations, Whiff taps, and people needing to concentrate more on their studies, each of the main groups usually had 4-5 slots open. There were (and are) a lot of groups, but Yale attracts a whole lot of kids interested in a cappella singing, so you had to be pretty good to get a bid – not just a good singer, but a good singer with some decent a cappella experience and a personality that meshed with the group’s. Actually – as in many endeavors – there was probably some sort of multi-variable sliding scale that took in voice quality, experience, personality, and ability to read and arrange music, which was always a plus.
The established groups all practice several times a week and perform frequently. It’s a major time commitment. In recent years, most of the Whiffs (who perform and tour more than the others) have taken leaves of absence while they are in the group, rather than (as in my day) taking a big hit to their GPAs and relying on the immense inherent coolness of being a Whiff to compensate for that in the job and grad school marketplaces.
Personally, I wasn’t anywhere near good enough for established a cappella groups, and I didn’t want to spend that kind of time, but I did like to sing. A friend organized a madrigal group that practiced once a week and performed 2-3 times per semester, and that was great for me. We even had some superstars in the group – a Glee Club soloist, an eventual Whiff, and a well-regarded biographer. Lots of such relatively ephemeral groups are forming and fading away all the time. It’s hard to sing in an established a cappella group at Yale, but it’s not at all hard to sing at Yale.
Other disappointed candidates joined the Glee Club or the Russian Chorus, both great organizations.
@momofmusician17 Is your son enjoying his experience? Does he have time to still do other extracurriculars? And do you know if all the tours are mandatory? I’m sure they are awesome, but if you had a major conflict could you skip one? Thanks!
It depends on the group and the major conflict. Most groups are not going to expect you to miss your sibling’s wedding or something like that.
Thanks! He asked one of his frocos who does acapella and she said the tours rarely have 100% attendance. So hopefully IF he gets tapped it won’t be a huge problem. It will all be over soon! I’m not confident but crossing my fingers for him.
Have you heard anything yet? Pretap started at midnight last night. Much luck to him!!
I talked to him but he won’t say much. He just says he will let us know on Wednesday! But he sounded happy so maybe he’s not too stressed. Or maybe he did get a pretap. I can’t tell. Oy!