Vocal Blog | The Vocal, A Cappella & Choral Music Online-Mag

by Florian Städtler, November 15th 2011

They say that every time you go abroad, you learn something. Mostly about yourself. Because broadening your horizon, coming to know different people with various backgrounds, having to adjust to local customs, food and socializing gives you an additional perspective on what and how you do things “at home”.

For me, who has (except for a one-day trip signing Rockapella in 2005) never travelled the United States, the invitation to the US’ no. 1 a cappella festival, SoJam, was an opportunity to prove the truth of the common knowledge mentioned above.

German Vocal Music Summit at SoJam 2011

However, somehow I had the feeling that I’m going to a place (Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina) where I wouldn’t feel like a complete stranger. And thanks to the Vocal Blog network on Facebook and Twitter I had an amazing welcome. I just couldn’t believe how often I heard the question “Are you Florian?” And this large number of very friendly people from all over the US weren’t even embarrassed every time I was unable to recognize my Facebook friends at first sight. It was fascinating, too, how one common topic, vocal music, made it possible to skip small talk after a very short time. And so I listened, asked questions, asked for feedback and I learnt and learnt and learnt…

…that Americans think the European scene is way ahead regarding quality and artistry

…that the Europeans envy the US for their rich collegiate a cappella culture and the natural talent of entertainment

…that a three-days festival like SoJam can be run on a 100% professional level mostly by volunteers

Tom Keyes, Stefanie Chase, Florian Städtler, Bill Hare, Dave Sperandio, Joan Hare

…that such a team of volunteers can include a wild mix of age, musical background, home  towns, talent and tempers

…that as we know it from the European community, this diverse group of people seems to  be held together by a general mindset of openness, positivity and camaraderie (my term for  that phenomenon: “a cappella glue”)

…that CASA (The Contemporary A Cappella Society) has developed a fantastic portfolio of  valuable services and hands-on offers for their fast growing membership

…that it’s very clever to not make a festival the biggest, but the one with the best atmosphere  even if that means limiting tickets and festival passes

Little Beatboxer Gabriel meeting The Boxettes

…that women are coming on oh-so-strong in contemporary a cappella, with The Boxettes at  the pro showcase (opening for Naturally7), three out of six collegiate competitors being  all-female groups and Musae as another pro all-female act that had nothing to do with the cliché of the nice but slighty boring vocal girl group, which has by now become a cliché of  the past

…that festivals have the same importance in the US as they have in the whole world: They  produce both the all-important face-to-face, community-building encounters and the stellar moments like the SoJam Saturday night concert featuring Naturally7 and The Boxettes: The  final piece that found 12 fantastic vocal music virtuosos dancing caused a scary eruption of ovations by 950 mesmerized attendants – these are those moments that we will be talking of for years.

…that festivals gain intensity by resident guests that are involved both in concerts, workshops and panels. Great job by Kurt Walker who managed to have both The Boxettes and N7 around during most time of the festival. This reminded me of the magic spread by Bobby McFerrin’s presence at the Aarhus Vocal Music Festival, May 2011. It’s the sheer presence of such luminaries that motivates and inspires the participants

…that – on days of jetlag, little sleep and the occasional hangover – it’s as hard as in Europe to  find a running partner. That didn’t keep me from going out for two Vocal Jogs around Raleigh. Almost run over by a pick-up truck who didn’t see the necessity of stopping for a single  Vocal Jogger (see above: foreign habits), it was wonderful to see a bit of the city and the  surrounding forests.

3 Men - 1 Mission: To add Clare Wheeler to this party!

…that Christopher Diaz and Dave Brown (www.mouthoffshow.com podcast) are as cool and funny as in their show. And that I’m now owing two Acappellazone “Eat.Sleep.Sing” t-shirts. Boys, those shirts are on their way to the So & Jam of contemporary a cappella!

…that there could be no better studio setting than festival founder Dave Sperandio‘s garage for a great session of about 15 video greetings summing up this year’s festival,

…that even a seasoned festival traveller can be completely stunned by the quality and deepness of a clinic: Ben Stevens (dayjob: professor of literature) thrilled his students with his cult lecture “Essential Listening”. The core message: Listening should become a pro-active core competence. Because if we treat it like that, listening can truly enrich our lives. Ben, this is wonderful and so was your presentation.

I could go on and on and on, but I’d rather keep some of these wonderful impressions and write more about in further posts. Before I do that, I would love to hear what YOUR “take-home messages” of SoJam 2011 were – let’s share them here on the blog!

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Florian Städtler, owner of SpielPlanVier is a booking agent and a corporate event planner based in Freiburg, Germany. He started his “global vocal music communication baby”, the Vocal Blog in 2009 and is member of the core team that works on the foundation of the European Voices Association (EVA). 2011 was is first – and very probably not his last time – to learn from his wonderful American friends. Hope to see many of you at London A Cappella Festival 2012, see next post!

SoJam A cappella Festival’s executive producer Mark Hines interviewed by Florian Städtler

Even with The Sing-off getting a lot of attention from both mainstream media and the aca-blogosphere, one question can be heard more often and more loudly: “Isn’t it November yet?” As a synonym for “CAN NOT WAIT!” this phrase tells us: Something big is going to happen on November 11-13 in Durham, North Carolina. An event that causes excitement all over the vocal music scene of the USA. And as I will have the privilege to join my US friends at THE USA’s a cappella festival highlight, I thought I had to speak to the head of the team that makes SoJam possible: Mark Hines, the festival’s executive producer.

VB: Great to have one of the true movers and shakers of US a cappella on the phone. Hi Mark, where are you right now?

Mark Hines: I’m here at SoJam Productions in North Carolina and we just had a conference call with the festival team. And all looks pretty good: The classes are set, tickets sales are coming in and it looks as if we might be sold out again this year which would mean record attendance.

VB: That sounds fantastic. But before talking about all the great things ahead in Durham, NC, we would like to learn a bit more about our interviewee. Who is Mark Hines and what does he do besides SoJam?

Mark Hines: Well, right now I don’t  feel that I’m doing much anything besides SoJam (laughs). I actually work a full-time job with a good friend of mine doing home audio and video productions and I’m also an a cappella music producer with Vocal Company and Nick Lyons – so there’s a lot of work to do right now.

VB: Probably 80-hour weeks for you, with the festival coming up. You are the festival’s executive producer – what does this practically mean, what is your job in the SoJam team?

Mark Hines: The festival is run through approximately hundred google documents, which are the starting point for many of our activities. What I actually do – for example in our phone calls – is to steer the boat, set up the itinerary for the conference call and then have lead the discussion with members like Kristin LoBiondo, Jennifer Fiduccia, Ben Stevens, Dave Sperandio. Of course we have everyone talk about where we are and adress the issues that we talked about the week before – we basically make sure that we’re all on the same page.

VB: CASA, the Contemporary A Cappella Society seems to play a big role in the development of the community in general and the festival in particular. How important is CASA for SoJam?

Mark Hines: CASA is extremely important for SoJam and the community. I would say, that CASA is certainly the reason that SoJam is at the level it is today. We started SoJam with the AACI, The Alliance for A Cappella Initiatives,  but joined forces with CASA in 2008. Since then CASA has such a thorough reach and all kinds of ressources that we weren’t accustomed to.

VB: From the external perspective it is really amazing that according to all sources, the whole SoJam team consists of volunteers. How can this work out resulting in a line-up and workshop programme of that quality?

Mark Hines: You know, that’s a really good question…I’m not really sure what it is that drives us. We just love what we do and it’s so great to see all these people come and interact with the stars of the a cappella scene. It’s fun and it’s exciting, it’s just that thrill that makes us all come together and live a weekend of our a cappella dreams.

VB: Let’s have a look at the festival’s programme. What’s new and what’s special about SoJam 2011?

Mark Hines: Mmh, new and special. Let’s start with The Boxettes: We think they are really special and we are very excited to have them this year. From a curricular standpoint, we have so many courses, e.g. vocal percussion, how to act on stage and the whole festival just gets bigger and bigger and better. We have a new technical producer we’re really excited about, the sound system should be pretty awesome. Bringing back Naturally 7 I guess is not new but for sure it’s exciting. And of course we have some new things that I can’t speak of yet…some suprises for the SoJam fans.

VB: For those who don’t have tickets yet, can you sum up the most important reasons to come to SoJam?

Mark Hines: Why you should go to SoJam? Well, I would say in the US it is the quintessential a cappella festival: We kind of borrowed good things from festivals of the past, put all the good things together and that’s how we got this unique festival. For tickets, go to www.sojam.net and note that most of the tickets both for concerts and workshops are limited, we only have limited space in the venues and tickets will certainly sell out in the next two to three weeks.

VB: So people of the US of A (and of course from elsewhere in the world, too), go to the SoJam website and book your trip to the festival. Mark, is there anything that you want to tell our readers, something the a cappella world should know about your festival?

Mark Hines: There would be so many thing to say – it’s hard to put my finger on just one thing. If you’re reading this and are interested in helping out, getting involved and being a part of this absolutely amazing festival team that we have here at CASA, feel free to contact me or anyone in the SoJam team. And of course, we at CASA got a lot of other cool festivals coming up, too: We got one in L.A., we got one in Boston – festivals are sprouting up so we are happy to get in touch with people who want to help us out organising these events.

VB: Mark, thank you very much for taking the time – great having you! I’m really looking forward to meeting you in person in less than 7 weeks from now.

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Do you want to learn more about one of the greatest a cappella festivals on earth? Then go to www.sojam.net or even better go to Durham in November. You can be pretty sure to meet the most exciting bunch of a cappella enthusiasts you can imagine. And I would be happy to meet you there in person – just let me know that you are coming and when to meet up via Facebook or Twitter. C U @ SoJam!