bah-din

for those of you who don't know, i sang in an all-female a cappella group for four years in college. [i was actually president for the last two of those years. yes. yes i was.] i remember a lot about those years: my audition [what i sang, what i was wearing]; subsequent members' auditions; the difficulty of learning a piece, coupled with the excitement when it finally came together -- or the disappointment when it didn't; parties; competitions; road trips; shopping for concert attire; the physical performance high; the numerous arguments between group members. i'm fairly certain that tolstoy's war & peace is an extended allegory for collegiate a cappella; dickens clearly had us in mind when he began a tale of two cities, "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times." [perhaps it was supposed to be entitled, a tale of two ditties? i'm lame.]

a cappella is a strange, strange beast. there's a lot of snapping and smacking of one's body in order to keep tempo and provide percussion. there's a lot of 'do-do-do'-ing and 'dit-di-dit'-ing. and for the most part, musical arrangements are ridiculously creative and have you putting sounds and words together in ways that make no sense on paper [and often, initially, out loud] but in the end -- when combined with the voices and notes and sequences and harmonies of the other people in the group -- form this cohesive and [ideally] enjoyable song. i enjoyed about 85% of my time with a cappella. but once i graduated, i had no strong desire to ever sing it [or listen to it] again. [this is only significant when realizing that many people who've sung a cappella DO continue to sing and enjoy it post-graduation. more power to them.] i am thankful for many things that resulted from my a cappella involvement [extremely good friends; heightened snapping skills; the inability to resist singing along to any song where i know at least part of an a cappella arrangement] and, conversely, many things that i could do without [pictures of myself in regrettable outfits; unfortunate relationships; the inability to resist singing along to any song where i know at least part of an a cappella arrangement.]

so when i saw this quote from stephen colbert, in his address to princeton graduates, i knew i wanted to remember it forever:

"When you leave here, no one will ever, ever want to hear you sing a capella."

truer words were never spoken.