by Khalics Bryant
Horizon Reporter
“It’s like breathing,” said Erika Olson, president of the Whatcom Independent A Cappella Club. “Its one of the most important parts of life.”
You can hear the enthusiasm in Olson’s voice as she speaks about her love of singing. This passion is what inspired Olson and three friends to start the Whatcom Independent A Cappella Club at Whatcom Community College. The quartet wanted to have more control of what songs they would sing and wanted their voices to be their only instruments, says Olson.
From those four friends, the club has grown to about 20 strong. This is the club’s first quarter on campus. Auditions were held earlier in the year to evaluate possible club members. Whatcom students are encouraged to join but they need to be ready to work hard, says Olson.
Carol Reed-Jones, the faculty advisor for the A Cappella Club and the Music Club at Whatcom said the difference between the two clubs is that the Music Club is focused on mainly instrumentation. “The a cappella club deals with vocals,” she said. “The music the a cappella club sings is much different than the music a choir class would sing.”
“The music we sing is more adult contemporary, ” said Olson. “Stuff like Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, or Katy Perry. The four club officers got together and created a huge list of songs we wanted to sing a cappella. We brought the list to the club members and narrowed it down to about 18 songs.”
Each member brings their own ideas and originality to the group, Olson says. “We have members from all different places in the world. We even have a guy that beat boxes,” she said with a slight chuckle.
The A Cappella Club meets on Fridays at 2 p.m. in Syre Student Center, room 105. The club’s first on-campus show is June 10 at 7:30 in Heiner Auditorium. The show is free of charge but donations to the club are needed and greatly appreciated. For more information on the Whatcom Independent A Cappella Club please e-mail wiawcc@gmail.com.
