By Noelle Lau
The Wilkinson Student Center ballroom will be flooded with voices the night of Friday, Oct. 26, as six local a cappella groups take the stage in BYU”s semi-annual “A Cappella Jam.”
The Jam is sponsored by BYU”s A Cappella Club, which is a hub for various a cappella groups on campus.
Leanna Allen, 20, a junior from Ypsilanti, Mich., majoring in marriage, family and human development, is the president of the BYU A Cappella Club.
The club is open to all BYU students interested in a cappella, she said.
The club offers workshops relating to a cappella and performing at every other weekly meeting, Allen said.
“The A Cappella Club tries to create as many a cappella performing opportunities in and around BYU,” Allen said.
The “A Cappella Jam” will host three BYU a cappella groups, two groups from Salt Lake and one from Logan, Cache County, she said.
The performing groups were selected by an audition committee consisting of a member of the A Cappella Club presidency and two club members with adequate a cappella experience, Allen said.
The show will include a cappella groups, “MILK,” “Vocal Point,” “Blue,” Octappella,” “Eclipse,” and “T-minus 5,” Allen said.
Each group will sing between two and four songs. The Jam is expected to last an hour to an hour and a half, Allen said.
Bret Howser, 21, a sophomore from Madera, Calif., majoring in public management, is a member of the a cappella group “MILK.”
“MILK” will make their debut as the first group to perform on Friday.
“We are more than excited, we are pumped,” Howser said. “We love to sing a cappella music, it is so much fun.”
Howser said that every year the “A Cappella Jam” is a sell out, with most of the audience stemming from the BYU student population.
“This is a great date,” Howser said.
Compact discs from the various a cappella performing groups will be on sale at the Jam, Howser said.
Shaun Bailey, 21, a sophomore from Las Vegas, Nev., is a tenor in “MILK.”
Bailey, who got involved with his first a cappella group in high school, said he is excited to be performing in the Jam.
“A Cappella is the best,” Bailey said. “I love it.”
The “A Cappella Jam” is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m.
