Fine music sans instruments

By Molly McGonigle

Instead of indulging your valentine's sweet tooth this year, consider giving a gift his or her ears will appreciate.

In honor of Valentine's Day, all three a cappella groups on campus -- Supertonic!, Mellotones and Serendipity -- will be providing singing valentines.

A cappella groups are a phenomenon about which most East Coast and Ivy League colleges boast. But at Santa Clara, a revived interest has brought three different groups onto the school's a cappella stage.

For the first time, all three a cappella groups will be working together to arrange music, instead of competing like during the rest of the year, said Chris Ng '05, one of Supertonic!'s founding members.

Jackie Goodall, a member of Supertonic!, explained, "We will take a couple of people from each group and put them in a larger group of 10 people and then arrange the melodies from there."

The idea came from Santa Clara's former a cappella group, the Society of Music. Each group has their own specialty: "For the Longest Time" is The Mellotone's token Valentine's Day song and Supertonic!'s is "Kiss the Girl" and "Elephant Love Medley."

Supertonic!, the veteran a cappella group, began in 2006. "Ng started talking about an a cappella group and created a lot of interest with the students in choir," senior Supertonic! member Matt Peterson explained. "That's how Supertonic! was built."

Supertonic! is composed of 15 students, drawing mostly from the senior class, but with three juniors and two sophomores. During fall quarter, the group held auditions and was encouraged by the talent they found. "We were looking for someone to blend into an ensemble and to also do an excellent solo," explained Peterson.

During performances, there is one soloist who sings the actual lyrics of the song, while the rest of the crew uses their voices to sing parts normally performed with instruments.

"Everybody's an instrument. Rather than play guitars, we sing guitar lines," explained junior Supertonic! member Nick Benavides.

In January, Supertonic!, which practices four hours a week, performed at Santa Clara's annual Golden Circle fundraiser at the Fairmont Hotel in downtown San Jose, where they opened for Gladys Knight.

"Golden Circle this year was a phenomenal performance. We felt like rock stars," said senior civil engineering major and Supertonic! founding member Jessica Long. Also in January, Supertonic! opened for Hookslide at Mission City Café.

The Mellotones and Serendipity are this year's new additions to the a capella community.

Mellotones member Katherine Tolentino explained the difference between this new group with the already-established Supertonic!: The Mellotones draw most heavily from underclassmen who are new to a cappella at a collegiate level, she said. "Mellotones has a real choral representative value instead of just soloists. Choral music allows for a blending of harmonies that you don't get with today's pop music."

Tolentino attributes the group's eclectic nature to the fact that no one really knows how to arrange pop music for a cappella yet, like Supertonic! does. Right now, The Mellotones are working on "Penny Lane," a jazz version of "Over the Rainbow" and in the future, plans to do "Bohemian Rhapsody."

Tolentino acknowledged the challenges of starting a new a cappella group on such a small campus. "It's exciting to make this happen because everyone's passionate," she said of the group, who practices two and half hours each week. "It's sort of nerdy but everything's student-run so we are definitely making history."

Serendipity, another new addition to the a cappella scene, is an all-women group. "There's something really special about having all women," said Marisa Illo, one of Serendipity's founding members. "There's a very different harmonic sound, and with women you can do choreography and dances."

The group is 11 women strong and was created this fall with the hope of mirroring the women's a cappella group at the University of Portland. When auditions were held, Illo was shocked at the turnout. "I wasn't sure if anyone would come, but we ended up getting to be selective," she said of the large turnout.

Since then, Serendipity has been working on creating a unique voice. "It's been a process getting our voices to blend together," Illo said. "It's hard because no one's seen the product yet."

Serendipity will be singing the national anthem at the Santa Clara men's basketball game versus Gonzaga. They will also perform at midnight breakfast before finals this quarter.

Contact Molly McGonigle at (408) 551-1918 or mmcgonigle@scu.edu.

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