If you were a fan of “Pitch Perfect”, you’ll know what the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) is. The ICCA is the competition featured in the “Pitch Perfect” films and it’s a real thing! I had the pleasure of attending the ICCA 2018 finals and I can tell you first hand that it is exactly like “Pitch Perfect” (of course without the projectile vomiting and John and Gail’s commentary). Each group has choreography, costumes, dance numbers, and the list goes on.
The ICCA competitors come from nine regions: Northwest, Southwest, Midwest, Great Lakes, Central, Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, South, and the United Kingdom. There are three to five quarterfinals in each region. The first and second place groups of each quarterfinal round advance to their region’s semifinals. The highest scoring group at semifinals then advances to the final round in New York City. Additionally, there is a wild card round in which the second and third place groups from each semifinal can submit a video that will be evaluated by the ICCA judges. The winning group of this round is named Wild Card Champion and advances to the ICCA finals.
During each round, each group has 12 minutes to show their talent. The judges follow a strict rubric to evaluate each group. The panel is made up of three to five judges at quarterfinals and five judges at semifinals and finals. Vocal Performance, Visual Performance, and Subjective Rank are the three main things that the judges must critique. In addition, there are four special awards that can be given at any of the ICCA rounds: for Outstanding Soloist, Outstanding Arrangement, Outstanding Vocal Percussion, or Outstanding Choreography.
Northeastern has built quite the reputation at the ICCA’s. The Nor’easters are Northeastern’s first co-ed and oldest a cappella group on campus, founded in 1997. They were named ICCA Champions in 2013 and 2017 and the Wild Card Champions in 2015. They also performed for the President and First Lady of the United States at the White House Christmas Gala in 2013.
This year, the First Northeast Quarterfinals took place on February 9 at Berklee College of Music. Two Northeastern teams—The Downbeats and Treble on Huntington—competed against six other teams: Boston University, Harvard University, Berklee College of Music, and the University of Maine. Both groups performed extremely well and were well supported by members of our community. The Downbeats were named Quarterfinal Champions and Treble on Huntington was Quarterfinal Runner-Up; both teams would advancing to the semifinals at Symphony Hall Boston! Our teams won four out of the five special awards given at the Quarterfinal #1: Ryo Tsuda (The Downbeats), Outstanding Solo for “Your Guardian Angel”; Maryrose Hahn (Treble on Huntington), Outstanding Solo for “Taste”; Nate Harms (The Downbeats), Outstanding Vocal Percussion for the entire set; Natalie Jones (Treble on Huntington), Outstanding Choreography for the entire set.
Two more teams competed in the Northeast Quarterfinals #2 on February 16, also at The Berklee College of Music. Pitch, Please! and Distilled Harmony competed against seven other teams from Berklee College of Music, Bentley University, Emmanuel College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Olin College. Pitch, Please was named Quarterfinal Champions and Distilled Harmony came in third; Northeastern had a total of three teams advancing to semifinals! Mackenzie Hunt (Pitch, Please!) won Outstanding Soloist for “Once Upon Another Time”.
Symphony Hall Boston hosted the ICCA semifinals on March 31. The regality of the hall set the tone for the performance and the audience’s anticipation could be felt in the air. This performance was like no other. The teams put their best foot forward and surprised us with some spoken word, dance numbers, and front flips! Two of the three Northeastern teams that made it to semifinals placed in the top three teams. Treble on Huntington came in third and Pitch, Please! were named Semifinal Runner-Up. Charles Zheng (The Downbeats) won Outstanding Arrangement for “Your Guardian Angel”. Our teams performed well alongside teams from Berklee College of Music, New York University, Pace University, Bryant University, University of Connecticut, and Hofstra University. While all the teams were outstanding, The NYU N’Harmonics will be advancing to the ICCA Finals in New York City at the PlayStation Theater.
This year’s ICCA tournament proved that Northeastern is moving up in the a cappella world. Our teams received numerous special awards and placed in each of their respective quarterfinal and semifinals. Regardless of how well our teams have placed, they’ve shown us that their hearts are in the art they produce and we’re so lucky that they are willing to share it with us. Julia Kempner from The Downbeats said “Right before we go on [stage], we tell each other backstage to give it back to the audience.”