Lafayette College’s a cappella groups, The Chorduroys, The Mar-Keys, Cadence and Soulfege, competed at the annual International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella, or ICCA, a competition that hosts top collegiate vocal ensembles from around the world.
“I feel so proud of everybody,” said Marisa Carroll ’25, the president of Cadence. “I think we did an amazing job, I think we really left it all on the table.”
For the first time, all four of Lafayette’s a cappella groups participated in the same regional event hosted at Penn State.
“All of us were there together and so we were all able to just cheer each other on and hype each other up,” said Nathan Hansford ’25, the president of Soulfege.
He said that there is a lottery for the order in which the groups perform. Soulfege was the first group to compete.
“There was a lot of stress because we set the tone for the show,” Hansford said. “But we were confident going into it — nervous and rattled — but incredibly excited.”
Each group performed a 10-minute set of songs of their choosing accompanied by choreography. The groups performed a variety of songs, ranging in genre and artist, from Beyoncé to Sam Smith to The Jackson 5 to “The Rainbow Connection” by Kermit the Frog.
“We were far more prepared going into this competition than I think we have in the past,” Hansford said.
Members of the other a cappella groups said they committed to intensive rehearsals.
“We really made sure to drill our music, drill our choreo,” said Kelsie Bouyer ’26, president of the Mar-Keys. “We had multiple extra rehearsals outside of our normal time to make sure everything was down.”
Although no Lafayette group took home the regional title, many singers said they enjoyed the experience.
“You get to spend a lot of time with your group,” said Chris Taverner ’25, a member of the Chorduroys. “We have to spend a lot of time just hanging out together, which is very nice.”
“We were just all jumping up and hyping each other up afterward,” said Hansford about the show’s intermission. “It was just an outpouring of love that we just hadn’t been able to experience in previous years because we weren’t all there together.”
“The pressure of the competition’s behind us, and we can look toward our next a cappella concert, Spring Jam,” said Sean Catarroja ’27, a member of Soulfege.
The a cappella groups will host Spring Jam on May 8 at 7 p.m. in Colton Chapel.