It appears in the last decade the music world has seen one of the largest style crazes sweep the charts. “Stripped down” acoustics fill the campus air and people are coming together to jam out with nothing but their vocal chords. Acapella, the musical style known for being done with only vocals, has hit the big screen, in a big way, with the success of Glee and the hit movie Pitch Perfect. Now it’s even making its way onto our campus.

“It’s like every time my friends and I have a movie night someone brings up Pitch Perfect to watch,” said sophomore Paul Taylor. Taylor, who has been an avid musician both instrumentally and vocally since middle school, is in the process of forming a new acapella group on campus called Fully Charged. He hopes this will bring some excitement and positive energy to the University of New Haven’s community.

“I think there’s something about people coming together with nothing but voices that just attracts people,” he explained while discussing his thoughts on the popularity of acapella in our society. He has been inspired by this music style over the years when watching the show The Sing Off and talented groups like On the Rocks, who know how to have fun and get the crowd going. When asked who he thought would be his perfect duet partner and song choice, Paul chose former On the Rocks member Peter Hollins, and said he would love to perform Pink’s “Just Give Me a Reason,” a solid choice if I do say so myself!

While there is a class on campus that performs traditional acapella music, called Harmonies, Fully Charged is going to bring a very different flavor of the genre to the student body. A standard group like Harmonies usually stands in an arch or semicircle and performs with the soloist standing in the center. Paul explained that he envisions his group will be a performance show choir of 20 or 25 people, more like what has been seen on shows like Glee and Pitch Perfect. There will be costumes, choreography and a whole lot of fun you will not want to miss out on! Musically, they will focus on a wide variety of contemporary favorites as well as some mashups composed by students.

Andrew Cunningham will be arranging the music, Jasmine Crowell and Monica Kowalski will be choreographing performance numbers and Paul will lead the group. Auditions are set to take place sometime before fall break, though dates and times have yet to be determined. If you are interested please check out https://www.facebook.com/UNHFullyCharged for updates and mote information.

The group is also looking for a public relations team if anyone is interested in helping them spread the word of this wonderful group! I’m sure you’ll be hearing them soon. I wish Paul and Fully Charged the best of luck and can’t wait to be there for their first performance!