By Daisy Moriarty ’25
Over the past few months, the Gunn Music Program has had three collegiate acapella groups visit campus. Two groups were from Yale: The Yale Alley Cats and The Yale Spizzwinks. The other group was The Dissipated Eight from Middlebury College.
On January 26, chorus members left their final class of the day early and headed to the choral room to join the Jazz Band for the Yale Alley Cats’ acapella performance. Traditionally an all-male group, The Yale Alley Cats now have their first female member- a tenor named Ryann Shaffer, one of the Alley Cats who performed for Gunn Students. The Alley Cats performed various songs, including “Fly Me to the Moon” and “Just the Two of Us.” After this performance, most of the Jazz Band Members had to leave to go to their co-curriculars, and the Yale Alley Cats started the Q&A section of their visit. During the Q&A section, the Alley Cats answered questions about being in an acapella group, why none chose to major in music, and how much experience singing they had before joining the group. Afterward, the Alley Cats broke the Gunn Vocal Ensemble into their vocal parts and gave each group a masterclass using “Everybody Wants to be a Cat” from The Aristocats. Then, the groups came together and sang the new song as an ensemble.
Then, on February 8, The Dissipated Eight from Middlebury College performed for the Gunn Vocal Ensemble as part of their February tour. They performed many songs, including “Put the Blame on Mame” and “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl).” One of the Dissipated eight members who came to perform was a recent Frederick Gunn graduate, Will Dyer ‘23, who was part of the Vocal Ensemble and Jazz Band during his time at Gunn. He revealed, “It was nice to be back and perform in a different context, and I hope to do it again soon!”
Finally, on March 29, Vocal Ensemble and Jazz Band students got a private performance from the Yale Spizzwinks, where they sang many songs, including “Troublemaker,” followed by a masterclass in which both the Vocal Ensemble and Jazz Band participated. Later that night, the Spizzwinks gave a performance in the Tisch Family Auditorium that was open to everyone at Gunn and the greater Washington community. During this performance, they dazzled the audience with fantastic vocals, humorous dances in songs including “Heard It From The Grapevine,” and hilarious lyrics from songs such as “Chicken Fried.”
The visits from college a cappella groups were very valuable as they gave Vocal Ensemble students ideas about how they could continue singing and build on what they have learned at Gunn when they go to college. Vocal Ensemble has also been able to implement some of the rehearsal techniques that the cappella groups use to make rehearsals more efficient. For example, students in Vocal Ensemble have been learning more of their music outside of class and have been having more sectional meetings with their vocal parts during Evening Arts Blocks.
