Blog Post #4 - A Cappella Night '17

Photo by: Emma Doherty '19

Photo by: Lauren Hyde '18

Photo by: Emma Doherty '19

Photo by: Lauren Hyde '18

By: Jamie Boghosian '18
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​A Cappella Night 2017 was a hit! This year’s headlining act was the Hexachords, a six person a cappella group similar to our own, Deception. Before call times and soundchecks, all chorus students, including those in the a cappella groups, were invited to a workshop held at 4:00pm led by the Hexachords. During the workshop, our three a cappella groups got the chance to take the stage and perform their sets. In return, the Hexachords gave commentary and advice to make the sets even better.

Deception was the first to perform, followed by Falconize, then Ingrid Sound. Members of the Hexachords gave their input on what each group could do to improve. Most of the comments were about having confidence and really getting into the songs. I found the workshop to be very beneficial and helpful towards our performances later on that evening.

As a junior, this was my third year being a part of A Cappella Night. I’ve been in Mixed Chorus, I’ve watched Swingtown, the Northshoremen, and Falconize, and I’ve actually seen the Hexachords in concert before. I was very eager to see Deception, our newest group of the high school, open the show. This year was also the first year that Hawks-in-Harmony, Holten Richmond Middle School’s new group, was invited to make their A Cappella Night debut.

MCing the event was freshman Sam Patterson, member of the Mixed Chorus and the Chorus Executive Committee. He introduced every group with animation and enthusiasm despite how many times his microphone cut out on him. The first two groups he introduced were Deception and Hawks-in-Harmony.

After Deception and Hawks-in-Harmony finished their sets, it was time for the largest group of the night to perform, DHS Mixed Chorus. The group of ninety Danvers High freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors sang “How to Save a Life” by The Fray and “Electric Love” by Borns.

Every year, each student in chorus brings in a song that they’d like to sing and through rounds of voting, we narrow it down to two songs. This year I was very excited because I was the student who brought in “Electric Love”.

Next up was Swingtown from St. John’s Prep who make an appearance at A Cappella Night every year. Hawks-in-Harmony was not the only group to have middle school members. Last year, St. John’s Prep began to include grades 6-8 at their school in addition to grades 9-12, therefore so did Swingtown in their group.  

The Northshoremen, who also make yearly appearances at A Cappella Night, came on right after Swingtown. Their group consists of 54 members ranging from men in their forties to men in their nineties. They have been around since 1948 and have been singing at A Cappella night since the very first one in 2013. Along with Hawks-in-Harmony and Swingtown, they created a widely diverse age group of a cappella lovers.

Ingrid Sound was up next! Our set featured songs were “Time Machine” by Ingrid Michaelson, the artist who our group is named after, “Out of the Woods” by Taylor Swift, which was placed on the Varsity Vocals Best of High School A Cappella 2017 compilation album, and “The Other Side” by Bruno Mars, which won “Best Halloween Themed Song” at the Haunted Harmonies Competition held in October. The weekend after A Cappella night, Ingrid Sound competed at NE Voices and won first place for this set! We also won “Best Visual Presentation” and we will be traveling to Memphis, Tennessee this coming April to compete at NACC, the National A Cappella Convention.

When we were finished with our award winning songs, it was time for intermission. Everybody either remained in the auditorium or went towards the lobby to buy something from our annual bake sale. The money raised from the bake sale will go straight towards the Danvers High Choral Program.

Falconize and the Hexachords were the last remaining groups when intermission was over. Falconize performed “All too Well” by Taylor Swift, “Maps” by Maroon 5, and “All Time Low” by Jon Bellion. Two weeks after A Cappella Night, Falconize competed in ICHSA Northeast Quarterfinals and won first place for this set! They also won “Outstanding Soloist” for Siobhan Breen in “All too Well”, “Outstanding Vocal Percussion” for Jared Casey, “Outstanding Arrangement” for Bella Burrell, and “Outstanding Choreography” for their entire set.

When Falconize was finished, it was time for our headliners. The Hexachords came on stage and introduced themselves. They then sang their set to which I was blown away by, even after seeing them prior to A Cappella Night. They were absolutely incredible and the crowd loved them.

When The Hexachords announced that their time at Danvers High was coming to an end, the audience expressed their disappointment. As they were saying their goodbyes, people in the crowd began to shout “Encore, encore!” The group made a last minute decision to invite all the singers from the evening up onto the stage with them to sing and dance along to “I Want You Back” by Jackson 5. The stage was so packed and full of people that I thought it would break! The audience was clapping along and everybody in the room was having a great time. It was a perfect end to a perfect night filled with music and excitement and I cannot wait until next year.