So there was really no opportunity for women to sing at Amherst College this was founded in effort to help them.” Director Madison Green ’24 discussed how in the 1970s, soon after coeducation began, the Sabrinas “mostly started out as a way for people to sing who weren't going to get into Choral Society … because at the time, Choral Society was all male. Sabrinas is for women and femme in the alto-soprano range. Other groups were founded as students’ interest in a cappella exceeded the capacities of preexisting groups. Holding responded through an email: “We’ve been solid for a long time and are definitely the oldest group on campus!” “They will fight us on that,” Zumbyes assistant music director Phoebe Neilsen ’25 said. Though they were established in 1950, they are the “oldest continually running acapella group on campus” because DQ went on a hiatus at one point, according to music director Saif Salim ’24. It was founded in the 1920s, which director Claire Holding ’26 said makes it “the oldest a cappella group on campus and actually the oldest a cappella group in Western Mass.”īut the Zumbyes, an all-gender group for tenors and basses, also claim the title of the oldest Amherst a cappella group. DQ is for all genders and for sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses. Throughout my interviews with each group, friendly rivalry was on display - members would often ask me what I’d heard from other groups and insisted that, no matter what anyone else said, I should only believe their version of any given story.Įven the timeline of the different a cappella groups’ founding is hotly contested. I interviewed leaders from all six a cappella groups - Bluestockings, DQ, Route 9, The Sabrinas, Terras Irradient, and the Zumbyes - to learn about the origins of their groups, their traditions and secrets, and how a cappella has changed on campus to become more inclusive. After more than a century, a cappella groups have built a rich history of lore and traditions invisible to most students. But in the dead of night, members of these groups have been sneaking around campus, engaging in more mysterious - and quieter - activities.Īs a “singing college,” a cappella has been central to Amherst since the 1920s when DQ, our oldest still-running group, was founded. There was nothing secret about Amherst’s a cappella performances this fall - in fact, if you were anywhere near the first-year quad on the day of the a cappella showcase, you likely heard many harmonious voices ringing across campus. Amherst has long been known as “The Singing College.” Graphic courtesy of Nina Aagaard ’26. Staff writer June Dorsch '27 examines the legacies, lore, and hidden secrets of Amherst's six a capella groups. Amherst earned its nickname as the "singing college" for good reason.
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