The Hofbeats have mastered the art of collaborating and rehearsing on Zoom -during the pandemic. // Photo courtesy of Justin Shah.
The Hofbeats – a co-ed a cappella group at Hofstra – advanced to the Northeast region semifinals of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) for a historic second time, all while maneuvering around the challenges of COVID-19.
“Being a young kid watching ‘Pitch Perfect,’ you never think that you’re going to be part of [the ICCAs] one day,” said Adam Ruben, a freshman biomedical engineering major and member of The Hofbeats. “You can’t really put [the feeling] into words.”
The Hofbeats competed against 27 other a cappella groups within their region and landed in the top eight despite never singing or performing together in person. All their practices and rehearsals were held on Zoom to adhere to social distancing guidelines.
“It was a big stress [on] trust,” said Hofbeats President Justin Shah, a junior music education major. “Because there was no way for our music director – there was no way for any of us – to really know if everybody knew their music or if they were just there to be there.”
When it came time to compete, the group of 18 had to individually record their own parts using voice memos. Mike O’Malley, a senior double major in history and audio production, pieced together the final product.
After spending roughly 45 hours to edit and mix the four-minute arrangement of “Paint It Black” by The Rolling Stones, O’Malley received a special award for outstanding mix for the entire Northeast region by Varsity Vocals, host of the ICCAs.
“[Being named best audio mixer] felt good, especially getting that [award] and second place [in the quarterfinals],” O’Malley said. “I felt like I had to sort of carry the torch for the seniors who didn’t get that opportunity to perform what they worked on last year.”
Once the mix was finalized, the group collaborated on their video submission, while adhering to COVID-19 safety guidelines.
“Everybody went 100% and put in so much time and effort [to] plan their outfits,” said Hofbeats Music Director Natalia Antkowiak, a junior music education major. “We all sent [the outfits] in group messages and went and recorded individually at the setup we had.”
Antkowiak said the group’s connection is inspiring. “It was really awesome how every single member of the group stepped up and took responsibility, [because] it can be so hard to do things during COVID when everything’s on Zoom and when we’re in a pandemic,” she said.
Despite the challenges of a pandemic and not having the opportunity to sing together, this year’s group has a bond like no other.
“The culture and community [have] never been better,” Shah said. “It’s not 18 singers in an a cappella group; these are 18 friends that will stay on Zoom for hours and hours just to talk and play silly games.”
The Hofbeats ultimately placed third in the competition, but at the end of the day, they find competing in the semifinals to be a victory in itself.
“Regardless of what the place is – I don’t even care that it’s [a] competition anymore,” Shah said. “We have that [submission video], and I’m going to look back at this in like 20 plus years and say, ‘Wow, that was awesome.’”