For the first time in history, Pitch Please, Northwood’s a cappella group, will compete in the International Championship of High School A Cappella (ICHSA) Feb. 20.
“This is the first big competition that I’ve been to with this group, and I think that for a lot of us, and especially for Mr. Hanson, it represents the progress that this group has made over the past three or four years from its humble beginnings,” junior Jacob Buster said. “I think a lot of us are hoping to prove that the little tiny town of Pittsboro has a really good vocal group, a really good a cappella group.”
According to Varsity Vocals, the “home of student a cappella since 1995” and venue for the championship, the ICHSA was founded in 2001 and has around 150 groups in quarterfinals and semifinals in eight different regions nationwide.
Pitch Please is traveling to Norcross High School in Norcross, Georgia to compete with eight to ten other a capella groups from the Southeast region.
“[I thought], ‘Oh my gosh; it’s in four days,’” junior Olivia Somers said. “That’s when I started freaking out. That was my realization of how close it is, because all performers say, ‘Oh, it’s okay to get nervous,’ but you have different levels of nervousness. I’m a little freaked out right now. When we get on the bus Friday morning, that’s going to be reality.”
For junior Corbin Edwards, the excitement has set in, and the anxiety will come much later.
“I think I’ll be very excited when we actually show up at the high school,” Edwards said. “The really anxious, excited feeling hasn’t really hit me yet, but I know it will, eventually. It always comes at the last minute.”
Pitch Please sent in a video submission for the competition Oct. 15, and the group was accepted Nov. 15, which means it will go straight to the Southeast semifinals. In addition to the semifinals in Georgia, there will be approximately 15 other semifinals going on around the country competing for a place in the final round.
The group will be performing a set of three songs: “Sleep” by Allen Stone, “Ain’t it Fun” by Paramore and “I Was Here” by Beyonce.
Groups competing in ICHSA can be recognized for second and third place; first place winners will go to New York City and compete in the finals at the Town Hall Theater in Midtown Manhattan. There are five judges who use a point-based score system.
“If we make it past semifinals, we go to New York, which is the finals, and that is everyone throughout the nation,” Buster said. “If we win there, I’m not quite sure what happens, but I know it’s going to be good and I know it’s going to mean a lot of good things. I’m not too sure what the prize is; I honestly don’t really care what the prize is; just going to New York would be a prize enough. Getting to finals would be a great thing, especially since this is our first time.”
Somers said Pitch Please has been practicing non-stop for the competition, and it has been especially complicated lately with members of Pitch Please rehearsing for the Spring Musical, The Wedding Singer, as well.
“When we went to RJ Reynolds High School and performed there a couple weeks ago, we got to see a couple of groups from North Carolina that are also going to compete,” Edwards said. “We don’t have a complete idea of all the competition we’re going to see there, but I do think we are pretty competitive, we are a very good group. We’re working really hard.”
– By Leah Kallam