<p>im considering trying out for the acapella groups on campus. how do</p>
<p>bear necessities (male)
brown derbies (male)
harmonic motion (coed)
higher keys (coed)
jabberwocks (male)
shades of brown (coed)</p>
<p>alef beats (jewish?)
with one voice (christian?)</p>
<p>all stack up against each other in terms of popularity and talent?</p>
<p>IMO</p>
<p>Tier 1:
derbies
wocks
necessities</p>
<p>Tier 2:
higher keys</p>
<p>Tier 3:
harmonic motion
shades of brown</p>
<p>Tier 4:
alef beats
with one voice</p>
<p>Unless you really like singing hebrew songs or whatever with one voice sings (i've actually never even heard of them) those two groups are usually full of people who either couldn't make it into a real group, or I guess who didn't want to committ to the time the real groups require</p>
<p>The derbies are w/o a doubt, the most popular group, they're the ones everyone knows, they're flashy, funny, etc. they're brown's flagship group.</p>
<p>The wocks have a very different style from the derbies. I happen to like them a lot too. They're a lot more "serious" than the derbies.</p>
<p>I never really liked the song selections of the necessities, but they're def legit. I also feel like they've been in a slight decline. They may actually be in a tier by themselves (behind the wocks and derbies, but ahead of higher keys)</p>
<p>I can't remember the last time I heard about a shades of brown or harmonic motion show.</p>
<p>Tier 5:
Tonedeafs</p>
<p>And, yeah, With One Voice is a RISD/Brown Christian group.</p>
<p>P.S. According to Facebook, there's actually a Bear Necessities/Harmonic Motion show this Thursday, i_wanna. :p</p>
<p>ask anyone on campus and they'll give you wildly different responses</p>
<p>the majority of which would most likely disagree with comments above. </p>
<p>thas all i'm sayin'</p>
<p>Really? I mean maybe I could see people saying they prefer the music that certain groups do over the others, but I have honestly never heard anyone say that any group other than the 3 I mentioned as Tier 1 was the best group on campus.</p>
<p>i'll have to disagree with i wanna be brown</p>
<p>in my opinion, higher keys and jabberwocks are the best and most popular at brown. and i don't think the jabberwocks are "serious" at all, have you been to their drunken drag arch sing? they do it every year. and if i had to call a group "flashy" and "funny" it'll definitely be the jabberwocks and not the derbies.</p>
<p>if i were you, i wouldn't be so quick to judge with one voice, especially since you never heard of them much less hear them sing. they're pretty good, and they sing christian, not hebrew songs.</p>
<p>i never said they sing hebrew songs, alef beats sings hebrew songs. I think the fact that as a senior, a group has managed to go completely under my radar during my entire time at brown says something about their popularity.
Although I see what you mean, I did push my opinion on Alef Beats onto With One Voice.</p>
<p>I think you're misconstruing my words regarding wocks vs. derbies. I certainly don't mean it as a negative thing, I happen to slightly prefer the wocks over the derbies, I've just always found the derbies to be much more animated and flashy than the wocks. Yes, the wocks do a drunken drag arch sing and higher keys does their strip show at the end of the year, but in my opinion the derbies exude a more happy go lucky environment at their shows on a consistent basis than any other group.</p>
<p>The Alef Beats acapella group at Brown University is undeniably the best acapella group at Brown. Period. Anyone who says otherwise either does not have the capacity to judge good music or subscribes to a pubescent view of the world as a popularity contest. The second claim that because the Alef Beats are not as well-known as other acapella groups at Brown, they must be bad or, as one commented, they must be fourth tier. As if popularity has a strong correlation to quality, beauty, and truth!</p>
<p>From looking at youtube videos, it SEEMS like the Jabberwocks are the most popular (not co-ed 
) and, IMO, harmonic motion>higher keys.</p>
<p>I think it’s pretty clear (to anyone on Brown’s campus) who the best groups are - and by best I mean most interesting and musically proficient.</p>
<p>You also have to realize that groups fluctuate quite a bit in terms of musicianship from year to year.</p>
<p>Tier 1:
higher keys
wocks
shades of brown (yes, probably the most musical group at Brown)</p>
<p>Tier 2:
derbies
bears
brownstones
chattertocks
ursa minors</p>
<p>Tier 3:
harmo
alef beats
with one voice</p>
<p>It would be asinine to use more tiers since these groups shift so much in talent. One thing you can definitely say, however, is the Keys, Wocks, and Derbies will always be great groups at Brown.</p>
<p>(ignoring the fact that this thread has been inexplicably revived)</p>
<p>You all are forgetting about the most important a cappella group on campus.</p>
<p>^ pirates!</p>
<p>^ you got it!</p>