In case you weren’t able to attend, here are the results of the 2011 Collegiate Competition:

Collegiate Competition – Friday, Nov. 11, 2011

• 1st place: Berklee Pitch Slapped
• 2nd place: Flordia State University AcaBelles

Special Awards

• Best Female Soloist: Ingrid Andress (Pitch Slapped)
• Best Male Soloist: Mark Joseph (Pitch Slapped)
• Best Staging: Acappology
• Best Arrangement: “Love on Top” – Hannah Juliano (Pitch Slapped)
• Best VP: Jake Kuhn (Pitch Forks)
• Best Choreography: AcaBelles
• Audience Favorite: UNCG Sapphires

We want to send a big thank you to all of the groups who performed, both professional and collegiate, for your hard work and commitment to SoJam. We hope to see you next year!

Mobile Schedule

There is a mobile schedule available for the weekend. Find info about classes, performances, food options and more!

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Live Broadcast of Professional Concert

If you couldn’t make it to the festival, be sure to catch the live broadcast of the concert this evening.

Just about a year ago, armed with nothing more than a pocketful of postcards and my tentative smile, I crossed the threshold into the upstairs room that was hosting the SoJam CAL Reception at The Carolina Theatre. Had I known that that particular evening would forever alter the course of my life, I might have taken a moment to cement the moment in my memory or done something equally epic for posterity. Instead, I made straight for the wine that was being poured by (who I would later learn was none other than) CAL Director, Amanda Aldag (now CASA’s Vice President). I wish I would have known who was serving my beverage – I would have kidnapped her, along with a few bottles of wine, and made her spill all her superwoman secrets.

As I stood off to the side and wondered what the heck I was doing there, a ridiculously friendly, bald-headed, goatee-sporting man from California with a friendly smile stopped to introduce himself. His zeal for contemporary a cappella music and his easy manner immediately put me at ease. And as he spoke, I dubbed him (in my head) as the Mayor of SoJam. (Sorry, Tom!) It turns out that he was future CASA Program Manager and CAL Director, Tom Keyes.

While Tom and I spoke about the difficulties of starting a post-collegiate group from scratch, he stopped another passerby to say hello. The two volleyed for a minute about some kind of podcast thing as Tom asked if “Chris” had gotten into town yet. I tried to keep up with the conversation, but being an aca-zygote, a lot was lost on me. It’s so sad that the first time I was introduced to Dave Brown I had no idea who he was. (Sorry, Dave!)

Tom politely excused himself, saying something about having to catch up with Chris(topher Harrison) and told me to be sure to introduce myself to T.O.? TeePee? T.K.? (Yeah, that would be TeKay (sorry!) and maybe next time I’ll do my homework.) I decided to venture out from my corner now that the wine had had its desired effect and crossed paths with another cordial CAL member named Mickey. Mickey (Hamilton) was from upstate New York and had bright blue eyes along with some hysterical stories about his post-collegiate a cappella experiences. He was nice enough to point out Alex Koutzoukis, member of the Tufts Beelzebubs, who I recognized from Season 1 of “The Sing Off” and who I (embarrassingly) accosted. (Sorry, Alex!) Alex was a great sport about the whole thing and patiently entertained all my questions before politely excusing himself (probably mentally noting to avoid the crazy girl from Wake Forest).

Next, I (shamelessly) inserted myself into a conversation with three of the prettiest ladies in the room and learned a lot in a few short minutes about women in a cappella. Two of the women chatted with me about families and babies (Stefanie Albright and Kim Hodges of Clearly Vocal) while the third (a fresh-faced blonde with a great sense of style) taught me that women can, in fact, be vocal percussionists. (You may recognize Kari Francis as the VP of “Kinfolk 9” from “The Sing Off”?)

Our attention was drawn to the front of the room where a hilarious guy named Christopher (Diaz) welcomed us and spoke about CAL. I’d love to say that I heard every last word, but I was too busy marveling at the incredible people surrounding me (Sorry, Chris!) Where had all these individuals been all my life? How come I had never heard about CASA until recently? And who was this enigmatic “Dio” person they all kept referring to? Was this guy so full of himself he dubbed himself “god”? (Sorry, Dio!)

If I knew then what I know now… I could apologize to all the other aca-elite I conversed with that weekend at SoJam, whose names and faces I probably should have known. I could apologize to the people who were sitting in front of me at the Saturday Professional showcase who were probably deaf after I finished screaming for Sonos’ encore. I could apologize to my family and friends who, for weeks afterward, had to listen to me gush about my SoJam exeperience.

I could do all of that, but I won’t. Because I’m not sorry for taking a chance and attending a festival where I knew virtually no one. I’m not sorry for putting myself out there and introducing myself to people I probably had no business speaking to. I’m not sorry for my (bordering on obnoxious) promotion of SoJam. I’m certainly not sorry for putting events in motion that led to me being a part of the 2011 SoJam Production Team. And I’m especially not sorry for connecting with people that are fast becoming not only colleagues, but lifelong friends.

SoJam changes lives, people. Sorry I’m not sorry.

On my first trip to SoJam, I hadn’t yet been exposed to too much of the aca-world outside of upstate New York. I had read Pitch Perfect and as such, deemed names like Bill Hare, Ed Boyer, and Dave Sperandio as those of deities. Having only experienced professional a cappella once, in high school, I had expected everyone at the festival to be stuffy rock stars. I had offered to volunteer by shadowing Tony Huerta as his stagehand and front of house assistant for the Friday collegiate competition and Saturday professional showcase. Tony, of course, had been the front of house engineer for Take 6, M-Pact, and others for many years.

My experience with Tony was the first indication that SoJam would completely exceed my expectations. From the minute I shook his hand, the man had a smile on his face and a laugh in his heart. He was very cool and collected during all of the setup, sound-checks, and final shows. He was open to suggestions, even from a newbie like myself, and was readily willing to experiment and push the art form forward. Through every step of the process, he did not hide anything from me, readily sharing his tips and tricks of how he takes each show to the next level.

My most memorable sound-check of the weekend belonged to Sonos, a fun, eclectic bunch of aca-nuts who would gladly give you a hug upon meeting you. We were trying some new tech out to get them off of their typically wired setup and into the wireless world, and there were hiccups. The hiccups occurred while they created a jingle about the sound crew and happily danced around the stage. Again, I went in expecting to be shunned from learning the secret tricks that make Sonos who they are. In reality, Chris readily explained his effects setup, what he liked and didn’t like about each piece of gear, and why he was thankful for working with Tony. Once the hiccups were worked out, I got to sit back and watch Tony add a level of wow-factor to this already amazing group that I had never seen before. I decided that day that I wanted to be that man in the future.

I am now the Technical Producer of SoJam. I have the privilege to take this already phenomenal festival and add my own spin. One of the biggest changes this year, from a sound perspective, will be the move to individual handheld mics for collegiate groups. The move to handhelds will ensure that every member of the group is heard, not just the soloist, shedding some more light on the intricacies of the competitors’ arrangements. I can’t begin to share my excitement for the killer show that will be this year’s Friday Collegiate Competition and, it goes without saying, Saturday Professional Showcase.

See y’all there! Be sure to come up and talk to me and the rest of the SoJam crew. We would be happy to spread our experiences in the aca-verse with all of you!

Post your caption in the comments, and you may just win something at SoJam 2011.

As I entered my senior year at Syracuse University, I began my presidency of the all-female a cappella group, The Mandarins. I knew that I wanted to have an impact not only on my group, but on the rest of the a cappella community. A cappella had become my musical outlet and a passion, and I wanted to learn as much as I could about it and share it with the upstate New York community at large. Little did I know what a huge community there already was.

I had no idea the number of people who had dedicated their entire lives to “fostering and promoting contemporary a cappella music around the world through education, recognition, and the creation of performance opportunities.” I only learned about CASA when I started boldly proclaiming that I was going to start an a cappella conference the coming spring. Many people recommended that I look at CASA and SoJam, and eventually I did. To my amazement, Dave Sperandio had not only already created what I had imagined, but he was willing to help me do it in Syracuse! Step one though, was attending SoJam.

It took a bit of work, but I was able to convince my choir director to excuse me from our fall homecoming performance. I joined a caravan of upstate New Yorkers heading down to this a cappella mecca. This caravan developed into the production team for what would be SMACC. We spent the weekend meeting people we had only read about or listened to, watching performances that we couldn’t have imagined possible, and connecting with our peers in the collegiate a cappella community.

We left SoJam in awe. There was a whole world of a cappella that we had known nothing about! We wrote pages of notes on the car ride back, itemizing all of the things that inspired us, and how we wanted to incorporate them into the conference we would create. In coming months Dio mentored us through the trials and tribulations of creating a new event, while teaching our eager crew.

SMACC came, and thanks to our entire team’s effort, was a success. Our college competition had a winner, our classrooms were full, our professional showcase ended with people up out of their seats dancing to NOTA, and I knew that this could not be the end of my relationship with a cappella. Our team also saw an opportunity to improve this event. Our hope was to move it to Boston.

As life would have it, I ended up moving to Boston after my graduation from the big orange, and a new team started to fall into place for what is now BOSS- The new kid on the CASA a cappella festival block.

SoJam continues to be a reminder of not only what an a cappella event has the potential to be, but also an inspiration to me personally. It reminds me every year that an event can inspire others and create a community, helping people to live up to their full potential. And due to much more than coincidence, I now run events for a living.

I cannot wait to meet you at SoJam this year, and to see how it will influence your life!

If you registered as a group, please make sure you have filled out both of the following forms:

• Masterclass Registration
• Advanced Registration Workshops

If you have any questions, please email Benjamin Stevens.

The SoJam 2011 Competitors are, in no particular order:

1. Berklee College of Music Pitch Slapped
2. University of South Carolina Cocktails
3. Duke University Pitchforks
4. Florida State University AcaBelles
5. University of North Carolina at Greensboro Sapphires
6. North Carolina State University Acappology

Congratulations to this year’s selected competitors.

Nicole Milano is the Assistant Festival/Event Education Coordinator, CASA and SoJam Social Media and Marketing Coordinator for SoJam 2011.