Harmonious voices filled the halls of Frasier near room 256 Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, as students began auditioning for Vocal Iron, an a cappella group at UNC.
Vocal Iron is a relatively new collegiate a cappella group where students go to audition and find a place of belonging. The small group of members consider each other family and consider Vocal Iron a place of expression and freedom to be themselves by doing what they love.
During auditions, students were asked to sightread various parts of arrangements and had their vocal ranges checked. A vocal range check, simply put, checks how many notes a person can sing. After each solo audition, all the students were asked to perform in a group audition as well. This fall, the auditionees showed off their musical talent with sheet music for Bruno Mars’ “Marry You,” and Adrianne Gonzales’ “Quiet.”
Over 40 students auditioned for the group, but in the end, 17 made the cut.
Each student was placed into one of four categories–soprano, alto, tenor or bass–that compose an a cappella ensemble. Each of the Vocal Iron sections is composed of about four or more students.
“It was my first college choral audition, and I’ve really only ever auditioned for one-person vocal performances,” Said Grace Palo, a freshman acting major. “But this went okay. I’ve been doing choir for five years. I just wanted to be involved again, and a cappella is really fun. So I decided to try out.”
Even though Chavilah Anderson-Clare, a sophomore vocal performance major, was going into the audition for the second year, she recalled her experience auditioning for the first time the year before.
“It helped me transition into my freshman year because I had friends,” Anderson-Clare said. “This is my fun place. This is where I go to have fun. This is where the cool kids go.”
Even though many students from the previous year had proven themselves as active and loyal members, everyone is required to re-audition to ensure that they are still committed. Anderson-Clare reprised her role in Vocal Iron as a soprano.
Having plenty of successful performances under their belt, including the Second Annual World Singing Day in Boulder in October of 2016, the 2017-2018 year is sure to be as successful as the year before.
