The Evolution of A Cappella: From Demo Recordings to Mainstream Success

In the world of music, few genres have undergone as significant a transformation as a cappella. From humble beginnings as a niche interest among college students to mainstream popularity and even television shows, a cappella has come a long way. The journey began with demo recordings created by Deke Sharon, a singer-songwriter who layered his voice with his partner's to create an arrangement of the song "Don't Fear the Reaper." This early experiment laid the groundwork for a cappella's future success.

Sharon's involvement in college music arrangements caught the attention of other institutions, which led to him starting an arranging business. By the time he graduated, Sharon had already established a thriving career as an arranger. The opportunity to join the television show "Sing-Off," a music competition featuring acapella acts, was a turning point for Sharon and the genre as a whole. Despite initial doubts about his own abilities, Sharon's hard work paid off, and he became a producer on the show.

The success of "Sing-Off" paved the way for other groups to achieve mainstream recognition. The show has become an annual holiday tradition on NBC, showcasing the talents of various acapella groups. Pentatonix, one of the most successful acapella acts, rose to fame after appearing on the show. Their journey from unknowns to award-winning performers serves as a testament to the power of a cappella music.

When it came time to create the soundtrack for the 2014 film "Pitch Perfect," director Jason Moore knew that he needed to assemble a diverse group of singers. The Barden Bellas, the university's acapella group, was chosen for their unique sound and style. Despite initial concerns about their abilities, Moore believed in the group's potential and saw an opportunity to create something special. The movie's success helped catapult the genre into the mainstream, introducing a cappella music to a wider audience.

One of the most significant challenges in creating a film featuring acapella music was finding actors who could sing convincingly. Moore has stated that he looked for individuals with strong vocal skills, but also those who could bring their own unique energy to the performances. The result was a cast of characters who not only sang well but also brought their own distinct personalities to the screen.

In recent years, acapella music has experienced a resurgence in popularity. With the rise of social media and online platforms, it's easier than ever for groups to share their music and connect with fans. However, there is still a sense that many people are afraid to sing or participate in group performances. Deke Sharon believes that this is due in part to the influence of popular culture, which often emphasizes individual talent over collective effort.

Sharon also notes that one of the most significant challenges facing acapella music today is its own potential for innovation and growth. With the widespread availability of recording technology and software, it's easier than ever to create high-quality music at home. However, Sharon argues that this has led to a homogenization of sound, with many groups relying on familiar styles and arrangements rather than pushing the boundaries of what is possible.

Ultimately, Deke Sharon sees acapella music as a powerful tool for connection and expression. He believes that when people come together to sing, they can create something truly special – a sense of community and shared experience that transcends individual differences. In an era where technology has made it easier than ever to connect with others, Sharon's message is more relevant than ever: the human voice is the most versatile instrument of all, capable of conveying emotions, telling stories, and bringing people together in ways that few other instruments can.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthe words acapella Empire probably mean nothing to you but this man deke Sharon has built one he's the musical force behind NBC's the sing-off and both pitch-perfect films and soon he'll be starring in an acappella reality show on lifetime it's not an exaggeration to say that deke is responsible for much of the modern acapella scene and sure that's a pretty specific scene but that doesn't seem to bother him when you look at the the sort of like fictional representations of acapella the ones that have been really big zip it's perfect and Glee like the attitude of those works toward the acapella itself like consuming part of an acapella singing group right like the commentators and pitch-perfect are mean yeah totally yeah so so first time we were sitting around that table with Liz Banks I turned to her and I said look I know this movie is a comedy first you need to make fun of a cappella I want you to like make fun of us every joke no limits however if at the end of the movie people are not out of their seats cheering for this group you don't have a movie and and American culture has changed in a major way I know you cover a lot of tech stories as well the fact of the matter is what used to be seen as dorky is now now respected a lot more in fact the whole idea of nerds I think was Neil Gaiman who came up with this whole idea of someone who's a nerd in high school is someone who has a deep love of of something in a great knowledge of and for it like a lot of entrepreneurs deke found a niche market and built an industry around it unlike most tech entrepreneurs however it's a decidedly analog niche acappella as a word if you set acapella people thought classical music church music maybe doo-wop or barbershop but I wanted to sing songs that were on the radio I wanted to sing current pop music and in fact there was a college acapella group that came to my high school the Tufts Beelzebub's zing right up here and they performed for the whole student body and I was like shaft of light wham hit me and I was like this is amazing deke would go on to attend Tufts and after auditioning three times finally made it into the Beelzebub's himself it was there he developed a musical that would define contemporary acapella instead of the coral and doo-wop sounds of the past he used the human voice to emulate a modern rock band alright so take us through the anatomy of an acapella arrangement how how do you make one so what we have right here is lollipop which is the Treblemakers like stand out moment in the movie so what we've got here is a little bit of the verse and you can see you've got Jessie and Benji here singing and harmony together take a look at the girl next door she's uh playing around down at Bom Jesus loves you she wants more Oh bad girls get down the beps are being sung almost like they're like a skank guitar take a look doodoos are very like classic acapella dudu then the bass line starts to low for me to sing they'll see what I can do take a look and then little vocal percussion along with the whole thing you end up with the demo recording that I did with my partner in crime and boy what you're hearing right now is 100% my voice and Edwards voice and we just layered ourselves in all these parts to try to give a picture like what's this arrangement gonna sound like the music itself is just one ingredient in the success of this movement deke is a savvy businessman and an acapella evangelist and that started right out of college are you saying there's something I'm gonna find a way that just make this my job when I graduate and move back home to San Francisco I filed a non-profit paper work for the contemporary acapella Society of America how are you able to like pay your bills like running a non-profit acapella awareness Society other colleges heard my arrangements and they called me and said would you do arrangements for us so by the time I graduated I already had a full-fledged arranging business happening and then in 2009 acapella had its 21st century big break with a sing-off a music competition show a la American Idol totally devoted to acapella acts did you know how how how they knew you were how did you know those folks so I got this phone call right before production started casting it already happened and I walked on set and it was it was an absolute full TV show but I have to say that people didn't know what they didn't know on my first day I asked like so when a sound checks for all the group's hustle sound checks there aren't gonna be any sound checks I was like we're dead so I literally just ran around and did whatever it took to try to make that show happen and by the end of the first season they made me a producer this is our one this was our one opportunity it wasn't like we're gonna get another chance oh if this reality show about acapella falls on its face it's not like anybody's ever gonna take another chance on this for the next 30 years so this was it work though the sing-off has become a holiday tradition on NBC and groups like pentatonics have gone on a huge success acapella oddly enough is having its pop culture moment what what was the process of working on pitch perfect the Barden Bellas they've been cast to be as diverse a group of people as possible it's like the Bad News Bears and when they came in that first day sat in a circle and I was like how many of you guys have sung a cappella before we knew Kelly had because she was our one ring or we like can we have one octave fellow singer please and for the rest of them it was like I sang for a semester in junior high school does that count and I was like this movie's over it's not gonna happen it'd be as if like okay go out and get ten different actresses right and like they all like oh I can swim I can swim great turn them into a synchronized swimming squad where they'll pick the exact same way and their arms go up exact same way it's the same kind of idea I can't believe I just used synchronized swimming as another for a cappella yeah totally I'm gonna give so many letters looking at the landscape now how do you feel about sort of like where a cappella was when you like finally got onto the Beelzebub's and and where it is now so everyone used to sing all of our ancestors at the end of the day into the hunt and the they gather around the fire and they'd sing together and they tell stories there was a sense of community even a hundred years ago if you wanted to make music you had to make it yourself there's no recording the the act of music was something that everyone had inside of them and they knew that but for some reason once recordings got out there once people decided Pavarotti goes on stage and everybody else sits in the audience once American Idol hit the airwaves and they started lambasted weren't as good at singing people are afraid to sing III can't tell you how many people I've heard say I'm tone-deaf you're not tone-deaf they're like three people on the planet you were tone-deaf what I hope we're able to do through this entire thing to this entire movement is to convince more people to get back into singing groups get off the couch because people sing in their car people sing in the shower people get drunk and sing karaoke but they're not singing with other people and having that experience connecting but the human voice is the most very the most versatile instrument and the most powerful instrument I mean no synthesized no piano can make you laugh or cry within three seconds like that's what we have inside of ourselves what can we do how can we use our voices in different ways and stretch and expand the sound of what acapella can bethe words acapella Empire probably mean nothing to you but this man deke Sharon has built one he's the musical force behind NBC's the sing-off and both pitch-perfect films and soon he'll be starring in an acappella reality show on lifetime it's not an exaggeration to say that deke is responsible for much of the modern acapella scene and sure that's a pretty specific scene but that doesn't seem to bother him when you look at the the sort of like fictional representations of acapella the ones that have been really big zip it's perfect and Glee like the attitude of those works toward the acapella itself like consuming part of an acapella singing group right like the commentators and pitch-perfect are mean yeah totally yeah so so first time we were sitting around that table with Liz Banks I turned to her and I said look I know this movie is a comedy first you need to make fun of a cappella I want you to like make fun of us every joke no limits however if at the end of the movie people are not out of their seats cheering for this group you don't have a movie and and American culture has changed in a major way I know you cover a lot of tech stories as well the fact of the matter is what used to be seen as dorky is now now respected a lot more in fact the whole idea of nerds I think was Neil Gaiman who came up with this whole idea of someone who's a nerd in high school is someone who has a deep love of of something in a great knowledge of and for it like a lot of entrepreneurs deke found a niche market and built an industry around it unlike most tech entrepreneurs however it's a decidedly analog niche acappella as a word if you set acapella people thought classical music church music maybe doo-wop or barbershop but I wanted to sing songs that were on the radio I wanted to sing current pop music and in fact there was a college acapella group that came to my high school the Tufts Beelzebub's zing right up here and they performed for the whole student body and I was like shaft of light wham hit me and I was like this is amazing deke would go on to attend Tufts and after auditioning three times finally made it into the Beelzebub's himself it was there he developed a musical that would define contemporary acapella instead of the coral and doo-wop sounds of the past he used the human voice to emulate a modern rock band alright so take us through the anatomy of an acapella arrangement how how do you make one so what we have right here is lollipop which is the Treblemakers like stand out moment in the movie so what we've got here is a little bit of the verse and you can see you've got Jessie and Benji here singing and harmony together take a look at the girl next door she's uh playing around down at Bom Jesus loves you she wants more Oh bad girls get down the beps are being sung almost like they're like a skank guitar take a look doodoos are very like classic acapella dudu then the bass line starts to low for me to sing they'll see what I can do take a look and then little vocal percussion along with the whole thing you end up with the demo recording that I did with my partner in crime and boy what you're hearing right now is 100% my voice and Edwards voice and we just layered ourselves in all these parts to try to give a picture like what's this arrangement gonna sound like the music itself is just one ingredient in the success of this movement deke is a savvy businessman and an acapella evangelist and that started right out of college are you saying there's something I'm gonna find a way that just make this my job when I graduate and move back home to San Francisco I filed a non-profit paper work for the contemporary acapella Society of America how are you able to like pay your bills like running a non-profit acapella awareness Society other colleges heard my arrangements and they called me and said would you do arrangements for us so by the time I graduated I already had a full-fledged arranging business happening and then in 2009 acapella had its 21st century big break with a sing-off a music competition show a la American Idol totally devoted to acapella acts did you know how how how they knew you were how did you know those folks so I got this phone call right before production started casting it already happened and I walked on set and it was it was an absolute full TV show but I have to say that people didn't know what they didn't know on my first day I asked like so when a sound checks for all the group's hustle sound checks there aren't gonna be any sound checks I was like we're dead so I literally just ran around and did whatever it took to try to make that show happen and by the end of the first season they made me a producer this is our one this was our one opportunity it wasn't like we're gonna get another chance oh if this reality show about acapella falls on its face it's not like anybody's ever gonna take another chance on this for the next 30 years so this was it work though the sing-off has become a holiday tradition on NBC and groups like pentatonics have gone on a huge success acapella oddly enough is having its pop culture moment what what was the process of working on pitch perfect the Barden Bellas they've been cast to be as diverse a group of people as possible it's like the Bad News Bears and when they came in that first day sat in a circle and I was like how many of you guys have sung a cappella before we knew Kelly had because she was our one ring or we like can we have one octave fellow singer please and for the rest of them it was like I sang for a semester in junior high school does that count and I was like this movie's over it's not gonna happen it'd be as if like okay go out and get ten different actresses right and like they all like oh I can swim I can swim great turn them into a synchronized swimming squad where they'll pick the exact same way and their arms go up exact same way it's the same kind of idea I can't believe I just used synchronized swimming as another for a cappella yeah totally I'm gonna give so many letters looking at the landscape now how do you feel about sort of like where a cappella was when you like finally got onto the Beelzebub's and and where it is now so everyone used to sing all of our ancestors at the end of the day into the hunt and the they gather around the fire and they'd sing together and they tell stories there was a sense of community even a hundred years ago if you wanted to make music you had to make it yourself there's no recording the the act of music was something that everyone had inside of them and they knew that but for some reason once recordings got out there once people decided Pavarotti goes on stage and everybody else sits in the audience once American Idol hit the airwaves and they started lambasted weren't as good at singing people are afraid to sing III can't tell you how many people I've heard say I'm tone-deaf you're not tone-deaf they're like three people on the planet you were tone-deaf what I hope we're able to do through this entire thing to this entire movement is to convince more people to get back into singing groups get off the couch because people sing in their car people sing in the shower people get drunk and sing karaoke but they're not singing with other people and having that experience connecting but the human voice is the most very the most versatile instrument and the most powerful instrument I mean no synthesized no piano can make you laugh or cry within three seconds like that's what we have inside of ourselves what can we do how can we use our voices in different ways and stretch and expand the sound of what acapella can be\n"