Princeton Nassoons
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| Princeton Nassoons | |
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 Nassoons official logo
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| Background information | |
| Genre(s) | a cappella |
| Years active | 1941-present |
| Website | www.nassoons.com |
The Princeton Nassoons are a ten to fifteen-member all-male a cappella singing group at Princeton University. The group has been self-selecting (and self-directing) since 1941 and is the oldest group at Princeton.[citation needed]
The Nassoons have performed at a number of prominent venues, including the White House[1], and have also appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,[citation needed], The Early Show [2], and Good Morning America [3]. The group typically takes week-long tours for fall break, intersession, and spring breaks; recent destinations include the Dominican Republic, Switzerland, Mexico, the British Virgin Islands, and Taiwan. The Nassoons also have a long-running relationship with The Greenbrier, where they travel each Labor Day weekend.
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[edit] History
The group had its beginnings as part of the Princeton Glee Club in the late 1930s, rehearsing for small on-campus shows in the basement of Murray-Dodge Hall. The turning point for the yet-unnamed group came on a cool autumn evening in 1941. During the annual Princeton-Yale Glee Club concert on the weekend of the schools' annual football game in 1941, the seven men sang a short set in the middle of the program to a dishearteningly lukewarm reception. In a move of desperation, they decided to unveil an arrangement that the Glee Club director had explicitly asked them not to perform, fearing its bawdy five-part harmonies and scandalous lyrics would offend the sensibilities of the stodgy New Haven audience. But as the final chord rang out, the crowd broke into thunderous applause, and the group sang it again as an encore.[citation needed] That song, Perfidia, remains the alumni song of the Nassoons, and it ends their performances to this very day.
Within the Ivy League a cappella music tradition, the Princeton Nassoons are fourth in age, following The Whiffenpoofs (est. 1909), The Spizzwinks(?) (est. 1914), and The Yale Society of Orpheus and Bacchus (est. 1938), all of Yale University. It is the oldest such group at Princeton and an early performer in an Arch sing setting.[4]
[edit] Music
The Nassoons perform original arrangements and completely original pieces of all musical genres from the 1940s to today. Their arrangements include music from Cole Porter, The Beach Boys, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, 'N Sync, and Stevie Wonder. They also create and perform original music, some of which, such as 'Tigertown Blues' and 'Princeton is Free', has become signature music for the group.
[edit] References
- ^ Musical Groups to be Featured at White House Holiday Events. Press release. Office of the First Lady, December 6, 2006.
- ^ The Princeton Nassoons
- ^ The Princeton Nassoons
- ^ Blasi, Iris L. and Erica E. Jones (2002-10-10). "Tune every heart and every voice: 1879, Blair Arches ring with a cappella singing tradition". The Daily Princetonian.
[edit] External links
- The Nassoons Website
- 'Soons Forever Croonin' alumni site
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