The past few years have been good to a cappella. Or maybe a cappella has been good to the past few years. With the release of Pitch Perfect and its super fun soundtrack, the success of Glee's Warblers album and the viral hits of college a cappella groups like On the Rocks, a cappella has gone from Preferred Activity of Dorks to Cool Thing That Cool People Readily Enjoy, Engage In and Are Cool About...naturally.
A cappella is cool because seriously — what's more impressive than human beings using their bodies to create amazing things? It's true for breakdancing, it's true for acrobats and it's certainly true for a group of people coming together to recreate a multi-instrument song using only their voices. That being said — a cappella still can't entirely hide its nerdy roots. It's like Fern Mayo in Jawbreaker — it may have gotten a makeover and come back to school as beautiful and popular, but no matter how socially acceptable it becomes, it will always — at least partially — remain a dork. (And that's how we a cappella fans like it.)
Nowhere are those traces of dorkiness more evident than in the names of college a cappella teams. This also happens to be one of the main reason why college a cappella teams are so awesome. They put their nerdiness out there straight away with some of the most skillful use of puns this world has ever seen. It's as if to say, "Yeah, we're kind of lame. Now watch us blow the goddamn roof off this joint with a stunning cover of Radiohead's 'Idoteque.'"
The intention here is not to mock. It's a post to celebrate! And in that spirit of celebration, we've dug through the Collegiate A Cappella Group Directory to compile a list of the best/most ridiculous college a cappella team names in the country (along with a couple additions from Canada).
Ready? Harmonize on three!
You're So Punny
| A Little Knight Music (Arcadia University) |
| Aural Fixation (BU) |
| Blue in the Face (Penn State) |
| Buck That! (Ohio State) |
| Chord on Blues (U of Penn) |
| Chordially Yours (BU) |
| Chorduroys (Lafayette College) |
| Cleftomaniacs (College of William and Mary) |
| Compulsive Lyres (U of M) |
| ConnChords (Connecticut College) |
| Fermata Nowhere (Mt. San Antonio College) |
| Fermata Thin Air (Nazareth College) |
| Ford S-Chords (Haverford) |
| HeeBee BGs (Bowling Green State University) |
| HOFBEATS (Hofstra U) |
| Idiosingcrasies (U of Colorado)Din and Tonics (Harvard) |
| Jazz Transit (Kirkwood Community College) |
| Lager Rhythms (Rice) |
| Minor Prophets (Liberty University) |
| Orcapelicans (Bard) |
| Quaker Notes (U of Penn) |
| Ransom Notes (U of Chicago) |
| So Noted (U of Central Florida) |
| Tempo Tantrums (Ohio University) |
| The Clef Hangers (UNC Chapel Hill) |
| Treble in Paradise (American University) |
| What's Yer Pleasure (Appalachian State U) |
Strictly Sexual
| Choral Pleasure (SUNY Purchase) |
| Interchorus (St. Mary's College of Maryland) |
| Lionel-Groove Sexapella (Le College Lionel-Groulx) |
| On a Sensual Note (American University) |
| One Note Stand (University of Mary Washington) |
| Sexy Pitches (Alfred University) |
| Six Appeal (Concordia College) |
| Tonal Ecstasy (McGill) |
One of the guys.
| Conn-Men (University of Connecticut) |
| Crescendudes (U of Central Florida) |
| Manginah (Brandeis) |
| Priority Male (ASU) |
| Sons of Pitch (George Washington University) |
Girls, who run this mother?
| Decibelles (Dartmouth) |
| Merry Kuween of Skots (College Wooster) |
| Shirley Tempos (Brandeis) |
| Unaccompanied Women (U of Chicago) |
We are __ and we make our own fun:
Often specific campus departments or religious and culture groups will have their own specific a cappella teams. Their team names are really, really amazing.
| Arrhythmias (NY Medical College) |
| EsqChoir (Seton Hall Law School) |
| Jewish Fella a Cappella (Brandeis) |
| Mazeltones (Wesleyan) |
| Public Hearing (Duke University School of Law) |
| Spinal Chords (U of Virginia Medical School) |
Also, mixing a cappella with Hindi music is totally a thing and it's super cool. Do yourself a favor and let Penn Masala, an a cappella team from the University of Pennsylvania, knock your socks off when they mix Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" with "Jashn-e-Bahara."
Ending on a strong note:
| Mouth Noise (University of Hartford) |
No false advertising there.
Now let's embrace our inner aca-fangirls by sharing our favorite a cappella videos below. It'll be aca-mazing.