Hey Jes – it’s unbelievable what happened here (after just 4 months since we went online!) Thanks for sharing it with all aca-people you know.

And how about a guest blog post – I could imagine that would be a great read, my Jesmeister!

Hope to see you asap, real, offline and in person. It’s been a while!

I recently had an interesting chat with Linda Goldstein (Bobby McFerrin’s manager) about Sing Off and Glee:
We talked about the “Glee”ification of a cappella or about the “Sing-off”ication, if you will. I want to link this in with what Florian said in one of his posts..
The Comedian Harmonists as a popular phenomena of the 1920s and 30s have shaped german a cappella for almost a century now. Florian says rightly that the CH seem to have defined what people believe a cappella to be. But, playing devils advocate, I would go even further – they have stifled the development of original a cappella in Germany not rooted in Comedy, so although giving it exposure, you could argue that they actually harmed (of course completely unintentionally) a cappella for a century to come. So today you have a plethora of groups in the mould of the CH and great audiences, but few groups of international reputation based on purely musical merit, especially if you take into account how many groups there are in in Germany.

So, I very much hope this will not have a similarly defining effect for a cappella in the US, and of course, that with Deke’s influence, the next season will give more the context of pro a cappella. The context is essential – Deke said in an earlier post: the Oscars are not the best movies, but it is natural and “ok” for them to claim so.. I don’t agree, just to give you an example Eurovision /Grand Prix d’Eurovision, our (fyi: our european song contest – a huge europe-wide TV event) doesnt claim to showcase Europe’s best pop singer and is doing perfectly fine. And while The Oscars hardly acknowledge anything outside the anglophile world, American Idol at least does bring some context with celebrity mentors as diverse as Diana Ross, Bono, Tony Benett and Dolly Parton.

David – reg Bobby – Linda mentioned that he was approached to be a judge in the first place. He wasn’t interested though since he is not into competitions out of principle. Good for the producers
though to bring him on nonetheless for the final and have the groups sing together !.

If you wanted to make a show with pro-groups, it would have to be much more in Bobby’s vein – a sing-together, maybe even hosted by one of the groups.. concert-style.. Let’s give Quincy Jones a ring !
Pro-groups don’t want to be cannon-fodder for reality-TV makers.

Sing-Off in Europe will be interesting since there is basically no collegiate a cappella scene .. the singing cultures here are vastly diverse.. from Yodel to Hilliard !

PS: I am, too, slightly puzzled by the criteria of a Top 40 hit in order to perform on the show – surely e.g. a group like Take 6 with 10 Grammies and their standing in the music business, Rockapella with “Where in the worlds is Carmen San Diego ?” and Spike Lee credentials, the Swingles with music being used in “Glee” to name just a few, should have credentials and recognition enough to appear on the show ?!

PPS: Ray, great to hear about the TV opportunities in Taiwan, good luck with that and glad you are involved – you’ve been building up the scene there for 10 years now and hopefully will get credit for – and, importantly, an artistic say in that !

It’s great that we’re all talking and through this dialogue hopefully more great things will rise.

“NYT says NBC is renewing The Sing Off – read the news at http://www.vocal-blog.net (comment on the Sing Off Debate thread) #acappella”

The New York Times (http://nyti.ms/9z8hlm) got the news via Reuters/Hollywood Reporter, who published:

“NBC renews competition series “Sing Off” (Sun Feb 28, 2010 9:44pm EST)

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – NBC is renewing “The Sing Off,” which features top a cappella groups performing popular songs in an elimination competition. The series debuted to solid ratings in a four-episode stint in December. The network doesn’t have a specific premiere date set for the return of the show.”

Looks like the Sing Off will be back – we’re keen on getting more detailled information soon.

FSt
Florian Städtler
http://www.vocal-blog.net

There have been 3 major pushes for an a cappella grammy (that I know of) in the past 20 years. Once via the Barbershop world, once via the contemporary world, and once with everyone joining forces.

The most honest answer we ever received was by one board member who was blunt in saying “it’s likely not ever going to happen, unless sales significantly increase. We spend our time debating the validity of best female rock soloist… the scope is just too small.”

In addition, there’s the problem of style: a cappella spans all styles, making it near impossible to judge (or find in a record store, RIP!)

Luckily there have been many Grammys for a cappella groups, and will doubtless be many more to come.

As for making the connection from Sing-Off to other groups, CASA is working hard to bridge that gap, but there’s always much more than can be done. Hopefully people come searching for a cappella online and follow links to groups they like (much easier to search and track down music you like than it was a couple decades ago…)

Onward and upward!

[For our part in the swingles, Tobi and I have for a number of years dreamt of raising the profile of a cappella in the UK - only to try and catch up with other parts of the world - not a very lofty target but still difficult. We first tried about 4 years ago (Chris may remember we were trying to sort it between the King's Singers, Cantabile and the Magnets), but have finally managed to get the London A Cappella Festival of the ground in 2010 - now hopefully to appear every January, every year. So many UK singers turned up and said effectively the same thing: They'd been waiting years for somebody to organise something like this!
At the moment the 'pro' groups are appearing out of the love of it, but we hope to raise sponsors in future years so we can afford to get some international groups over to London, and of course to pay back the invitations we have received from other a cappella groups over the past years.
I see it as a responsibility (as a member of a pro group) to try to make things like this happen and am glad there are like-minded people out there too doing the same!]

Ray – hope the Taiwan festival goes well – you are way ahead of us from the sounds of it!!!

I am certain that SingOff will grow and grow – not just subsequently in the US, but elsewhere around the world. This is great for the profile of a cappella.

I believe the issues that need addressing in the wider scheme of things are:
*How to make the connection in the wider public’s mind, between the TV show and what is offered as live concerts / CD recordings by pro a cappella groups right now.
*How to make a cappella a musical genre in its own right in the perception of the music public – surely a grammy category for this would be a good start. Perhaps we need to start a campaign of pressure as a cappella continues to grow!