A cappella (Italian[1] or Latin "From the chapel/choir") music is vocal music or singing without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato style. In the 19th century a renewed interest in Renaissance polyphony coupled with an ignorance of the fact that vocal parts were often doubled by instrumentalists led to the term coming to mean unaccompanied vocal music.[2] In modern usage, a cappella often refers to an all-vocal performance of any style, including barbershop, doo wop, and modern pop/rock.
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A cappella music originally was, and still often is, used in religious music, especially church music as well as anasheed and zemirot. Gregorian chant is an example of a cappella singing, as is the majority of sacred vocal music from the Renaissance. The madrigal, up until its development in the early Baroque into an instrumentally-accompanied form, is also usually in a cappella form. The original music in Judaism and then in early Christianity was a cappella and has continuously existed in both of these related religious communities as well as in Islam.
While services in the Temple in Jerusalem included musical instruments, traditional Jewish religious services since the destruction of the Temple do not include musical instruments. The use of musical instruments is traditionally forbidden on the Sabbath out of concern that players would be tempted to repair their instruments, which is forbidden on those days. (This prohibition has been relaxed in many Reform and some Conservative congregations.) Similarly, when Jewish families and larger groups sing traditional Sabbath songs known as zemirot outside the context of formal religious services, they usually do so a cappella, and Bar and Bat Mitzvah celebrations on the Sabbath sometimes feature entertainment by a cappella ensembles. During the Three Weeks use of musical instruments is traditionally prohibited. Many Jews consider a portion of the 49-day period of the counting of the omer between Passover and Shavuot to be a time of semi-mourning and instrumental music is not allowed during that time. This has led to a tradition of a cappella singing sometimes known as sefirah music.[3]
The popularization of the Jewish chant may be found in the writings of the Jewish philosopher Philo, born 20 BCE. Weaving together Jewish and Greek thought, Philo promoted praise without instruments, and taught that "silent singing" (without even vocal chords) was better still.[4] So strong was his influence that the Jewish sect of the Pharisees even came to oppose the temple instruments.[5] This view parted with the Jewish scriptures, where Israel offered praise with instruments by God's own command (e.g.: 2 Chronicles 29:25). The shofar or keren (horn) is the only temple instrument still being used today in the synagogue, and it is only used from Rosh Chodesh Elul through the end of Yom Kippur.[6]
The polyphony of Christian a cappella began to develop in Europe around the late 1400s; such harmonies are often identified with Josquin des Prez (1455-1521). The early a cappella polyphonies may have had an accompanying instrument, although this instrument would merely double the singers' parts and was not independent. By the 1500s, a cappella polyphony had been fully developed; the works of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina are considered excellent examples. After Palestrina, the cantata began to take a cappella's place.[7] Palestrina, nonetheless, became a major influence on Bach, most notably in the aforementioned Mass in B Minor.
Present-day Christian religious bodies known for conducting their worship services without musical accompaniment include some Presbyterian churches devoted to the regulative principle of worship, Old Regular Baptists, Primitive Baptists, Plymouth Brethren, Churches of Christ, the Old German Baptist Brethren, the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church and the Amish and Mennonite. Certain "high church" masses and other musical events in liturgical churches (such as Roman Catholic and Lutheran) may be a cappella, a practice remaining from apostolic times. Many Mennonites also conduct some or all of their services without instruments. Sacred Harp, a type of religious "folk" music, is an a cappella style of religious singing, but is more often sung at singing conventions than at church services.
Examples and instruction for New Testament Christians included only singing: Matthew 26:30, James 5:13, 1 Corinthians 14:15, Ephesians 5:19,[8] Colossians 3:16. There is no reference to instrumental music in the worship of the first-century church;[nb 1] the first recorded example of a musical instrument in Christian worship was an organ introduced by Pope Vitalian into a cathedral in Rome in 666.[nb 2]
Instrumental worship was not widely practiced until the 18th century, and it was opposed vigorously by notable Christian scholars such as Justin Martyr (100–165), John Calvin (1509–1564), John Wesley (1703–1791),, and Alexander Campbell (1788-1866).[9] The fact that Christendom has prevailingly grafted instrumental music into worship probably obscures, for contemporary adherents, the long, general, and conscientious preference for a cappella. In Sir Walter Scott's Heart of Midlothian, for example, the heroine, Jeanie Deans, a Scottish Presbyterian, writes to her father about the church situation she has found in England (bold added):
Many Muslim musicians also perform a form of a cappella music, which are called nasheed. This is due to the possible prohibition of certain musical instruments in Islam, though Muslims remain divided on this issue.
A strong and prominent a cappella tradition was begun in the midwest part of the United States in 1911 by F. Melius Christiansen, a music faculty member at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. The St. Olaf College Choir was established as an outgrowth of the local St. John's Lutheran Church, where Christiansen was organist and the choir was composed at least partially of students from the nearby St. Olaf campus. The success of the ensemble was emulated by other regional conductors, and a rich tradition of a cappella choral music was born in the region at colleges like Concordia College (Moorhead, Minnesota), Augustana College (Rock Island, Illinois), Wartburg College (Waverly, Iowa), Luther College (Decorah, Iowa), Gustavus Adolphus College (St. Peter, Minnesota), Augustana College (Sioux Falls, South Dakota), and Augsburg College (Minneapolis, Minnesota). The choirs typically range from 40 singers to 80 and are recognized for their efforts to perfect blend, intonation, phrasing, and pitch in a large choral setting.
Major movements in modern a cappella over the past century include Barbershop and doo wop. The Barbershop Harmony Society, Sweet Adelines International, and Harmony Inc. host educational events including Harmony University, Directors University, and the International Educational Symposium, and international contests and conventions, recognizing international champion choruses and quartets.
In the 1950s several recording groups - notably The Hi-Los and the Four Freshmen - introduced complex jazz harmonies to a cappella performances.
The King's Singers are credited with promoting interest in small-group a cappella performances in the 1960s. In 1983 an a cappella group known as The Flying Pickets had a Christmas 'number one' in the UK with a cover of Yazoo's (known in the US as Yaz) Only You. A cappella music attained renewed prominence from the late 1980s onward, spurred by the success of Top 40 recordings by artists such as The Manhattan Transfer, but it was The Persuasions who saved the dying art and opened the door for such artists as Bobby McFerrin, Huey Lewis and the News, All 4 One, The Nylons and Boyz II Men.
In 2005, Bo Bice performed an a cappella version of "In A Dream" by Badlands when he was one of three contestants remaining on season 4 of American Idol. The show's producers warned him that it was a risky move, but his performance got great reviews from the judges and Bice advanced to the finals.[11]
One of the legendary 50's R&B groups were the Nutmegs, who were also known as the "Rajahs of a cappella". They were the first of these groups to proudly showcase an a cappella format which became their trademark. Later, many other groups recorded at least one a cappella song. The Classics, singers of "Till then", scored a very popular a cappella hit, "I Apologize". Later in the 1970s, The Belmonts released a seminal a cappella album entitled Cigars, Acappella, Candy,[12] which is representative of the genre. In the 1980s the UK a cappella group The Flying Pickets had a number 1 hit.
Contemporary a cappella includes many vocal bands who add vocal percussion or beatboxing to create a pop/rock sound, in some cases very similar to bands with instruments. One such group is Rockapella. There also remains a strong a cappella presence within Christian music, as some denominations purposefully do not use instruments during worship. Examples of such groups are Take 6 and Acappella.
Arrangements of popular music for small a cappella ensembles typically include one voice singing the lead melody, one singing a rhythmic bass line, and the remaining voices contributing chordal or polyphonic accompaniment.
A cappella can also describe the practice of using just the vocal track(s) from a multitrack, instrumental recording to be remixed or put onto vinyl records for DJs. Artists sometimes release the vocal tracks of their popular songs so that fans can remix them. One such example is the a cappella release of Jay-Z's Black Album, which Danger Mouse mixed with the Beatles' White Album to create The Grey Album.
A cappella's growth is not limited to live performance, with hundreds of recorded a cappella albums produced over the past decade. As of December 2006, the Recorded A Cappella Review Board (RARB) had reviewed over 660 a cappella albums since 1994, and its popular discussion forum had over 900 users and 19,000 articles. The first a cappella song ever to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 was Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry, Be Happy. A cappella mixes of popular songs are also quite popular, usually being created from the vocal tracks of the original recording sessions.
One of the oldest collegiate a cappella groups is The Whiffenpoofs of Yale University,[13] formed in 1909, which once included Cole Porter as a member.[13] Collegiate a cappella groups grew throughout the twentieth century. Some renowned, notable historical groups formed along the way include the Columbia Kingsmen (1949) and the University of Rochester YellowJackets (1956). The numbers of these groups exploded in beginning in the 1990s, fueled in part by a change in the style – voices used as modern rock instruments, including vocal percussion/"beatboxing." Some larger universities now have a dozen groups or more and the total number of college groups grew from 250 circa 1990 to over 1,000 now. The groups often join one another in on-campus concerts, such as the Georgetown Chimes' Cherry Tree Massacre, a 3-weekend a cappella festival held each February since 1975, where over a hundred collegiate groups have appeared, as well as International Quartet Champions The Boston Common and the contemporary commercial a cappella group Rockapella. Co-ed groups have produced many up-and-coming artists including solo musician John Legend, an alumnus of the Counterparts at the University of Pennsylvania, and Siddhartha Khosla, lead singer of the band Goldspot, an alumnus of both Off the Beat and Penn Masala at the University of Pennsylvania
A cappella is gaining popularity among South Asian youth with the emergence of primarily Hindi-English College groups. Examples of prominent groups include Penn Masala in the University of Pennsylvania, Chai-Town from the University of Illinois, Dil Se from UC Berkeley, and Raagapella in Stanford. All-female groups are less common, but still exist. An example of an all-female group is Illini Chandani, from the University of Illinois. Ektaal, founded in 1999 within the University of Virginia, recently went co-ed in 2006, but prior to that, was an all-female group. Co-ed South Asian a cappella groups are also gaining popularity like Case Western's Dhamakapella, Johns Hopkins Kranti, University of Maryland Anokha, Drexel Shor, UCSD Sur Taal, GWU Geet, UCLA Naya Zamaana, Michigan's Maize Mirchi and Rutgers R.A.A.G. These groups have attained significant critical acclaim with their distinct style of mixing songs and applying a cappella to styles of different cultures. Penn Masala has songs in Hindi, Arabic, English, Punjabi and Gujarati, with lyrics from different languages in the same song. Currently the only South Asian a cappella competition takes place annually at the University of California, Berkeley, known as "Anahat." In 2009, Johns Hopkins Kranti plans to break tradition and host a Hindi Acappella Charity Showcase with AID on the East Coast for all Hindi Acappella groups on the other side of the country.
This form of music has grown rapidly and is starting to make waves in Africa. The foremost group in Africa is called Navi Redd, and started making music in 2004. This professional group consists of eight male members who have been referred to as the Rebels of Acappella Music. They started singing at University, and now sing full time.
Increased interest in modern a cappella (particularly collegiate a cappella) can be seen in the growth of awards such as the Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards (overseen by the Contemporary A Cappella Society) and competitions such as the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella for college groups and the Harmony Sweepstakes for all groups.
In addition to singing words, some a cappella singers also emulate instrumentation by reproducing the melody with their vocal cords. For instance, "Twilight Zone" by 2 Unlimited was sung a cappella to the instrumentation on the comedy television series Tompkins Square. Another famous example of emulating instrumentation instead of singing the words is the theme song for The New Addams Family series on Fox Family Channel (now ABC Family). Groups such as Vocal Sampling and Undivided emulate Latin rhythms a cappella. In the 1960s, the Swingle Singers used their voices to emulate musical instruments to Baroque and Classical music. Vocal artist Bobby McFerrin is famous for his instrumental emulation, and Deke Sharon has taught seminars on how to sing a variety of instrumental sounds.
The Swingle Singers used nonsense words to sound like instruments, but have been known to produce non-verbal versions of musical instruments. Like the other groups, examples of their music can be found on YouTube. Beatboxing is a form of a cappella music popular in the hip-hop community, where rap is often performed a cappella also.
Christian rock group Relient K recorded the song "Plead the Fifth" a cappella on their album Five Score and Seven Years Ago. The group recorded lead singer Matt Thiessen making drum noises and played them with electronic drums to make the song.