Eight musical groups took the stage at the annual University Activities Board, or UAB, Sounds of Homecoming event. This event allows MSU a capella groups to showcase their skills to an audience, as well as other groups on campus.
“We want to start by introducing ourselves,” English junior John Donovan said before the Spartan Dischords shook hands and jokingly introduced themselves to one another, followed by laughter from the crowd.
The all-men a capella group prides themselves on their ability to combine good music and sound with an entertaining performance.
“Everyone focuses on sounding good and singing really well and we try to do that as well obviously, but we’re more focused on being entertaining," computer science junior and member of Spartan Dischords Tyler Ekizian said. "We pride ourselves on being a fine blend of harmony and humor.”
Students and families of performers were able to attend the event and not only cheer on their favorite, but enjoy the sounds of groups they’ve never heard before, too.
“Obviously (every group) going is going to be really good and, depending on what kind of music, you’re going to like a certain group more," Ekizian said. "We just like putting ourselves out there and seeing what everyone else has, too."
It also allowed the groups performing to watch and support the other performers.
After being a part of the all-female group, Ladies First, media and information senior Lauren Wilson said she enjoyed reminiscing on how this event has changed through the years. Wilson joined the group four years ago and has seen the a capella community evolve since then, she said.
“Over my time here we’ve noticed the a capella community in general has grown to be more of one big family instead of seven different a capella groups,” Wilson said.
Because of the growing popularity of a capella music around the country, Wilson said she believes this has played a part in the tighter bond between MSU groups.
“This genre is taking off, it’s really exploding everywhere and you can see that all of these different talented groups from on campus and from different universities really make this more of a community, instead of it being different teams fighting to be the best,” Wilson said.
Not only are groups able to bond with singers in other groups, but this is also an opportunity for newer members to grow closer to others in their group.
Applied engineering science freshman and MSU Accafellas member Jonathan Firehammer said he joined the group less than two months ago.
“We have a good group of guys, and being around 10 we really get close to each other so we become more than just a group — we become a family,” Firehammer said. “I consider them all my brothers and I’ve only been in the group for six weeks.”
The groups will all come together again at Accapalooza at 7 p.m. on Oct. 21 and 9 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Hannah Community Center.
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