Support The Daily Orange this holiday season! The money raised between now and the end of the year will go directly toward aiding our students. Donate today.

When vocal percussionist Sammy Karp was a sophomore at Plainview Old Bethpage High School (NY), one of Syracuse University’s a cappella groups visited the campus. Three years later at SU, he signed up for Otto Tunes as a freshman, finding a community in the process.

“One thing that sets us apart from a lot of other collegiate a cappella communities is that there’s a lot of collaboration between groups,” Karp said. “We’re all connected both musically and as friends and people.”

This Friday is the a cappella program’s annual winter show: After Hours. It is one of the only times in the year all six of the a cappella groups have the chance to perform together and see each other’s work, Karp said.

The six acappella groups perform together other times in the year, such as performances at Citrus in the City and Family Weekend, but After Hours is different. This event is their chance to perform for each other and the larger community.

The six groups performing are Groovestand, Oy Cappella, Orange Appeal, Otto Tunes, Main Squeeze and The Mandarins. Some groups will perform holiday songs, while others will perform segments from their invitationals.

Sophomore Bridget Backer is looking forward to the After Hours as a “last hurrah” for the semester. She’s choreographing one of Main Squeeze’s numbers and is excited to see her work on stage.

She joined Main Squeeze this semester, so this weekend will be her first time performing in After Hours. She attended the show last year and said she can’t wait to be part of it herself this weekend.

This semester, the six groups have been more connected than ever before, said Hannah Starorypinski, this year’s Oy Cappella president and a cappella council co-president.

“We all just kind of got sick of being in competition with each other and figured that it would be way more fun for us to all be friends,” Starorypinski said.

Starorypinski is a senior now, but has been involved with a cappella since her freshman year. She said the community now is much closer than it was when she arrived at SU as members usually stuck to their groups until fall 2022.

Karp, a member of Otto Tunes, has done vocal percussion for various other SU a cappella groups and loves the opportunity to make the community more interconnected. Beyond music collaborators, the singers in Otto Tunes are friends and even roommates. Otto Tunes members have owned a house on Stratford Street since 2011, and other members rent houses nearby.

“I think back about my favorite and most crazy college memories — they basically all start with being in Otto Tunes,” Karp said. “As much as we are musical collaborators, we’re also brothers and I think for me, that was just the most amazing thing.”

Many members like Karp join a cappella as freshmen, while other members join after seeing how the groups operate on campus. Backer is a member of Main Squeeze, an all-female a cappella group.

In high school, Karp participated in a cappella groups who only performed a few times a year. But when she saw how SU a cappella worked and how often they performed, she immediately wanted to get involved.

“Ever since joining, I have made no regrets. I just feel so connected to the people around me,” Backer said. “Not just in Main Squeeze, but the whole (a cappella) community in general because we are all so close to each other.”

Besides Main Squeeze, Backer is involved with various other organizations on campus, including Hendricks Chapel Choir. She said that a cappella is bigger, with more groups and members from diverse majors.

“It’s just getting to meet new people and going back to the one thing that we all are focused on within (the a cappella community), which is performing,” Backer said.

With the various majors and interests involved in SU a cappella groups, the end of the semester is stressful, Starorypinski said. After Hours is a chance for everyone to relieve their stress while doing what they love and support each other in front of the greater SU community.

“All of my friends that are not involved in a cappella are coming (to After Hours), and it’s an opportunity for our family to come out,” Starorypinski said. “It’s full of people who love everyone in a cappella and love a cappella music.”

Published on December 6, 2023 at 9:24 pm