Sing It On - General Discussion

[SrPab]

1 hour ago, MMLEsq said:

John Legend was in an a cappella group at U.Penn.  It wasn't Off the Beat, was it?

The Counterparts

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 8/3/2016 at 10:29 PM, GaT said:

I really dislike Sam the choreographer in Sharp Attitude, she comes off as such a bitch and I hate that she keeps using words like “acabitches” while doing a sassy head shake.

Yeah, Sam obviously thinks she is hot shit. But beyond that, she seems so fake, like she's always putting on a show and acting the way that she thinks a fierce bitch should act. Every time she opens her mouth, she is talking about being sexy, fierce, sassy, having attitude, etc.

Once again, Faux Pas seem like the sanest/most normal/drama-free people on this show. Loved seeing their old musical director alum guy Michael come back and give them some pointers. He was much more specific and technically knowledgeable with his feedback than, say, when Isaac used to just tell his group to be better in S1. I also loved seeing Michael in the audience singing along while Faux Pas competed. Cute!

The funny thing is that I can totally see Michael being a member of Faux Pas because his personality and his supportive enthusiasm mirrors the people who are in the group now. In contrast, Melinda (the beatboxing founding member of Sharp Attitude) looks too crunchy and laidback to fit into the existing group. In other words, if Michael were a stranger who auditioned for Faux Pas today, he would fit right in and be welcomed enthusiastically. If Melissa were a stranger who auditioned for Sharp Attitude right now, Sam would roll her eyes about how Melinda's hippie dreads weren't sexy enough for their group.

Apparently Sam doesn't comprehend the whole concept of "you catch more flies with honey." Instead of asking Melinda nicely to rejoin the group, she basically put her on the spot and said, "You need to decide RIGHT NOW." Then she completely brushed aside Melinda's concerns about how grad school is very time consuming and she doesn't want to have a mental breakdown. Instead Sam just guilt tripped her into coming back. The look on Melinda's face after she agreed to rejoin the group did not look like she was at all happy or excited about it.

Brandon needs to STFU. He just joined the Hexachords and he is asking for "a moment" at their first rehearsal? I mean, seriously, dude, calm down.

Off the Beat is kind of amusing for me to watch. People (ahem, Rohan) complain about Jasmine running rehearsal like a drill sergeant, but hello, they didn't even finish learning the choreography by the end of the night. If someone else more lax were in charge, they'd have even less of the choreography learned in the same amount of time. I know it's natural for people to resent authority figures, but Rohan is constantly interrupting rehearsal which makes things take longer.  As for Rohan's "I have ADD at rehearsal" excuse, does he have that same ADD during singing practice?

Jasmine was not kidding when she said the singing sounds great by itself but as soon as you add choreography, suddenly everything goes out the window. I remember that happening in my choir too. You tell people to just do a simple step tap and people start singing everything off pitch, forgetting harmony or the words, etc.

I was cracking up at the Mid-Atlantic quarter finals roll call. They should just rename this the University of Maryland competition.

Poor Lynique. I can totally relate to the way she feels about her mom dying. My dad had been sick for a long time before he passed away so as sad as it was for us when he died, it was also a relief to know that he wasn't in pain anymore. And I love Mitul for saying that he can't possibly understand what she's going through now so he is fine with whatever she does. And to be fair, they all knew she was at her sister's dance competition and then driving over to ICCAs, so it's not like she was just MIA and no one knew where she was or she was just off on a bender.

Mitul was really good when he sang "Creep" at the karaoke battle so I found myself wishing that his solo at ICCAs had shown off his voice more. Funny and sweet that he started crying while he was singing and then he said that crying makes you sing off pitch (which is true!). He, Lynique, and everyone else had such a positive attitude after their performance (even while admitting it wasn't their best). I know they didn't have much in the way of choreography but they really pulled together a good set in only two weeks.

I prefer an episode like this that primarily focused on rehearsal and then competition. It looks like we're back to drama next week with Sharp Attitude. Booooo.

Edited August 5, 2016 by ElectricBoogaloo

[GaT]

What was the purpose of the whole "everybody gets waxed" part? Just to show us that Sam is a bitch at all times? 

[JoannKB]

Linnea must have been encouraged to dedicate "Bad Blood" to Sharp Attitude by one of the show's producers. Even the other Hexchords knew it was a bad idea and she couldn't even coherently explain how it was supposed to be a gesture of unity, to explain how the situation has all been so hard on her, or something. I don't know how anyone could possibly take a dedication of "Bad Blood" well. Anyone with a modicum of social awareness would have known that Sharp Attitude was going to be insulted. My 9 and 13 year-olds were yelling at the TV, "Why does she think that's a good idea?" So Linnea either wanted to cause drama but wasn't owning up to her underlying desire to stir shit up, or the show's producers were encouraging her to stir shit up but no one could say that.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

One thing I always loved about choir competitions was getting specific feedback and comment from the judges (often in dance competitions, we were just given score sheets without any critiques). I like that Faux Paz is trying to balance addressing the judges' comments with what they can realistically do before semi-finals. We never had the dilemma of whether to add more people before a competition because I only sang in high school and our choirs only had auditions once a year. Sometimes a student would move and then we had to make adjustments, but we never brought in four new people in the middle of the semester and then redid all the formations in choreography. Not only would that be overwhelming for the new members but it's also a pain in the ass for the old members because changing formations involves everyone getting new positions on stage. I can see why they are hesitant to do that because it takes a lot of time and work to do that, which is time and effort that could put into polishing their existing set.

I'm really curious as to what exactly Faux Paz said to Olivia and Tiffany when they invited them back rehearsal after rejecting them during the initial audition. "Hey, so we didn't think you were good enough a few week ago, but now we want you to join - maybe."

I, too, have no idea why we had to get a scene where only some of the girls in Sharp Attitude were bullied into waxing or threading. I could totally tell from last week's episode that Melinda was a crunchy granola kind of girl and I respect her views on not wanting to remove body hair. After I saw what Melinda wore to the performance (a long sleeved shirt), I was even more confused. If everyone in the group was wearing sleeveless dresses, I could maybe rationalize Sam bullying Melinda into getting her underarms waxed, but she was covered from neck to wrist. In other words, Sam was just on a power trip.

And that other poor girl who got pressured into getting her eyebrows done! There was nothing wrong with her eyebrows to begin with, but let's be real - the judges aren't close enough to notice one girl's eyebrows. I was super annoyed that Sam insisted she didn't need a lip wax after she made all these other girls get things that they didn't want (including the other girl who he forced to get a lip wax because of her "five o'clock shadow").

One thing I loved about Off the Beat watching the video of Faux Paz at quarterfinals was that several people in OtB were honest enough to talk about how well Faux Paz performed. Often on reality shows when someone sees their competition, all they do is talk shit about them and say that they suck, so it's nice to some of these groups put aside their jealousy/rivalry/competitiveness and recognize another team's strengths, even if it's only to spur them to do better and try to beat them.

Sam annoyed me when Sharp Attitude was getting ready for Acapellooza. "Does anyone have hairspray?" Ugh, bring your own, bitch! Seriously, it always drives me crazy when there is a performance situation and there is always that one person who expects someone else to have whatever they need, whether it's a safety pin or lipstick or extra tights or whatever. Be responsible for yourself and bring whatever YOU will need. I couldn't believe when Sam said that Aacapellooza was Sharp Attitude's first performance in front of an audience. Are you fucking kidding me? When I was in choir, we would call retirement homes, malls, basically anywhere that would let us perform in front of people on the weekends, because as important as rehearsal is, you NEED to get experience performing in front of a live audience (which is different from rehearsal when you can just stop in the middle of the song if there's a mistake).

I was also annoyed when Taryn (?) from Sharp Attitude suggested that they stay and watch the Hexachords afterward so they could see what they're up against. My high school taught us that good sportsmanship is more important than anything else and in a choir competition, that means after you perform, you go sit in the audience and watch everyone else and clap for them. You shouldn't have to put it up for discussion. I mean, what is the alternative? Would they just have left after their set and gone home or out to a bar? If so, that's pretty fucking rude.

Maybe Linnea really left Sharp Attitude because those bitches can't decide how to pronounce her name. Yeah, dedicating "Bad Blood" to her former group had to be some producer inspired drama because there's no way that a sane peron would think that's a good idea or a way to "clear the air." Haha, but I have to be honest - it was almost worth it just to see the poopy faces that Sam and Archie made.

Despite my love of Broadway, I wasn't familiar with Jonah Platt but I recognized Courtney right away because I used to love SYTYCD. I think her feedback was more helpful than Jonah's because a a group, Off the Beat knowss the choreography but they weren't performing it. And awwwww, Brian! We always had guys in our group who were not the greatest dancers but tried really hard, so I loved seeing Brian get some one on one help from Courtney.

I was surprised that Archie said she knew she made the right decision adding that beginning section to their song because I was actually thinking the opposite. She sounded flat (especially at the end of sustained notes) and all over the place. And that weak choreography is what they think shows their group being sassy?

Not at all surprised that Sam, mean girl that she is, responded to the "Bad Blood" dedication by saying that the Hexachords are uncool weirdos who are intimidated by how hot Sharp Attitude is and how good their choreo is. Riiiiigghhhhht. The sad thing is that I think she really believes that. But it's hilarious that Sam, who is in an acappella group, is referring to students in a different acappella group as "weird music kids" as if that's some kind of insult. HELLO, you are in an acappella group too which makes you a weird music kid too.

Loved that the two new Sharp Attitude members who weren't at all involved in the Linnea drama (I think their names are Marguerite and Rebekah) pointed out that the Hexachords' performance was good and that Melinda acknowledged that the Hexachords are good. And hilarious that Sam's reaction to that was to say that you can't compare the two groups. Actually, you can. That's like the definition of a competition which is what ICCA is.

I was cracking up that while the Hexachords were doing their postmortem, there was a random cat wandering around in the background of the dressing room.

Edited August 12, 2016 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I couldn't find any videos of Faux Paz from their most recent season, but I was able to find performances of the other groups.

Here are full performances of Sharp Attitude's two songs recorded at Acapellooza. The first is "What Is Love" (which we saw in this episode). You can see that Sam's "professional level" choreography (TM Melinda) for this song consists of standing and squatting:

 

This is their second song (which we didn't see on the show):

 

The Hexachords performing two songs (not at Acappellooza but from the 2015-2016 school year):

 

 

Off the Beat (this first video is the song they were shown working on with Jonah and Courtney this week but this performance has no choreography, the second song has a Jasmine solo, and the third song is a Rohan solo):

 

 

[TwopLurker]

Quote

I was surprised that Archie said she knew she made the right decision adding that beginning section to their song because I was actually thinking the opposite. She sounded flat (especially at the end of sustained notes) and all over the place. And that weak choreography is what they think shows their group being sassy?

Not at all surprised that Sam, mean girl that she is, responded to the "Bad Blood" dedication by saying that the Hexachords are uncool weirdos who are intimidated by how hot Sharp Attitude is and how good their choreo is. Riiiiigghhhhht. The sad thing is that I think she really believes that. But it's hilarious that Sam, who is in an acappella group, is referring to students in a different acappella group as "weird music kids" as if that's some kind of insult. HELLO, you are in an acappella group too which makes you a weird music kid too.

Archie sounded completely flat during their set. I keep wondering why Melinda, who seems nice and chill, is hanging out with these girls. Melinda, they are not your people!! Go start a new, crunchy group with your grad school cohort.

 

The best part of the dedication was watching Sam's face squish into a million different stank faces, each more unflattering than the last. Girl needs to relax.

[methadonna]

On August 12, 2016 at 5:13 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

 I like that Faux Paz is trying to balance addressing the judges' comments with what they can realistically do before semi-finals. We never had the dilemma of whether to add more people before a competition because I only sang in high school and our choirs only had auditions once a year. Sometimes a student would move and then we had to make adjustments, but we never brought in four new people in the middle of the semester and then redid all the formations in choreography. Not only would that be overwhelming for the new members but it's also a pain in the ass for the old members because changing formations involves everyone getting new positions on stage. I can see why they are hesitant to do that because it takes a lot of time and work to do that, which is time and effort that could put into polishing their existing set.

I'm really curious as to what exactly Faux Paz said to Olivia and Tiffany when they invited them back rehearsal after rejecting them during the initial audition. "Hey, so we didn't think you were good enough a few week ago, but now we want you to join - maybe."

Me too, especially after reading the ICCA's Rules of Eligibility. Which is why I'm not sure I believe that it all happened with the timeline we were shown. Or, the basic story.

I'd originally gone to the ICCA website (see below) to find out just WHO was eligible to be in these groups, as I would have assumed the groups had to consist of all undergrads and was trying to figure out if the whole Melinda thing was just for the show, or she wasn't really a grad student or what.

Turns out grad student members (or anyone else) are a non-issue if the school allows them to be members of student groups, as long as they're REGULAR group members of the group (although the timing of it v. the rules leaves me with the same questions wrt producer interference as the Faux Paz nonsense, just ... less extreme. ( IOW, it's clearly not all reality hijinks, as [presumably?] they really didn't perform with those two women at quarterfinals of 1/6th of the region of the country or whatever that naming nonsense is).

BUT, it seems a lot more likely that, for whatever reason, these two women were already members but couldn't compete that day and the group got an exemption (see rules) for that one time (and then added them back in), and they/the show retconned that story with one little rehearsal/audition (where they already knew the songs and we're working on choreo) than that they auditioned half the planet, couldn't find people good enough, threw that shit together in two weeks, and then, poof, suddenly here they found two women good enough, and redid their program AND successfully petitioned to have their new members added in time. 

Likewise, I'm sure the plan was for Miranda to perform with Bitches Get Monkeys all along and train a new one for a semester or two. Maybe, they figured that, in the oh-so-likely event that a skilled female aca beatboxer just walked through their door, then, cool, she'd be happy to continue on her merry way, but, even as a cappella grows in popularity in pop culture and the number of HS groups increase, it's still not a skill most high schoolers, even those with a lot of vocal/musical training or experience, will have (and, sadly, I'd imagine even far fewer female ones); I think it's more of a "grow your own" for most groups. I don't think it was real likely that someone was gonna magically appear on their doorsteps with experience, and, let's be honest, they seem to be the group of, to put it nicely, last resort on their campus for someone who wants to sing but doesn't get into the other groups.

(Spoilered just to be on the safe side; these are just regarding the rules of eligibility and I doubt contain any actual spoilers; elsewhere on the site, however, there ARE competition results, which, of course, are spoilers. AND, I am viewing this on my phone: I have no idea whether this shitfest of a website looks completely different--with, say, brilliant graphics, functional design, and visible spoilery photos on every page--on a computer or in a parallel universe (I *do* feel fairly confident, though, that it looked exactly the same back when someone made it as their first try at "web design" on AOL in 1996).

Eligibility: [bold mine]

Spoiler

 

Groups must consist of permanent (for the season) full-fledged participants, who are students enrolled at your school or university. Exceptions will be made on a case-by-case basis and will take into account the academic enrollment status of the member in question, as well as the school’s policy for participation in registered student organizations. Please contact us with membership questions.

You must notify headquarters of any exceptions or new members not on the original roster included in your application in order for these members to be eligible to compete. Groups who lose members between rounds will not be penalized.

Under no circumstances should groups bring in outside performers for competition. Failure to comply with this regulation may result in disqualification from any and all future competitions.

We accept vocal ensembles of all styles, but we are not a choral competition. Groups composed of more than 18 members should contact headquarters before applying.

ICCA website

[GaT]

Was there this much fake drama last season?

[Lyinfait]

I had to walk away when Sam simpered and flirted with Overdramatic Isaac from last season. First, it explains so much about Sam. Second, drama overload. It feels like petty junior high squabbles to be the coolest and most popular. What happened to the singing? Why am I stuck with this as my a cappella fix when The Sing-Off is an actual show that exists? This show's name is apt seeing as it's the opposite of The Sing-Off--even most of the music is subpar. 

[MMLEsq]

9 hours ago, GaT said:

Was there this much fake drama last season?

I don't know if I would call it "fake" drama last season.  There was some "contrived" drama is, perhaps, how I would put it (interschool rivalries, informal get-togethers between teams, etc.).  There was also some real "drama" (for lack of a better word) last season (one of the teams had a member commit suicide).

If I'm rooting for a team it would have to be Faux Paz (they're the ones from Maryland, right?).  They don't annoy me when I'm watching them....something that I can't always say about the other teams.  S#arp Attitude are becoming almost unwatchable to me thanks to Sam.  I can only hope that she's ratcheting up the drama for TV and that's not how she is 24/7, although it was interesting to see her knocked down a peg or down when she was told that the way she was singing her solo wasn't good.

Unrelated to singing....   it totally annoyed me when Jasmine said that there were 10 teams, so they only had a "20% chance" of moving on.  No, Jasmine, that's not really how it works.  If Michael Phelps was in a race against four 10-year-olds, would you say that M.P. only has a 20% chance of winning that race?  The way she phrased it suggests that it's completely random who moves forward, which we all know is not the case.  By definition, the stronger teams (assuming they don't completely blow it....ahem, Rohan) have a much greater chance of moving forward.  I understand the point she was making, but couldn't stand how she said it. 

Edited August 18, 2016 by MMLEsq

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Was there this much fake drama last season?

In my opinion, there was MORE fake drama last year due to some lame rivalries between groups and a couple of drama queens in certain groups (mostly Michael and Isaac). This year I feel like they found groups that are more lowkey. Sharp Attitude (well, Sam and Archie) are like 12 year old girls who feel the need to put down everyone else. Brandon from the Hexachords is a drama queen too but the rest of his group seems pretty mellow. Even the conflict between Rohan and Jasmine from Off the Beat seems pretty minimal (in contrast, last season one of the group presidents had a hissyfit because two of his group's members started dating and they didn't tell him about it first). And Faux Paz is totally drama free. Overall I'd say last year had a lot more reality drama and high school type conflicts.

There are some things I love about this show (obviously the singing, as well as the bonds you can with the people who actually like each other aka Faux Paz) but man, the editors manage to make me roll my eyes within the first two minutes of every episode. This week it was Archie and Brandon dramatically telling us that being BFFs with someone who's in a rival acappella group is "one of the most challenging things in the world," "really taxing on their friendship," and "like having a best friend whose friend happens to be your worst enemy." Uh, no. It's none of those things. I have friends whose beliefs and politics are diametrically opposed to mine. I've had friends who were actively warring with each other. But somehow Brandon and Archie going to rehearse with different acappella groups is more devastating than Chechen-Russian conflict. Obviously these two love TEH DRAMAZ so this is right up their alley. I could tell both of them were drama queens from the very first episode so you know they are loving this whole "our acappella rivalry is tearing us apart" story that they've made up. But the bigger thing to me is that if having your friend be in a rival group is the worst thing you've had to deal with, then count your blessings because you've lived a charmed life.

Archie's bitchy attitude was in full effect again. The first thing she asked Brandon about was Linnea. You'd think after all of their "I never see you anymore!" platitudes, she could ask him about, I don't know, his life. But secondly as soon as Brandon said that Linnea was a good singer, Archie's response was, "Really?" Talk about sour grapes. You know she is one of those girls who refuses to believe anyone who isn't in her circle of friends is smart, funny, talented, or pretty (oh, sorry, HOT and SASSY). If she doesn't like you then she think you are fat, ugly, and stupid.

But Brandon is a little shit stirrer too. When Archie brought up Linnea dedicating "Bad Blood" to Sharp Attitude last week, he could have set the record straight and explained what Linnea's intention was. Instead he was like, "OMG, I know, right?" Yet somehow he was able to say in his talking head that he knew Linnea's intention was not malicious. I guess he just wasn't capable of saying those words in front of Archie. I also thought it was weird that Brandon said Linnea doesn't always vibe well with the Hexachords. From what we've seen of their rehearsals, she seems to fit in fine and Brandon is the one ruffling feathers with his "I want a solo!" attitude as a newbie. It also annoyed me when he was picking on the way she was singing "who" during rehearsal. Dude, let the group's music director do that. Brandon is definitely too big for his britches. It's his first year in the group and he is clearly gunning to be in charge. Calm down, dude.

And I don't believe for one second that Archie truly believed that sharing a two hour party bus would be good for Linnea/Sam and Hexachords/Sharp Attitude. I bet she and Sam just want the opportunity to attack Linnea in the hopes that she'll be so upset it will ruin the Hexachords' performance.  And what is this fucking obsession with renting party buses for competitions? They have such small groups that they could just drive themselves. It's only two hours away, not twelve hours. Why are Brandon and Archie keeping the party bus a secret? That should be a decision that both groups know about ahead of time. Actually, scratch that. Sharing a party bus with your rivals should be something that everyone gets to decide about as a group. Just because these two bitches want to ride a party bus together doesn't mean that twenty people should have to be awkwardly uncomfortable for two hours.

Ugh, I had hoped I would never have to see Isaac and his pompadour on my screen again. Of course he gets along with Sharp Attitude/Sam because they think having pretty members is the most important part of an accapella group. I can't believe Isaac had to teach Sharp Attitude how to touche the booty. Do none of these girls watch ANTM?! But what I noticed is that Isaac's feedback for Sharp Attitude was similar to Courtney's feedback for Off the Beat - they know the choreography but they need to PERFORM it, not just do the movements.

Shams gets a huge high five for reprimanding Sharp Attitude for being six minutes late to their rehearsal AND for telling Sam to stop sliding into her notes. And boo hoo if you don't feel confident after getting feedback to make your solo and your set better. Ugh and she is such a self victimizer. He told her to stop sliding. She said, "When Shams told me my belt is bad, I lost all my confidence." That's not what he said, so quit trying to spin it like he was a big old meanie. He never said her belt was bad. He told her that she needs to actually belt her belt instead of sliding up to it from half an octave lower (not to mention the fact that he was very encouraging and he told her, "I know you'll get it! I have faith in you!"). Gawd. But of course she has to twist the story so that she can feel sorry for herself.

Sam is such a drama queen. Changing the order of your set is not a big deal. I know my show choir (which had choreography and formations) had to do it in the past. Contrary to what she said, you don't have to change your choreography just because you change the order of your songs. I don't know why anyone would change the choreography of a song just because you are doing it first or last or anywhere in between. As for changing your bow, uh, you just bow after the last song. It's not rocket science.

The college I attended had something similar to the graffiti wall but because everyone was allowed to paint it, there was really no drama like what we saw in this episode ("OMG, is that what I think it is?"). Whoever painted it wasn't being disrespectful of whoever had painted it most recently and there was no shock when you saw that someone had DARED to paint it before/after you did. You paint there with the expectation that someone else will paint over it within a day at the most. The way Sharp Attitude reacted to seeing that the Hexachords had painted it made it seem like SA had dibs and the Hexachords cut in front of them or something. But it was a perfect example of their bitchy attitude. When Sam said that the graffiti wall "looked like vomit," I was like gawd, here we go again with the fucking elementary school drama.

Ha, I was rolling my eyes when Jasmine said they only had a 20% chance of going on to semi finals. Sure, that would be true if they were at a raffle, but HELLO, you're at a competition so what matters the most is being talented and being prepared, which means it's not just straight percentages determining the odds that your group will move forward.

Is it wrong that I laughed when karma bit Rohan in the ass? I mean, honestly, it's sad when a group loses because of a mistake (as opposed to doing their best and getting beat by a better group), but seeing that Rohan wasn't warming up and that he said he didn't think running through his solo one more time would make a difference annoyed me. You're a singing group. You warm up together as a group before a performance. But as someone in his group pointed out, the soloist is only worth 10 points so there were other reasons why they didn't win quarter finals. High five to the girl from OtB who got a special award for her solo because she was awesome!

On a shallow note, I didn't like Off the Beat's costumes. The red t-shirt with faux leather biker jackets looked kind of cheap and it made them look like they were Grease wannabes. We've mostly seen Jasmine being the hardass of the group, but her pep talk after their performance showed her leadership skills. She acknowledged that being in the group is an important part of their lives but that if they didn't win, it's not the end of the world. The three Faux Paz members were kind not to tell them that OtB fucked up. There's a time and a place for honesty and right after a subpar performance is not the time. That's when you need a hug and some encouragement.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Songs we saw in this episode:

Sharp Attitude singing DNA (the song they rehearsed with Isaac and Shams)

 

I couldn't find a video of Off the Beat singing Simple and Sweet on YouTube, but my previous video post from last week shows them singing Ain't No Sunshine, which they performed at quarter finals this week.

And since we're reminiscing about last season's groups, I found some current videos!

No Comment's 2016 2016 ICCA set:

 

All Night Yahtzee's 2016 ICCA set

This video won the wildcard submission so they went to ICCA finals in New York

:

 

I didn't see an ICCA set for the Acabelles, but this is one of the songs posted on their YouTube channel from earlier this year:

 

Pitch Please at ICCA northeast quarter finals

They came in fourth place

:

 

Isaac said the Nor'easters didn't compete at ICCAs this year, but this is the group singing Alive a few months ago:

[GaT]

I am so over Sam & her whiney, entitled attitude. You're supposed to be part of a GROUP, whining when you didn't get to practice your special moment because the time was used for group practice is annoying as hell. I was hoping we wouldn't be seeing her anymore, but it sounds like she's going to be helping the Hexachords & whining at them.

[Lyinfait]

On 7/30/2016 at 3:19 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Even though everyone said that Jasmine was ultra serious, I liked her. To be honest, when you are running the group yourselves (as opposed to high school when you usually have a teacher running rehearsals and directing), someone has to be the task master. And I liked that she recognized that Rohan coasts on his charm, his hair, and his eyebrows. HA! 

 During his performance, I could definitely see what Jasmine meant about how Rohan coasts. Just like when he auditioned for the ICCA solo, he knew what song he was going to sing ahead of time and he didn't bother to prepare properly. Another reason I appreciate Jasmine is that she isn't afraid to speak her mind. She knew that Rohan's solo audition wasn't great but everyone was just going to hand it to him because he's a senior and the co-president. Even though Rohan ended up getting the solo, I'm glad that she voiced her opinion.

Do you want to hug it ou- "No." And I'm pretty sure she called him Brohan. Jasmine is my favorite by far. Her no nonsense yet supportive attitude is exactly what that group needs in a leader. Mr. I don't need to practice or rehearse the note I had trouble with in auditions because I didn't really practice then either...he makes me laugh (at him) more than anything so there's that. 'Cause I can't take Sam and that whining breathy pouting cutesy--ugh, everything about her seems put on. See also, Brandon and "finally" getting his moment after being with Hexachords a whole minute.

I appreciate that the contrivance bus section didn't last any longer than it did. The best friends were eating up that drama.

Watching the mini marathon, I see that Eleanor's solo from last week was amazing. I missed it when I bailed apparently. She deserved the award. Contrarily, I still don't know what's special about Sharp Attitude choreography. Somehow I keep missing it even as I watch them perform. Just looks like walking and posing to me. To be honest, Sam ugh.

Did I just stay up to watch them lose? Yes, yes I did. I do feel sorry for the uphill battle all girl groups go through though. Sam was gracious as she invited herself to help Hexa with choreography. It does mean she's in it for the season and that's terrible for me but good on her. 

Edited August 25, 2016 by Lyinfait
Positivity training

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Rohan's entitled ass needs to STFU. As Jasmine explained to him, she is the musical director. That means that she was chosen by the group to make choices about Off the Beat's music which includes their competition setlist (and I don't think that she should have had to explain that to him because duh, it's in her job title). You know that if she had cut a different song (ahem, one where HE didn't have a solo), he wouldn't have been whining about it. Well, maybe he would have because he seems to think that the world revolves around him, but he definitely wouldn't have made as big a stink about another song getting cut.

I can't believe he made such a big deal out of that other song being cut when he was heavily featured in the replacement song. Sheesh. He summed up his attitude perfectly this week: "I'm still making mistakes but I'm not that worried about it." Seriously? You just fucked up in competition and you're not concerned with the fact that you're already screwing up another song? And then he just made more excuses about not being warmed up yet! Gawd.

Haha, I totally laughed when Jasmine said that she doesn't communicate about her feelings or "other wishy washy stuff." And she was so right when she said that Rohan takes everything personally so having that conversation was like talking to a child who thinks that she hates him when all she was doing was HER JOB, which is to decide what music will give OtB the best chance to win at ICCAs. His claim that they're supposed to be a family but she acts like a warden. How do you think the mom of a family acts? She has to make decisions that she knows her kids won't like. She has to enforce the rules. She has to be the disciplinarian. It's not fun but it's what's best in the long run. Totally hilarious when Rohan wanted to hug it out and Jasmine put a stop to that immediately.

Brandon and Archie were so fucking immature and unprofessional when they deliberately chose to keep their bus sharing a secret. I couldn't believe they just didn't tell anyone and had the bus pick up both groups. That's a really sneaky irresponsible thing to do under normal circumstances, but the morning of a big competition? That's just shitty. The worst part is that you know they did it to be selfish (they wanted to hang out together) and because they're shit stirring drama queens who just wanted to watch an explosion. I couldn't believe that Archie tried to play it off as her concern about the tension between the two groups. Bitch, please. There are other ways to try to smooth things over without AMBUSHING people and forcing them to be trapped in a small space for two hours.

As for the detente, I totally laughed when Sam said that it hurt her feelings when Linnea dedicated Bad Blood. So "hurt my feelings" is Sam's euphemism for "made me blow my stack and want to murder puppies"? And Sam saying that she valued Linnea so much made me roll my eyes. She didn't value Linnea. She valued Linnea's beatboxing and didn't want to deal with finding a replacement. But I thought it was hilarious that all Linnea had to do was cry to get Sam to lie and say that she loves Linnea and is so proud of her and that she shines on stage. Yeah, after all her shit talking about how the Hexachords suck, I find it difficult to believe she meant one word of that. But thank goodness for Melinda and her sweet attitude. In contrast with my feelings about Sam's fake little speech and hug, I totally believed Melissa when she told Linnea that she's in the right place now and that's all that matters.

On a shallow note, I was surprised that Sam let herself be seen on camera without a full face of makeup. But being able to belt that note to make her feel more confident is not the point of sound check. Of course her reaction was to have a temper tantrum and pick a fight with Taryn. But the best part about her hissyfit was how she managed to use it to put Taryn down by saying that Taryn doesn't understand because she doesn't have a solo.

I knew a girl like Sam in high school and her whining and crying in this episode really reminded me of her because she had a similar faux nervous breakdown more than once. No matter what you say in response to the hysteria, she manages to find a way to bring it back to her. Taryn apologized. She tried to empathize. She explained that they were only ten seconds off from letting her practice that note. Instead of gracefully accepting her explanation and apologizing for overreacting, Sam's response was, "Do you know how much stress I'm under? I never feel confident!" Yes, Sam, this is ALL ABOUT YOU. And even when she got the compliments that she was fishing for ("We all know that you'll hit that note!"), she said, "I KNOW!" and then continued to bitch about what she needs.

Seriously, this is a group and you are getting everyone upset because you didn't get what you wanted. STFU. And the stupid thing is that she didn't need sound check to practice hitting that note. She could have taken all that time that she wasted making her group feel uncomfortable and berating Taryn to PRACTICE THAT PART OF THE SONG. Between her and Archie, I can't imagine the nonstop drama they must have in Sharp Attitude. It's a wonder they have time to learn their songs and amaaaaaaazing choreography if Sam wastes as much time as she does making mountains out of molehills. It makes me think Linnea was smart to GTFO out of that group and join the Hexachords. When Sam said "we all need to support each other," I was like uhhh, okay, let's see how you feel if the girls in your group support you the way you just supported Taryn. Or maybe Sam thinks the word "support" means "blame." Also notice that when Isaac from the Nor'easters showed up, Sam managed to put all the attention back on herself.

I am still perplexed about Sam's allegedly amazing choreography. I've seen a lot of choir choreography and Sharp Attitude's is nothing special. I've seen high school choirs with more complex choreography, so I was surprised that Sharp Attitude got an award for Sam's choreography. Archie pitching a fit after they lost was so annoying. No one forced you to cut class for Sharp Attitude. Saying that she put her heart and soul onto the stage and got nothing back was ridiculous. And her trust was betrayed? JFC. Every time you go to a competition, there is a chance that you won't win. Statistically speaking, not every group is going to win. But do you think all of the people who don't win first place didn't work as hard as you? You somehow think you are the only group that put your heart and soul and time and effort into these songs? Get over yourself. You aren't special. You didn't try harder. You are like thousands of other college students who learned songs and rehearsed and didn't win.

As someone who was in choir, I can tell you that of course winning feels good but that isn't the point of being in a singing group. You should sing because you love it. You should perform because you love it. If your only goal is to win some award, then you are focusing on the wrong thing. I couldn't believe that it took Archie's hissyfit to make Sam give a non-poor us pep talk, but there you have it. At least Sam had the good manners to remind Sharp Attitude that they had to share the party bus ride home with the Hexachords and that they should say congratulations and that they worked hard. That's just basic manners. Archie was determined to wallow in self-pity and self-righteous indignation. Just because you work hard doesn't mean you will win. Sorry, but that's not the way the world works. Consider it a life lesson. But you should work hard anyway. I guess Archie managed to out drama queen the main drama queen. For the record, Archie was being super lame when she wailed, "We'll never get to perform this set again!" That's not true at all. If you truly love performing, you can keep doing this set for the rest of the school year at all kinds of events. You can sing at various campus functions and you can also schedule off campus performances on the weekends. I can't believe that Archie was so distraught that she refused to take the bus home. How did she get home? How much does a two hour Uber ride cost?

Hee, I like the Hexachords whole fuck through thing. That's a fun way to loosen up. Seeing their set onstage confirmed that Linnea made the right choice when she left Sharp Attitude and joined the Hexachords. Not only does she get to sing instead of beatboxing, but she gets solo moments that you know she never would have received in Sharp Attitude. She has a great stage presence and she gives great attitude while performing. She comes off as strong and confident in a very natural way (as opposed to seeming fake or forced.

Even though Sam's offer to help the Hexachords with chorography for semi-finals seems nice, you know she is going to love lording it over them and yelling at them because she loves being in charge and telling people what to do. Plus I bet she not so secretly hopes that she will get another choreography award at semis.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 8/24/2016 at 11:47 PM, Lyinfait said:

And I'm pretty sure she called him Brohan.

She did! It was hilarious.

This is End of an Era, the song that Off the Beat is adding to their setlist for semi finals. This version is from their end of the year concert and has no choreography. It features both Rohan and Jasmine (but mostly Rohan).

[JoannKB]

Quote

But being able to belt that note to make her feel more confident is not the point of sound check. Of course her reaction was to have a temper tantrum and pick a fight with Taryn. 

 

It was made even more ridiculous once I saw the actual performance and realized that Sam wasn't even the soloist in that song. She had one phrase where she belted out a note, and it came right on the heels of a different girl singing a phrase and belting a note. And that different girl somehow managed to get through sound check without a hissy fit.

Quote

Seeing their set onstage confirmed that Linnea made the right choice when she left Sharp Attitude and joined the Hexachords. 

It was definitely the right choice for her, especially knowing she is a voice major. The Hexachords' arrangements are way more complicated, with jazz-style harmonies. The other groups don't even approach that level of complexity, and seem more focused on the performance than the musicality.

[Lyinfait]

13 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

He summed up his attitude perfectly this week: "I'm still making mistakes but I'm not that worried about it." Seriously?

Comments like that and his general dense-ness (density? Idiocy) really make me question how he came to be co-president and if it's just a title he gifted himself. Even as the group was rehearsing one final time, he was playing around. He doesn't strike me as someone who should be leading anyone. 

 

13 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

The worst part is that you know they did it to be selfish (they wanted to hang out together) and because they're shit stirring drama queens who just wanted to watch an explosion. I couldn't believe that Archie tried to play it off as her concern about the tension between the two groups. Bitch, please. There are other ways to try to smooth things over without AMBUSHING people and forcing them to be trapped in a small space for two hours.

This. They are a producer's dream. I don't imagine they needed much coaxing at all to plan such shadiness. Brandon in particular was practically licking his lip, he was so excited about the possibilities. Had either one of them truly been concerned about clearing the air, they could have done it without the contrivance.

 

13 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

She didn't value Linnea. She valued Linnea's beatboxing and didn't want to deal with finding a replacement.

Sam. Ugh. That was all her "hurt" wrapped up in two sentences. I thought when Linnea started crying, Sam had a smug strange expression...I might be reaching though. The hugging it out (no.) and now we're best friends again was nicely time and perfectly put on. That girl has reality "star" in her future. She's been watching all the best for tips. 

Between Sam and Archie, Sharp Attitude has such terrible attitudes and drama that I could immediately see why Linnea bailed. The whining, the crying, the ferocity. I doubt the new girls, seeing that they showed signs of reason and common sense, will last beyond the year. 

[SrPab]

Besides what's already been remarked upon up-thread regarding Sam/Linnea/SA/Hexachords, something else bugs me. I believe Melinda is a better, more skilled beatboxer than Linnea--if for no other reason than Linnea believes she's better at singing than beatboxing. Sam and the rest of SA should focus on utilizing Melinda's talents (and their supposed great choreo) to their advantage to counter the Hexachords arranging prowess--instead of all the passive-aggressive, psychological warfare BS.

And Rohan coasting on his looks and "charm"...at least Jasmine's not fooled. How much worse would OTB be if Jasmine was a pushover?

[Lyinfait]

On 8/26/2016 at 5:03 PM, SrPab said:

How much worse would OTB be if Jasmine was a pushover?

Quite a bit worse by my reckoning.

Maybe I was in a good mood already or perhaps, my mood was not soured by Sharp Attitude but I enjoyed tonight's performances. I was close to tearing up when Lynique performed her solo. In spite of his whining, I was proud of Brohan. I was proud of Josh powering through it. It is not at all easy singing on a scratchy, irritated throat. Those words can feel like knives and once easy sounds turn unpredictable. Overall, I was proud and pleased with everything tonight. The tension and suspense was about who might win not contrived bus rides. As it should be...previews indicate that Pop doesn't agree with me about what makes good TV though. Sigh.

Edited September 1, 2016 by Lyinfait
Technical difficulties

[GaT]

Even though I have no experience with singing, I have to agree with Rohan about Jasmine overdoing it on the rehearsal. Over training is a real thing, if they didn't know the songs by the competition, they weren't going to suddenly improve, all she did was tire everybody out & put strain on their voices.

[Lyinfait]

35 minutes ago, GaT said:

Even though I have no experience with singing, I have to agree with Rohan about Jasmine overdoing it on the rehearsal. Over training is a real thing, if they didn't know the songs by the competition, they weren't going to suddenly improve, all she did was tire everybody out & put strain on their voices.

Quite right. If they didn't know it by then, they didn't know it. No amount of singing it over and over before the performance was going to overwrite what they had already imprinted in their heads. Yet...even as I agreed with him, I still found his passive complaints irksome. Co-president guy, speak up on behalf of the group maybe? 

Edited September 1, 2016 by Lyinfait
More technical difficulty

[ElectricBoogaloo]

This episode reminded me why I love Jasmine. "Take this opportunity to look in the mirror. Is the expression on your face boring? Probably. So fix it." As blunt as that is, it's also the truth. That's why rehearsing in front of a mirror can be really helpful.

While in theory, I agree that you can strain your voice by rehearsing too much, I feel I should point out that Jasmine wasn't the one who asked people to sing during choreography rehearsal. She specifically said that particular rehearsal was to work on bringing energy up during choreography and emoting. Brian was the one who asked everyone if they could sing during practice. Jasmine split the difference and said that people who felt like they were in good vocal health could sing but not to belt or push it. Rohan was the one who said he didn't see the point because as per usual, he wants to do as little preparation as possible (see also: almost every episode this season). When he dismissed Brian's request with "I don't see the point," I just shook my head. He will take any opportunity to slack off. Contrast this Josh saying that the emotion came through while Faux Paz was practicing "Dog Days" (he specifically said, "That's what we need every single time").

I agree with Brian about rehearsing the singing along with the movements. You need to practice them together and when it's the last rehearsal before a competition, you should be singing. I was in show choir in high school and during class time (one hour a day, five days a week), we sang. We had dance rehearsal once a week for three hours and we always sang while practicing the choreography. You don't have to belt everything at 100% but you should still be practicing the harmonies, the dynamics, and the phrasing, even if you're just singing softly. That's what they should have been doing when they were  rehearsing backstage. Rohan was being such a passive aggressive baby by complaining to everyone about running their set beforehand instead of actually speaking up and saying that he thought they should stop singing full out. And Jasmine was totally correct - if you're concerned about preserving your voice then STOP WHISPERING. Everyone who sings knows that! But he would rather whisper so he can bitch multiple times. I loved that Jasmine called him out on it ("If you're concerned about your voice, ROHAN, and you weren't singing in circle, ROHAN, then you shouldn't be whispering"). Hahahaha!

Loved seeing Lynique's family dinner. So sweet to see that they still set a place at the table for her mom. I was cracking up when her sister started with the "boots and cats" beatboxing. It reminded me of my sisters and how we learned stuff about the others' activities (I was never a gymnast but I learned a lot about it due to my sister being a gymnast). I loved how proud Lynique's dad and sister were during her solo.

Poor Josh. Singing with a scratchy throat is so unpredictable. But notice how instead of throwing himself a pity party (as Rohan did at quarter finals), he was very matter of fact about it, saying that your voice is an instrument and sometimes it breaks but all you can do is keep going.

Whether Rohan wins or loses, everything is All About Him. That little speech he gave after their performance had me rolling my eyes.

I'm so happy that Faux Paz placed first. They are the only group that seems totally drama free (the Hexachords would be internally drama-free if they dropped Brandon). Even though they obviously want to win, they seem like the group that most genuinely loves singing and would keep performing regardless of how well they did at ICCAs.

[GaT]

I wish we had heard more of the singing, they all sounded really good & I was surprised to find out a group came from England (and won), I didn't realize this was an international competition. It's nice that Faux Paz came in third, but once again, none of the other groups we followed during the season finished in the top. 

[MMLEsq]

I'd love to know how they decide at the beginning of the season which groups they're going to follow.  Example:  All Night Yahtzee made it to the finals this year....I wonder if they regretted not following them again this season.

I know it's probably way too early, but I really hope there's a third season.  My vote (if I had one) would be to focus more on the technical decisions about tryouts to make the group, song selection, picking soloists, practices, coming up with choreography, etc. and less on the contrived drama (and.....no more waxing episodes please!). 

[GaT]

53 minutes ago, MMLEsq said:

I'd love to know how they decide at the beginning of the season which groups they're going to follow.

I was wondering that too, this is the 2nd time that a group we never heard of won, so it's kind of a letdown to follow people all season who basically disappear at the finale. 

[MMLEsq]

I just found this on the ICCA page (https://varsityvocals.com/results-page/):

Quote

 

2016 ICCA Finals

April 30, 2016 at The Beacon Theatre

1st - The Techtonics - IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON - 384 POINTS

2nd - The Originals - CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY - 372 POINTS

3rd - Faux Paz - UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND - 352 POINTS

SPECIAL AWARDS

Outstanding Soloist - Ramsey Pack of The Originals for "Stone Cold"

Outstanding Soloist - Lynique Webster of Faux Paz for "Dog Days Are Over"

Outstanding Vocal Percussion - JP Leigh and Tim Brooks of The Originals for the entire set

Outstanding Arrangement - Harrison Acosta of Voicebox for the entire set

Outstanding Choreography - The Originals for the entire set

 

It's interesting that The Originals came in second since they had one of the two outstanding soloists, won the special award for outstanding vocal percussion and won for the special award for outstanding choreography.  

[GaT]

1 hour ago, MMLEsq said:

I just found this on the ICCA page (https://varsityvocals.com/results-page/):

It's interesting that The Originals came in second since they had one of the two outstanding soloists, won the special award for outstanding vocal percussion and won for the special award for outstanding choreography.  

And yet they still came in second & we don't know why.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I haven't watched The Originals so I can't say for sure why they placed second, but there are different categories within the scoresheet so even if you have a great soloist, two great vocal percussionists, and great choreography, you can still fall short in the arrangement, dynamics, blend, harmonies, pitch, etc. During my choir's rebuilding year, we had some amazing soloists but we also had a lot of new people so we went from singing six part harmonies to singing really simple harmonies (one song had only two part harmony). The soloists still won awards at our competitions but we only placed fourth at our big competition that year because of all the other shortcomings that our group had.

This episode cracked me up because I love seeing bitchy people not get what they want. Brandon pouting because the song with his solo got cut was hilarious. Craig is the founder and the music director. You are a newbie. STFU. Craig is not here to coddle your whiny baby feelings. He is here to make decisions that are best for the group. They barely won. As Craig pointed out, the Hexachords were only seven points ahead of the second place group and eleven points ahead of the third place group (Sharp Attitude). If they kept their setlist as is and they scored the same at semis, they would not move on to the finals. Sure, it's challenging to change the setlist at this point in the season, but doing the easier (ahem, lazier) thing was almost guaranteed to have them finish their competitive season at semis. If they had won by a huge margin at quarter finals, then I would say fine, keep your set and just tighten things up, but seven points is NOTHING. That just means they had a better day than the second place group. And let's be real - they weren't starting from scratch and learning a brand new song. They were just swapping in a song that they had already learned and polishing it for competition. When I was in choir, we always had way more songs than we actually did at competition (because competitions have limits on the number of songs and the amount of time you can be on stage). Our competition set was always four regular songs plus one acappella song but we always had over an hour of songs that we had ready to go (which we used when we did non-competition performances).

Brandon was so insistent that Roller Coaster is the bestest song ever. I wonder what his opinion of that song would be if Craig had said, "You're right. It's a great arrangement but you're not the best soloist for it, so we're going to keep the song and give your solo to someone else." One of my favorite exchanges in this episode:

Craig: Katy is definitely our strongest soloist.
Brandon: I guess we all know who Craig's favorite is.
Craig: It's Katy.

Brandon's main problem is that he's really immature. He can't accept the fact that Katy has seniority or really that anyone should have a solo but him. Like Rohan, he takes everything personally (see again: immature baby) so he sees not having a solo as Craig being unfair/persecuting him/being an asshole. He simply can't believe that Craig is making decisions based on what will help them score better at competition. And again, his immaturity causes him make bitchy comments rather than constructive criticism ("I think that's a terrible idea" and "The arrangement sounds really lazy"). Luckily Craig is mature and knows not to take Brandon's temper tantrums personally so he stood his ground and let Brandon's complaints wash right over him. Not everyone gets to have a solo song. Get over it.

Oh, Sam. She had her one moment of humanity last week when she told Sharp Attitude that they would have to congratulate the Hexachords and sit on the bus with them on the way home but this week her bossy bitchiness was back. Someone tells you that you're going to a cabin for the weekend so you wear heeled ankle boots and complain that there's too much nature and you don't want to sit in a canoe? What kind of cabins has Sam been to in the past that created such dissonant expectations for a weekend at a cabin? And what a whiny pouty bitch. "I don't do nature. Take me home." She must be a nightmare of a girlfriend who always demands things go her way. "No, I don't care if you want sushi. We're going to Taco Bell. No, we're not seeing that dumb movie. I want to see something with Reese Witherspoon." What's even worse is how she is so proud of the fact that she bullies people into what she wants. I was appalled by her snotty fucking attitude about how she likes making people do what she wants. Can you imagine what a peer pressuring bully she must have been in middle school? If she wasn't then, she sure as hell is making up for it now. Really mature to make people drink. I love that Melinda was so dry when she said, "I'm lame because I won't drink a shot?" and then gave a talking head about how manipulative Sam is.

Of course Sam barges into the Hexachords rehearsal and interrupts them while they're doing vocal warmups instead of waiting until they're done. And of course she thinks yelling feedback at them while they do their set is "the most effective." Not videotaping and going over their set together afterward with critiques or maybe giving them notes after each song. No, yelling things at them while they're onstage is definitely the most effective strategy. And no, the touche is not the holy grail of accappella moves. Gawd.

[GaT]

1 hour ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Someone tells you that you're going to a cabin for the weekend so you wear heeled ankle boots and complain that there's too much nature and you don't want to sit in a canoe? What kind of cabins has Sam been to in the past that created such dissonant expectations for a weekend at a cabin? And what a whiny pouty bitch. "I don't do nature. Take me home." She must be a nightmare of a girlfriend who always demands things go her way. "No, I don't care if you want sushi. We're going to Taco Bell. No, we're not seeing that dumb movie. I want to see something with Reese Witherspoon." What's even worse is how she is so proud of the fact that she bullies people into what she wants. I was appalled by her snotty fucking attitude about how she likes making people do what she wants. Can you imagine what a peer pressuring bully she must have been in middle school? If she wasn't then, she sure as hell is making up for it now. Really mature to make people drink. I love that Melinda was so dry when she said, "I'm lame because I won't drink a shot?" and then gave a talking head about how manipulative Sam is.

Of course Sam barges into the Hexachords rehearsal and interrupts them while they're doing vocal warmups instead of waiting until they're done. And of course she thinks yelling feedback at them while they do their set is "the most effective." Not videotaping and going over their set together afterward with critiques or maybe giving them notes after each song. No, yelling things at them while they're onstage is definitely the most effective strategy. And no, the touche is not the holy grail of accappella moves. Gawd.

OK, either I somehow got really distracted while watching the show, or my DVR didn't record a whole lot of stuff & I never noticed, but I don't remember any of this from the finale episode, I don't remember seeing Sam at all.

[Lyinfait]

5 hours ago, GaT said:

OK, either I somehow got really distracted while watching the show, or my DVR didn't record a whole lot of stuff & I never noticed, but I don't remember any of this from the finale episode, I don't remember seeing Sam at all.

You're not crazy. This episode was blissfully free of all that drama. The cheer up and pass the president crown to Archie cabin weekend drama happened last week? I just recognized the trend, drama and little singing...Sharp Attitude in the house! Also Brandon. The finale, this week, had drama of the dramatic tension kind. It was awesome and all about performing and lots of songs. Makes me wish there were a show that just focused on the singing groups as they competed. 

7 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I haven't watched The Originals so I can't say for sure why they placed second, but there are different categories within the scoresheet so even if you have a great soloist, two great vocal percussionists, and great choreography, you can still fall short in the arrangement, dynamics, blend, harmonies, pitch, etc. During my choir's rebuilding year, we had some amazing soloists but we also had a lot of new people so we went from singing six part harmonies to singing really simple harmonies (one song had only two part harmony). The soloists still won awards at our competitions but we only placed fourth at our big competition that year because of all the other shortcomings that our group had.

This episode cracked me up because I love seeing bitchy people not get what they want. Brandon pouting because the song with his solo got cut was hilarious. Craig is the founder and the music director. You are a newbie. STFU. Craig is not here to coddle your whiny baby feelings. He is here to make decisions that are best for the group. They barely won. As Craig pointed out, the Hexachords were only seven points ahead of the second place group and eleven points ahead of the third place group (Sharp Attitude). If they kept their setlist as is and they scored the same at semis, they would not move on to the finals. Sure, it's challenging to change the setlist at this point in the season, but doing the easier (ahem, lazier) thing was almost guaranteed to have them finish their competitive season at semis. If they had won by a huge margin at quarter finals, then I would say fine, keep your set and just tighten things up, but seven points is NOTHING. That just means they had a better day than the second place group. And let's be real - they weren't starting from scratch and learning a brand new song. They were just swapping in a song that they had already learned and polishing it for competition. When I was in choir, we always had way more songs than we actually did at competition (because competitions have limits on the number of songs and the amount of time you can be on stage). Our competition set was always four regular songs plus one acappella song but we always had over an hour of songs that we had ready to go (which we used when we did non-competition performances).

Brandon was so insistent that Roller Coaster is the bestest song ever. I wonder what his opinion of that song would be if Craig had said, "You're right. It's a great arrangement but you're not the best soloist for it, so we're going to keep the song and give your solo to someone else." One of my favorite exchanges in this episode:

Craig: Katy is definitely our strongest soloist.
Brandon: I guess we all know who Craig's favorite is.
Craig: It's Katy.

 

It would have been nice to see why The Originals came in second with so many accolades. Plus, I just want to hear more of the winning performances v. Pin the junk on the hunk whilst not singing, at all. 

Craig had the line of the episode! He had no time for Brandon's drama. Makes me wonder just how good Brandon is because that attitude was obvious from jump. They must have thought his singing voice was worth putting up with his voice when he wasn't singing. Seems a toss up to me. 

I'm glad Faux Paz placed and that the finale focused solely on their group. Of all the groups we followed, they were my favorite. 

[SrPab]

Top 4 2016 ICCA Final Sets:

• Techtonics (Imperial College, London)
• CMU Originals (Carnegie-Mellon)
• Faux Paz (UMaryland) - YT search didn't bring up any vids of their full set; I wonder if that's due to them being on TV
• Voicebox (U-Central Florida)

[DavidJSnyder]

12 hours ago, GaT said:

And yet they still came in second & we don't know why.

I think it's because Techtonics had the simulated bicycle riding.  I predict next year there will be much more miming.

[MrsPeel]

Soooo... I realize last posts here were last year, but I was just watching it on Netflix and was kind of desperate to find a place to protest my irritation LOL about some of the people in the groups, especially the music directors .

I haven't read the whole thread but, but enjoyed reading and seeing that most of us feel the same way about most of it. Something that is mentioned in page 1:

music directors need to chill, it seems like they have nuclear codes (or some like that)

made me laugh so SO hard...you are SO right!!!!

I'm almost 60 years old, a Brazilian living in London(UK) for over 25 years, former performer with 30 years of stage, mainly in musicals or as lead singer in bands, with a 21 years old daughter who also went into the Performing Arts, she has a  musical theater degree and is now in Uni doing screen acting.

The acapella thing isn't  something big here in the UK, I don't think we even have groups here? I maybe wrong but doubt I am .It was my daughter  who showed me Pentatonix when they weren't the huge thing they are now, and we watched the two Pitch Perfects. which were enjoyable movies, first one a lot more so.  This Sing It On wasn't made as a singing show, so, as a reality TV (which I have to admit I am NOT a fan of) is ok.

I just think some of the people are far to up their ( | )   LOl and especially couldn't stand Michael and Issac. They were, I think, lucky the judges didn't get to see what we see in this series or they would have even less of a chance to make it.

I think that from what I' ve seen up to now (I' almost done with the series 1 but I doubt I will watch S2)  I can't say I went nuts with any of the groups featured, but then again, when you have Pentatonix as a sample (and I had them on repeat in a playlist  for quiet a while LOL) is difficult to find something that compares... I am not saying there isn't anything, but most certainly not the groups featured in this program!!!

Thanks for giving me and enjoyable read and a chance to vent my irritation a bit LOL