UNIVERSITY students from Scotland are set to prove their singing performances do not emerge only after wild parties or major sporting events.
Glasgow University’s Choral Stimulation, an a cappella group, has beaten off competition from 400 choirs across the country to reach the televised heats of The Naked Choir.
Launched by choirmaster and broadcaster Gareth Malone, the man behind BBC2’s The Choir, The Naked Choir features eight a cappella groups, the singing style which abandons musical backing.
Tomorrow night’s second episode of the competition features the four harmony groups from the northern half of the UK battling to convince they are pitch perfect.
Glasgow-born Peter Malone has been a member of Choral Stimulation, made up of four females and six males, for the past two years.
“Each year our goal is to compete at the Voice Championship UK, which we did this year,” he explained. “And while we were competing this year we were approached to see if we would be interested on appearing the TV show. We auditioned for The Naked Choir, were accepted and we’re all really excited.”
A cappella is a calm, gentle exercise in uniting a group of disparate voices in perfect harmony. It is a pastime which has become hugely popular in the UK and in the US, where 10 million more members have joined groups in the past five years.
Choral Stimulation’s Caitlin Sinclair said she went through a gruelling audition just to land a place in the university singing group.
“Universities across Britain such as St Andrews not only have a cappella groups, they have a cappella societies. Students realise singing together is just fantastic fun. And so many people now want to do it.”
Peter Malone agreed, saying: “We are a completely random group of people but we have this one amazing shared interest.
“And the a cappella group is a safe place we can come to and forget about everything else.”
The Glasgow students were hugely excited to have made the TV finals, appearing tomorrow night at Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre.
Miss Sinclair said she had been sworn to secrecy as to how the Scots Glasgow students progressed, but admitted she had "great fun" in the process.
“It’s all been really hard work, singing until two am at times in rehearsals and there were the logistics of getting us all together for the filming. But it’s been a great experience.”
Peter Malone, a Scottish Literature student, added: “We had no real idea what to expect until the first show in the series aired last week where the southern half of the entrants took part. Then we realised just how important it all is.”
Did any divas emerge once television came calling?
“Yes, we don’t speak anymore and our riders include taking all the blue Smarties out of the tube,” he joked, grinning.
The group realise the TV show experience was their last hurrah.
“The line-up changes when people graduate, get jobs,” said Peter Malone. “But that’s the way of it.”
Ms Sinclair said the television competition focused their commitment. “What we came to realise was we loved singing together so much we wanted to prolong the time we have together.”
Gareth Malone said that singing a cappella is the ultimate test of any choir. "Only once you've stripped away all those musical crutches that a backing track offers – it's possible to truly see, and test, the group's quality."
• The Naked Choir With Gareth Malone, BBC 2 Tuesday, 9pm.
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