Striking a Chord
Hi everyone! I’m Michael Mestitz, and I’ll be one of the student bloggers this semester. I’m a senior triple-majoring in Economics, Philosophy, and Medieval-Renaissance Studies, which is unusual, but a huge amount of fun. Outside the classroom, I’ve been involved in student government, student theatre, and I’m a satire columnist for the Miscellany News, which is Vassar’s weekly, student-run newspaper. I’m headed to law school next year, but while I’m still here, I want to take the opportunity to share some of my favorite things about Vassar with you! More often than not, my posts are going to link to one (or two or three) videos, pages, or sources for you to explore what I’m talking about in more depth. Basically, what I’m saying is: be ready for homework from my posts. But in return, I promise you that checking those links out—just a fraction of the things Vassar has to offer you—will be well worth your time.
For this post, I was inspired by the gray mix of rain and snow we’ve been getting this week to talk about something that always brightens my day; listening to some music. In particular, I want to share a little about a cappella here at Vassar.
A cappella is something of a fixture of college campuses, and Vassar is no exception. What lets Vassar hit a high note (ha!) however, is the incredible range of opportunities we have on campus for students to participate. In total, we’ve got about seven different a cappella groups on campus. Talking about each of them would make this an essay, not a blog post, so I want to focus on one of my personal favorites: The Night Owls.
The Owls were Vassar’s very first a cappella group, and are the oldest continuous all-female a cappella group in the United States. These strigidaeic sirens still dress in all black in order to commemorate the circumstances of their founding. According to lore, the group came about during the polio epidemic of 1942, when the entire student population of Vassar was put under quarantine. Sixteen Vassar ladies snuck out of their dorms in the cover of darkness, dressed in black, to meet in the basement of the library and sing.
As another homage to their founding, they’ve stuck with a jazzy sound, even if they’re arranging contemporary songs. A few of my favorites that they do are Up the Ladder to the Roof, which blows me away with its harmonies, and Unchain my Heart, which has to be heard to be believed. (I should note that the zombie makeup in Unchain my Heart is due to the Owls’ concert theme for last semester, Night (Owls) of the Living Dead. They arranged the peppiest zombie jazz intro that I ever did hear.)
If you guys enjoyed this post, let me know and I can tell you more about our other great groups; all of them are on YouTube, of course, and so you can continue to explore a cappella at Vassar on your own time.
P.S.: Okay, one more, this time from Matthew’s Minstrels, presenting Happy Ending. (Concert theme: Minstrels go to the North Pole.)
P.P.S.: I lied. One last pop offering from the Vastards, performing an amazingly well-arranged and extremely fun Destiny’s Child medley. Now go do your homework! Or, like me, just keep doing this.
