Rhapsody A Cappella participates in national competition

Editor's Note: A previously-published version of this story stated that the Rhapsody A Cappella team placed 4th at this year’s international competition and placed third last year. On Feb. 11, the story and title were corrected online to reflect the fact that the club did not receive an official placement this year nor third place last year, and that the competition was international and not national.

People may have learned about college a cappella competitions from the timeless movie “Pitch Perfect.” However, the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) is very real, and MSU just sent a team to this year’s international competition. 

Rhapsody A Cappella, founded in 2008, has competed at the ICCA six times. Bailey Jarrett, the choreographer for the group, said that Rhapsody is the only team from Montana to compete at the ICCA.

“It’s a really awesome feeling to be able to go somewhere like that, and to have the opportunity to have such a big stage and big reach,” she said. 

After months of rehearsing, Rhapsody packed their bags for Salem, Oregon where the ICCA West Quarterfinal 2 was held on Jan. 31. 

“I’m really excited for the freshmen and everyone who’s new to the group this year to experience the weekend of camaraderie and all the emotional highs and lows that come with performing,” Jarrett said. 

At the competition, the team’s beatboxer won the best vocal percussionist award, beating out nine other performers. 

Preparation for the ICCA begins almost an entire year in advance. Kai Caldwell, the club’s president of musicality, said he began the search for this year’s music set last May. 

“We come up with a vision or idea of what we want our set to look like,” Caldwell said. “The main starting point is finding songs that are going to fit our vibe.” 

This year, the group’s 10-minute set uses three songs to tell the story of a tumultuous relationship. 

The set opens with “My Boy” by Billie Eilish, a song about a couple that’s upset with each other. The next song is “The Seed” by AURORA, which is meant to be an argument between the two people. The last song is “Bad Liar” by Imagine Dragons, an apologetic closing. 

Once the songs are selected, specific chords and melodies are assigned to each singer.

“I make sure that everything congeals really well together so that in the end our arrangement will sound super good in front of judges and an audience,” Caldwell said.

President of logistics Aspen McKee said everything performed on stage is composed and choreographed by students. 

“We can outsource arrangements if we want,” McKee said. “But one of the parts of [the] ICCA competition is that if students in your group choreographed or arranged the music, they can earn awards for that. So we try to bring our own music for the ICCA competition.”

After the music is finalized, Jarrett creates the choreography for the set. She said her focus for this year was to choreograph in a way that didn’t impact the group's vocals.

“Choreography makes or breaks the impact of what we’re doing, and it’s important for us to come across in a certain way and make sure we’re expressing the music to the fullest extent we can,” she said.

McKee said the preparation for the ICCA is stressful, but worth it. “My biggest takeaway from the competition was how truly important it is to give yourself time and space to do the things you love,” she said.  

McKee said the future is bright for the club. “We have some new members who enjoy arranging, and I think are going to bring some cool music to the table,” she said. 

For more information about Rhapsody, visit its Instagram, @rhapsodyacapella.