The International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella, ICCA, is a competition right out of “Pitch Perfect” or “Glee.” A cappella groups from schools across the Mid Atlantic come to one stage to compete in the Mid Atlantic quarterfinals with the hopes of moving on to the semifinals.
Hofstra’s very own Sigma’cappella, Makin’ Treble and The Hofbeats competed Saturday night at the College of Staten Island Center for the Arts.
Sigma’cappella won second place, allowing them to secure a spot in the semifinals. They fell 20 points short of the The Melismatic from Lehigh University. Hofstra junior Carolina McFee also received best soloist for her performance during their rendition of “At All.”
While Makin’ Treble and The Hofbeats did not place, junior Connor Martin of Hofbeats walked away with Outstanding Arrangement for his rendition of “In the Air Tonight.”
Ten a cappella groups participated in the competition. Aside from Hofstra, they came from the University of Richmond, Adelphi University, St. Mary’s College of Maryland and Stockton University.
In order to make it to the quarterfinals, each group was required to submit a video in October. Varsity Vocals, the producers of the ICCA, then chose groups out of the all of the applicants from the U.S. and the U.K. to compete.
Every set was required to be under 12 minutes and maintain a “family-friendly” repertoire of music.
Preparing for this event seems as though it would take a lot of time, but with Hofstra’s late start to the spring semester, the groups only had two weeks to prepare for the competition.
Christopher Hoffman, president of Sigma’cappella, recalls when they were going into the quarterfinals.
“We didn’t really know what to expect. This is our third year competing and every year is just so different from the others … all we knew was that we loved our set and how we sound[ed] together. This year’s set felt very authentic and very ‘us.’”
Even though they didn’t have much time to prepare it was evident that their skills were strong enough to have them continue on to the semifinals. Hoffman credited their “connection with the audience” for the second place win.