a crapella

By Todd Stadler · Thursday, May 3, 2001 5:59pm

I'm not sure why, but I found myself reading this article on the Rice Philharmonics, one of my alma mater's a capella groups. And it made me sad.

Never mind that it's a total fluff piece written by Rice's in-house propaganda factory, known to churn out more than their fair share of really goofy journalism.

No, what bugs me is the tale, seemingly approved of by the author, of how this group of happy nerds changed their style, their personality, to become more popular. To fit in.

"Until last year, the Rice a cappella group was very traditional in format, even singing a lot of spirituals and madrigals. But one thing they learned is that now collegiate a cappella is into contemporary pop rock." So they dropped a favorite song written by a former Philharmonics member, because they "realized [they] had to do more mainstream music" in competitions.

I likely wouldn't have issues with this if it didn't seem so emblematic of things at Rice. If you read between the lines, you can actually hear the administrators admonishing those who would walk the road less travelled, chiding them for being different.

That's what I feel the prevailing attitude has been at Rice, more and more each year. Of course, I wasn't exactly the darling of Rice's social scene, so maybe I'm just brewing in my outcast role, doomed to sneer at all the Who's down in Whoville.

So now they've placed in the competition for which they changed their style. Good boys and girls. You've followed the rules very well. Still, it bothers me when anyone thinks they have learned a lesson when they are told they have to conform to win approval. To change who they are.

Or maybe I'm just bothered that they had the gall to title the CD which incorporates this new style No Timidity.