International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella

The International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella, originally the National Championship of Collegiate A Cappella ("ICCA", a play on NCAA), is an international competition that attracts hundreds of college a cappella groups each year.^[1]

History

Founded in 1996 by Adam Farb and Deke Sharon, the ICCA tournament takes place from January through April in seven regions: West, Midwest, South, Mid-Atlantic, Great Lakes, Northeast, and Europe.

The ICCA has been presented by Varsity Vocals since 1999, when it was purchased by Don Gooding (a cappella.com, Contemporary A Cappella Publishing). Amanda Newman became owner of Varsity Vocals in 2008.

In 2005, the success of the ICCA produced a spin-off competition, the International Championship of High School A Cappella (ICHSA).

Guidelines

Each region holds several quarterfinal events. The top two college groups at each quarterfinal advance to the semifinals, and the winner of each semifinal is invited to participate in finals, currently held at the Beacon Theatre (the event has also been held in Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Hall and The Town Hall Theatre), where they compete for coveted title of International Champion. ^[2]

Each group prepares a short 12 minute performance (usually three songs) that best show the group's strengths. Primary focus is on a group's musical performance, but presentation is important so it's not unusual to see choreography involved as well. Groups generally range in size from 8-20. A panel of three to five trained judges evaluates the group's performance.

Vocal performance

According to official Varsity Vocals documents, the aspects of vocal performance that are integral to a high-scoring ICCA performance include balance and blend, quality and inventiveness of arrangement, rhythmic accuracy, interpretation of song, intonation, solo interpretation, tone quality, dynamic precision, and diction. The first six of these concepts are graded on a 1-10 scale, while the last three are graded on a 1-5 scale. These numbers are added up, then added to the number for the next section, Visual Performance. The total possible score for this section is 75.^[3]

Visual performance

Visual performance is, while not as highly weighted as vocal performance, still an integral aspect of any ICCA performance. The various aspects of visual performance include visual cohesiveness, effectiveness of presentation, energy/stage presence, appropriateness of movement, creativity of movement, transitioning/blocking, and professionalism. The first three categories are graded on a 1-10 scale, while the last four are graded on a 1-5 scale. The purpose of visual presentation is to present, not unlike a show choir, the emotiveness of a performance through body movement. While oftentimes a group may value Vocal Performance over Visual Performance, high marks and Semifinal award winning performances have relied equally on the strength of their movement with that of their sound.^[3]

Subjective ranking

Finally, another crucial aspect of the performance grade comes in the form of a ranking box. If a judge decides that your group merits 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place in the overall competition, they circle one of these choices, which comes to correspond with an additive point value. So, if a judge decides you are the 1st place group, another 30 points are added to that individual judge’s overall score. If they decide you are 2nd, you receive an additional 20 points, and if they decide you are 3rd, you receive an additional 10 points. These go towards the eventual rankings at the end of the night’s performance, when the judges announce the first place winner, the runner up, and the second runner up.^[3]

Occasionally the event has caught the attention of national media. The greatest television exposure was three successive performances on The Today Show in 2001, culminating with a Monday morning performance by the champions, the University of Michigan Compulsive Lyres. The following year, competitors the Skidmore Dynamics were the subject of a New York Times article a few days before they took the stage at Lincoln Center.

Following their first ICCA win, and appearance on The Today Show in 2008, the SoCal VoCals were featured in an article in Newsweek Magazine.

The 2012 film Pitch Perfect followed a fictional team (one member of which was played by Kelley Jakle, an actual ICCA champion as a member of the 2008 and 2010 SoCal VoCals) to the ICCA Championship.

Previous Champions

Notes

12. Payson-Lewis, Dan. "My Real Hollywood Ending." Newsweek. 9 Aug. 2008: 32.

External links

• Official Site