Hofstra University has four a cappella groups on its campus. Two of which are coed mixed-voice groups that arrange their own music to perform at international collegiate events every spring: The HofBeats and Sigma’cappella. Each group has their own audition, rehearsal and performance process that prepare them for the competition.

The HofBeats

When junior psychology and criminology double major Grace Gustafson stepped into The HofBeats audition room, she didn’t expect to find a home.

“[HofBeats] is my family. It’s the group of people that I feel safe with,” Gustafson said. “It’s where I get to be my most authentic self.”

Her freshman year, Gustafson auditioned for The HofBeats because her musical family members participated in a cappella groups during their college years. Gustafson first heard of The HofBeats when she received her college acceptance letter (Hofstra would attach The HofBeats cover “Hey Look Ma, I Made It” by Panic! At The Disco to the bottom of each acceptance email).

The HofBeats don’t only perform around the university, they also perform at a competitive level in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) and smaller invitationals. 

“Every single member is integral and essential to how we sound [and] how we function,” Gustafson said. “I feel so humbled and honored every time I’m in the room with such talented people.”

A cappella, the art of making music without instruments, combines all voices to make a sound that interprets a song. The HofBeats celebrate this art every day in their rehearsals. 

The HofBeats rehearse twice a week for two hours each rehearsal. During each meeting, they begin with a warm-up then move on to practicing songs for an upcoming gig. After rehearsing together, each voice part separates into small groups to practice with their specific range. 

“The vibe is very silly a lot of the time, but when we need to lock in, do work and learn music, we’ll lock in, do work and learn music,” said Jessica Sucharski, junior early childhood/childhood education major and president of The HofBeats.

During competition season, the group experiences a different rehearsal schedule. 

“This is the fun part: we have a boot camp where we come back about a week early from winter break,” said The HofBeats secretary and junior psychology major, Emma Tarditi. “The campus is totally empty. We rent one of the dance rooms, and it’s ten hours of practice a day.”

Each day of the week has a theme to motivate members to have fun despite the busy schedule. 

“We’ve had days like rhyme without reason and color wars before,” said Gustafson. “Boot camp was really the time I truly bonded with the group; it’s just so much fun.” 

In a meeting dedicated to brainstorming the ICCA set, the team compiles three to four songs to perform the day of the competition. The set cannot be any longer than 10 minutes, so The HofBeats really strive to reach right up to the 10-minute mark. 

After deciding on a set, the group meets with Connor Martin, a 2018 Hofstra graduate and a cappella producer, to make tracks for each vocal group.

The HofBeats program is home to multiple range singers: soprano one and two, alto one and two, tenor one and two, baritones, basses and a beatboxer.

In auditions, The HofBeats looks for individuals who match the current team. 

“There are so many amazing people who come to auditions and they blow us away. We just can’t take them because we already have ‘this many’ sopranos and we have ‘this many’ altos and stuff like that,” Tarditi said. “If we have too many, then it’s going to be an overpowering of [those] voices.”

The audition process typically lasts two days – a solo audition on day one and a blend test on day two. The blend test includes all current members of the team to see how the auditionee’s voice combines with everyone. The second day of the auditions is a callback. Auditionees hear back about their spot a day later.

Auditions take place at the beginning of the academic year, but The HofBeats will call a former non-accepted, but memorable auditionee at any time if a member drops during the semester or graduates in the December commencment.

The HofBeats takes each audition seriously, not only because of the collegiate competitions, but also to reach personal goals: their first extended play (EP) “Letters” was released in Sept. 2025.

“For me, [releasing an EP], was really, really cool,” Sucharski said. “This was the set that we performed at the competition my freshman year, so it was really cool to go from my first time doing competition with [The] HofBeats to now producing that album as a president of the group.”

“Being in [The] HofBeats has taught me a lot about believing in myself and not constantly comparing myself to other people,” Gustafson said. “It’s taught me to be brave when trying out for things.”

Sigma’cappella

Sigma’cappella (Sigma), Hofstra’s longest running coed a cappella group, was established in 1998 and welcomes singers of all voice parts and experience levels. President Taylor Sloley, a junior drama and computer science double major, auditioned their first semester of college after hearing the group perform during a Welcome Week event. 

“I was lucky enough to get a callback after the audition, and I remember how accepting and affirming the environment was,” Sloley said. “You could tell everyone wanted you to succeed in that callback.”

Sigma gravitates towards alternative pop music, varying from the other a cappella groups on campus that tend to focus on more of a pop and rock vibe. This club aims to create music together as a group of friends who genuinely enjoy each other’s company. 

“There’s something about openly choosing to spend your 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on a Sunday with 16 other people that are also choosing to spend their night doing this,” Sloley said. “[It’s] the fact that everyone is just agreeing that they want to be here.”

They rehearse on Wednesdays 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. as well as Sundays. Sigma’s song arrangements are made by both former members and current members of the group, adding a sense of personal connection to each piece that is performed.

“It adds a little closeness to it, being able to show off what you make to the group,” Sloley said. “I think just that love amongst friends is what enhances our performances and makes things special.”

Similar to The HofBeats, Sigma holds an audition process at the beginning of the academic year, with a solo audition followed by a blend test. Students can sing the verse and chorus of any song that would generally be played on the radio. This club is always on the lookout for new voices that can bring in different ideas and talents to the group.

“Half of our songs for our ICCA set last year were picked by new members of the group. I just remember being so impressed with the selections that the new members of the group had, seeing that creativity that you branch out from,” Sloley said.

There is no requirement for knowing how to read music or arrange a song. Sloley commented that this is something you could learn how to do when joining the group, along with the many other benefits, such as being comfortable and confident with performing. 

“With a cappella in general, there’s a lot more regularity to the performances and there’s more stability in rehearsing every week,” Sloley said. “It also allows me to learn as a performer as well. I’ve taken lessons from performing a cappella songs and applied them to my auditions for the drama department or student films.”

Sloley touched on the importance of building friendships and connections in college, something that Sigma has helped them with tremendously.

“I think just having the chance to perform for your peers as well. Having some way for people to come up to you and be like, ‘Hey I saw you perform the other day!’ It’s a nice way of creating those organic human connections,” Sloley said.

This club balances strong musical performances while still focusing on having fun and maintaining a laidback environment. 

“We are able to play our arrangements online, so that allows people to learn by ear, which is very helpful,” Sloley said. “We are able to make music accessible to everyone.”

Much like The HofBeats, Sigma also participates in the ICCA’s and the a cappella tradition known as “boot camp.” Sloley recalled how tiring yet memorable and fun the experience was. In addition to the ICCA’s, Sigma participates in a yearly concert called invitationals where a cappella groups from Hofstra and other schools come together to perform. 

Although the club has stayed traditional to its roots, there has been an integration of more diverse song selections and greater representation. 

“The number of artists of color that we perform songs from now has grown a lot,” Sloley said. “Our ICCA set last year included three out of four artists of color – Mitski; Tyler, The Creator and WILLOW.”

Sigma’s arrangements can be heard under the name Sigma’cappella on Spotify. 

As president of The HofBeats, Sucharski is dedicated to working with every a cappella group on campus. 

“We do stuff together occasionally, but there isn’t as much collaboration as I would hope for,” Sucharski said. “I’m trying to make that improvement in my role.”

In the future, Hofstra may be seeing more collaboration between the two coed mixed voice a cappella groups, The HofBeats and Sigma’cappella.