One of the first things you’ll hear when stepping foot on campus is that the movie Pitch Perfect (2012) was based on Tufts University a capella. The groups’ reputations seemingly precede enrollment, as tour guides regale prospective students of the legends. For most people, the Pitch Perfect college experience exists only on the screen, but at Tufts, a cappella is among the most prominent subcultures. For first year students entering Tufts, a cappella is immediately introduced as one of the biggest parts of campus life. “From the moment I came on campus, a cappella was pretty much shoved in my face,” recalled Noah Horn, the president of Enchanted, Tufts’s a cappella group that specializes in Disney songs. Every year, Tufts’s a cappella groups head back to campus early to perform throughout freshman orientation (O-Week). Leah Laudenbach, a first-year student and new member of the Jackson Jills, Tufts’s first all-femme a cappella group, said “When I saw all the a cappella groups perform during O-Week, I was so blown away by their amazing energy, stage presence, and talent.”
There are a lot of niches, too. For a university of 7,000 undergraduate students, 10 groups is comparatively high. The University of Virginia has 14 groups despite far exceeding our population with their 18,000 undergraduates. Anish Guggilam, president of The Beelzebubs (Bubs), a nationally renowned, all male group on campus, attributes a cappella’s social centrality in part to the smaller student body. “If we’re a much larger school, I don’t think people would know who the Bubs are…frankly, I think it would be diluted amongst the masses of 100 other clubs,” he told the Tribune.
This past fall, many students auditioned for Tufts’s a cappella groups, vying for a small number of spots. According to Tess McGarvey, a member of the Jackson Jills, 53 people signed up to audition for the group, making it one of the most selective groups. Only about 10 to 15 students received callbacks, and ultimately three singers were welcomed into the Jills, amounting to an acceptance rate of 5.6%. One student who was ultimately not selected for an a cappella group this semester said, “I did feel like the groups were very exclusive when I was auditioning.” She relayed that “auditions were super late at night” and that she “went to bed feeling nervous about waking up the next morning and not seeing [her] name on a callback.”
“It’s exclusive in its nature in terms of how many people [a cappella groups] are capable of taking,” describes Sam Coleman, president of the Low-Keys, a non-audition a cappella group founded on campus to offer a more inclusive option for singers. Students involved in a cappella are kept busy with regular rehearsals, various gigs, and social events like Aca-Formal, according to Frankie Bancroft, a member of the Amalgamates. The groups form small, tight-knit communities, becoming “essentially [their] own form of Greek life,” according to Horn. Selectivity comes with the territory, then, for these types of social organizations.
A cappella first came to Tufts in 1963, when Tim Vale founded the Beelzebubs with encouragement from his father, a member of the Yale Whiffenpoofs, the oldest continuously-running collegiate a cappella group in the world. That same year, students at the Jackson College for Women of Tufts University formed the female counterpart to the Bubs, the Jackson Jills.
Since then, the Tufts a cappella scene has expanded in number and demographic. Two all-gender groups, the Amalgamates (1984) and sQ! (1994); Shir Appeal (1995), an all-gender Jewish group; and the Ladies of Essence (1996), an all female group that specializes in music from the African Diaspora, were formed. This ran in parallel to an increase in attention on a cappella in pop culture, namely in the media of the late aughts and early 2010s, like Glee and Pitch Perfect. These groups included S-Factor (2006), the male counterpart to the Ladies of Essence, also specializing in music of the African Diaspora; Enchanted (2013), which performs exclusively Disney music; Full Sound (2016), featuring music by Asian artists; and the Low-Keys (2023), an inclusive, non-audition group. Coleman spoke of a shared understanding among Tufts a cappella groups: “We all understand we have our niche.”
Jeff Rawitsch, the manager of the Granoff Music Center at Tufts, emphasized that “there is something for everyone in the Tufts a cappella scene.” Beyond distinct musical tastes, Tufts’s a cappella groups create space for students to connect with their identities. Full Sound president Mia Watanabe shared, “Joining Full Sound is genuinely the best decision I made at Tufts,” adding that being in an identity-based group means “we all could relate with each other not only about music, but food, pop culture…and unapologetically like what we like.”
A cappella has been an integral part of Tufts’s culture for decades, creating what sQ!’s president Anson Kwan described as a “snowball effect.” Each generation is continually drawn to participate so as to build on the reputation of the prior generation. “The best advertisement is success,” Kwan said. “I think a good analogy is that Tufts has a very successful lacrosse program, and because of that, it draws more athletes to come to Tufts to play. When outsiders see the success of the groups and see all of us having fun while singing, they start thinking ‘Why can’t we do that as well?” Guggilam also remarked how “fortunate [they’ve] been to piggyback off the reputation of past members.” The group’s success extends globally—most notably, they voiced the Warblers on the Emmy Award winning show Glee. Success by any one group boosts both its own reputation and the visibility of the Tufts a cappella scene as a whole.
Alumni networking has opened doors for many Tufts a capella groups to perform at high-profile gigs across the country, helping sustain Tufts’s dynamic a cappella culture. Last year, sQ! was able to perform in San Diego, Chicago, and New York, thanks in large part to their expansive alumni network. Several groups, including sQ!, the Beelzebubs, and Shir Appeal, highlighted recent or upcoming alumni reunions. Shir Appeal’s president noted that alumni will even help in arranging music. Even the Beelzebubs’s appearance on Glee, which bolstered the reputation of Tufts a cappella nationally, was made possible through alumni connections. Deke Sharon, whom Guggilam described as the “Godfather of contemporary a capella,” was a Beelzebubs alum and played a key role in securing the opportunity. Forming connections with the university administration is crucial as well for making an on-campus impression. “We’ve been at the school for a little over 60 years,” said Guggilam. “Through that time, have fostered a lot of relationships, especially with like the presidents of the university, who are called ‘honorary Bubs.’”
Some of the newer groups, lacking the decades-long network and outreach of established ensembles, face greater challenges securing gigs. Coleman noted that while other groups have been “very lovely in showing [The Low-Keys] the ropes,” the group still experiences the “growing pains” common to newer ensembles. Watanabe expressed similar gripes, stating, “As a newer group that has less history, we definitely don’t get as much support as other groups since they have certain connections through alumni.”
Competitions have become less integral to building a group’s reputation. Most of the groups do not compete in big intercollegiate competitions, including SQ!, the Beelzebubs, Enchanted, the Low-Keys, and S Factor. Some a capella groups, such as the Bubs, used to compete, but have since moved away from it. Deke Sharon (LA ’91, NEC’91) created the International Competition of College Acapella, which draws over 450 groups. “We stopped competing soon after the ICCA was created,” said Guggilam. “The Bubs have been very anti-competition, because that takes the fun out of singing.” Some groups occasionally participate in small competitions, though, with Shir Appeal competing against other universities this past spring and the Jackson Jills submitting their album for award consideration. The groups also engage in friendly competition on campus. TUSC has been hosting an annual Riff-Off since 2023, where groups sing a song that fits into an assigned category, inspired by a similar competition in Pitch Perfect. For the most part, however, the emphasis on a cappella is for fun gigs, instead of for trophies.
Social media has become another tool to showcase vocal talents beyond just competing or networking to get gigs. TikToks and Instagram Reels featuring a cappella at Tufts and elsewhere have gained widespread attention, giving groups a platform beyond campus. “We do different trends, or we’ll have ‘behind the scenes,’ where we’ll show people what we do in our rehearsals,” said Wyatt Phillips, a Bub. “I definitely do think that we like to use social media to our advantage, and it’s helped us gain our popularity.” Guggilam, who was the Beelzebubs’s business manager for two years prior to his presidency, said he was surprised by the significant role social media plays in elevating the group’s profile. “I’ve had clients tell me, ‘We saw this Tiktok, and we’re interested in your group,’” he said. “It’s funny, because in the moment, as we were making the video, we thought, ‘This is so stupid. Why even do it?’” Social media allows Tufts’s groups to amplify their voices far beyond the campus network. Rooted in a rich history, Tufts a capella continues to innovate, expanding from their influential origins to include a multitude of different styles in harmony.
Photo by Mia Snyder