New Year’s resolutions from Vassar’s A Cappella groups

The campus has become blanketed with a light snowfall, evergreen wreaths and holiday lights decorate dorm rooms and the harmonizing voices of a cappella singers perform end-of-the year concerts. Such is Vassar in wintertime.

Unfortunately, The Miscellany News couldn't possibly cover all of the a cappella groups' final concerts, so here's something a little more interesting and a little more reflective off the holiday spirit: New Year's resolutions! Read on as each organization (with the exception of the Accidentals, who were not available for comment) explains who they are, what they hope to achieve next semester and other fun tidbits.

Vastards (represented by President Sam Fleming '10)
What Vastards are all about: The Vastards mostly sing pop music from the '80s, '90s and after the millennium.  Many of the songs we sing aren't traditional a cappella choices, but we have fun singing and performing them.
New Year resolutions: We hope to do well in the [International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella Regional Competition]!  We have been focusing our efforts on working towards competition quality based on a set of criteria for the judges. We also would like to add a few more new songs and sing with some a cappella groups from other colleges.
Favorite Songs from your repertoire: "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler, "This is How We Do It" by Montell Jordan and our Britney Spears medley.
Concerts: We will be competing in the Mid-Atlantic Regionals, most likely in early February. Check out our website for postings with updates.

The Night Owls (represented by Soprano Amelia Couture '12)
The Night Owls are the oldest running all-female a cappella group in the country and the oldest group on Vassar campus. We mainly sing jazz, but also have songs such as TLC's "No Scrubs" to switch things up a bit.
New Year's resolutions: I would say that our biggest goals for next semester are probably to get more gigs in the community and to compose more songs. We tend to focus on the music more than anything, so this semester we have also spoken a lot about the performance aspects of our concerts and are hoping to up the energy levels.
Favorite songs from your repertoire: My personal favorites are "Helplessly Hoping," "Case of You" and "Love Will Keep Us Together."
Concerts: We will be having our final concert this Friday, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. in Rockefeller Hall 200.

The Vassar Devils (represented by President Julia Hanna '12)
What Vassar Devils are all about: The Devils really focus on having a cohesive group sound. We really pride ourselves on having complex arrangements that let the background shine as well as the soloist.
New Year's resolutions: We're hoping to do more concerts off-campus next semester. Performances in Boston and Princeton are both possibilities that we are exploring.
Favorite songs from your repertoire: "Fly Me To the Moon," "All For You" and "September" are all personal favorites of mine. 
Concerts: Our final concert of the semester is this Friday, Dec. 11 at 9 p.m. in the Blodgett auditorium.

Broadway A Cappella (represented by Director Kara Voght '11)
What is Broadway A Cappella all about: Our group is all about bringing showtunes—from TV, film or Broadway musicals—to life in an a cappella format. We're the only group on campus dedicated solely to the arrangement and performance of these kinds of songs. It's a fun combination of two of Vassar's great traditions: a cappella and theater!
New Year's resolutions: We've arranged a ton of new music for next semester, and we're really excited to start learning it. With so many new members, we spent a lot of time getting them familiar with our repertoire, and we're ready to start some new things. We also want to keep performing a lot, too!
Favorite songs from your repertoire: They rotate, depending upon what we've sung the most (ad nauseum), but our favorites right now are probably "He Lives in You" from "The Lion King" and "All That Jazz" from "Chicago." (We really get into the choreography on that one.)
Concerts: We're performing Thursday, Dec. 10 in Rockefeller Hall 200. That's it for this semester!

Disney A Cappella (represented by Musical Director Isabella Batts '12)
What Disney A Cappella is all about: We are Vassar's only all-Disney a cappella group! Listening to us is guaranteed to make you reconnect with your childhood joys. We are also Vassar's newest a cappella group, and we're currently working on getting Vassar Student Association certification.
New Year's resolutions: At the beginning of next semester, we plan to hold auditions in hopes of gaining up to four or five new members. We'll be having a preview concert in January to advertise this. We're already excitedly planning songs for next semester, and having a bigger group will allow us to perform songs that are tricky to do with just seven singers, such as "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from Mulan.
Favorite songs from your repertoire: Personally, I love hearing us sing "Beauty and the Beast," because it was the first song I arranged for us, and I put a lot of work into it. "Under the Sea" is fun, and "Wish Upon a Star" is a sweet one we like to end with.
Concerts: We will be performing at Raymond House's final study break of the semester next Sunday, Dec. 13 at 8 p.m., and all are welcome!

AirCappella (represented by Director Sadie Burzan '11)
What is AirCappella all about: AirCappella is arguably the most unique organization on campus. We are the only all-whistling a cappella group in the world (For real! A group used to exist at Brown but no longer does).
New Year's resolutions: Our New Year's resolution is to keep spreading happiness through the whistled song. We plan on whistling at NonCon as an opening act for a nerdcore rapper, as well as at other events on campus. We will continue to expand our repertoire and tone our whistling muscles. We'd also like to make some T-shirts.
Favorite songs from your repertoire: If you have seen the children's classic Matilda, you will likely recognize "Little Bitty Pretty One," a new song we have arranged this semester. Another favorite is "Like A Prayer," by the one and only Madonna.
Concert: We have our final concert this Thursday, Dec. 10 at 8 p.m. in Rockefeller Hall 300.

Measure 4 Measure (represented by Alumnae Coordinator Elsie Raymer '12)
What Measure 4 Measure is all about: Measure strives to make sure that the audience has as much fun as we do! We are dedicated to every song we bring to the table so that it sounds great and has a lot of heart and energy in it.
New Year's resolutions: Next semester we're recording another CD!
Favorite songs from your repertoire: "Fidelity," by Regina Spektor and a Lady Gaga medley.
Concerts: Final concert with the Yale Dukesmen is this Saturday, Dec. 12 at 8 p.m. in the Aula!

Matthew's Minstrels (represented
by Shelby Wardlaw '10)
New Year's resolutions: One of our biggest goals for next semester is to take a trip to another college for an away-concert. We have been planning to do this for years but have never gotten it together. We hope that this next semester we will! We also want to have an amazing final concert next semester and to continue to arrange and sing good music!
Favorite songs from your repertoire: My two favorites right now are our two new ones because they are so exciting: "Hey Eugene" by Pink Martini and "Cry Me a River" by Justin Timberlake. I also always have a soft spot in my heart for "Midnight Train to Georgia."
The Matthew's Minstrels' final concert was yesterday.