LAAF 2012 workshops will be held at UCLA.
Schedule | Descriptions | Instructors
Workshops and schedule subject to change.
Certain limited-enrollment workshops* and all masterclasses require advance registration; this advance registration will open on Friday, December 30th and close Friday, January 13th. Rosters and the masterclass schedule will be announced Friday, January 20th.
*The limited-enrollment workshops are: Crafting your Sound World, DIY Recording, Group Motivation, Seeing Music, Serious Business. Enroll here.
Questions? Contact Benjamin Stevens.
| Create | Music and movement from the ground up! |
| Explore | A cappella culture, history and theory! |
| Manage | How to move from ‘surviving’ to ‘thriving’! |
| Perform | Master your instrument… and own the stage! |
| Sound | Make the sound system your best friend! |
| Masterclass | One-on-one with experienced master clinicians! (Advanced registration required.)* |
Saturday, January 28, 2012 |
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| Time | Royce 362 | Haines 118 | Haines 220 | Royce 156 | |
| 8:30 AM | Welcome Session / Registration | ||||
| 9:00 AM | Live Sound Longo |
Open Masterclass w/ headliners |
Group Dynamics J. Hoffman |
Arranging Panel Anderson, Bram, et al. |
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| 10:00 AM | AcaBombs:
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| 10:30 AM | Deconstructing the Lead G. Hoffman |
I am Woman panel: Francis et al. |
All-male A cappella Koutzoukis |
Improv Gawboy |
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| 11:30 AM | AcaBombs:
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| 12:00 PM | LUNCH BREAK | ||||
| 1:00 PM | Beginning VP Francis, Pilat |
TSO Q&A moderator: G. Hoffman |
I Make Gold Records panel: Sperandio et al. |
Visual Identity Daly |
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| 2:00 PM | AcaBombs:
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| 2:30 PM | The Rhythm Section Curless, Smith |
Essential Listening Stevens |
Digital Distribution Crawford |
A cappella PSYCH Caruso |
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| 3:30 PM | AcaBombs:
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| 4:00 PM | The Lowdown on Bass Vocals Vinson |
Open Masterclass Scattertones w/ Sonos (Ackerman Grand Ballroom) |
Planning an A cappella Festival He, Lo Biondo |
Songwriting Willacy |
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Sunday, January 29, 2012 |
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| Time | Haines 118 | Haines 220 |
| 10:00 AM | Headliners Q&A moderator TBA |
Group Motivation Aldag, Friday |
| 11:00 AM | Special Performance(s) | |
| 11:30 AM | CAL: Sing for your Life! Keyes |
Seeing Music Eldredge |
A Cappella PSYCH! (Caruso) Create!
Get the most out of your singers! This interactive workshop includes warm-ups and other exercises from the psychological point of view of sensation and perception. Intrigued? Come check it out. It’ll change the way you and your group sing forever!
Acappalooza: Planning an A Cappella Festival (LoBiondo, He) Manage!
Collegiate a cappella communities all over the country aspire to host their own festivals that bring other groups to their campus. This workshop will provide the fundamentals of event planning, techniques for communicating with other a cappella groups and campus administrators, and how to get your campus excited about your festival!
All-Male A Cappella (Koutzoukis) Manage!
An open but guided discussion on succeeding as an all-male group, from music to image.
Arranging: Be More Awesomer (Anderson, et al.) Create!
Don’t settle for just “getting the notes right”. Move beyond imitation and into creation, and learn what separates an okay arrangement from a truly effective one, as this workshop gives you a whole new bag of things to ponder while scribbling and/or clicking.
Beginning VP (Francis, Pilat) Perform!
Want to make atomic clocks weep cesium tears in envy of your superhuman groove? Start here.
CAL: Sing for your Life! (Keyes) Master!
Current and prospective CAL group directors are invited to close out the festival with Contemporary A Cappella League Program Manager Tom Keyes to share ideas, thoughts and team up for future networking opportunities!
Crafting Your Sound World (Harrison) Sound!
Advance registration required.
Description TBA
Dangerous Video (B. Anderson) Manage!
Advance registration required.
You’ve probably got a promo video, you’ve most certainly uploaded versions of all your songs to YouTube and you’ve definitely split a screen into 5 parts and sung with yourself. (haven’t we all?)
Now it’s time to explore some dangerous new directions on how to use video to promote your group, maintain relationships in the market and get the high paying gigs.
Sit in with Bud Anderson, Hookslide singer, Senior Director of Creative Video at Stanford University and former music agent to hear about 10 new video ideas that will get your promotions and gigging machine rolling in a new and dangerous direction.
Deconstructing the Lead (G. Hoffman) Perform!
A cappella is an ensemble sport, but a great lead can make a performance while a mediocre one can sink it. Come learn about all of the tools you need to step forward from the group and deliver a powerful solo, from developing your performance concept and style, to stage presence and connecting with the audience, to phrasing, mic technique, and recording in the studio.
Digital Distribution (Crawford) Manage!
Whether it’s on iTunes, YouTube, Facebook, Pandora, Spotify, Turntable.fm, or your website, showcasing your live and recorded music should be simple and straight-forward. But if it’s a cover, you usually need a license. This class will teach you how to quickly and easily license your music so that you can get back to the much more fun job of creating it.
DIY Recording (Lyons, Ozment) Sound!
Advance registration required.
Workshop Handout (PDF Download)
Learn how to record your own album just like the pros while saving A LOT of money! Danny Ozment, owner of Emerald City Productions and Nick Lyons, co-owner of The Vocal Company will show you what equipment you need and what pro techniques to use to get amazing raw tracks that professional editors and producers can easily (and less expensively) turn into a cappella gold! This interactive session will feature hands-on demonstrations of techniques used by CARA and ACA award winning producers.
If you plan to attend this workshop, please download this arrangement excerpt and learn the parts that work for your voice for an opportunity to participate in the hands-on demonstration: Sheet Music | Midi File
Essential Listening (Stevens) Explore!
What is there to listen to, how might we listen to it, and why? In this interactive seminar we develop our critical listening skills — think Alexander technique for the ears! — by asking historical, formal, and ethical questions about the music we love so much … and by rediscovering what it means to be astonished!
Group Dynamics (J. Hoffman) Manage!
Description TBA. This limited-enrollment workshop requires advance registration
Group Motivation (Aldag, Friday) Manage!
Advance registration required.
Having trouble keeping your group going? You’re not the only one! Contemporary A cappella music is very demanding, and keeping people interested is a challenge. Come learn some motivational methods from two veterans of the community on how to keep your group happy and moving forward through auditions, rehearsals, recording, and everyday life!
Headliner Q&A (TBA) Master!
Wondering how the headliners _did that_? Here’s your chance to ask! Join this exciting conversation with LAAF 2012 performers.
Improv (Gawboy) Create!
Improvisation in warmups, rehearsals, and song creation!
I Am Woman (Francis, et al.) Explore!
It ain’t easy walking stilettos… but somebody’s gotta do it! Come listen to some of the biggest female names in a cappella talk about all things woman! From their thoughts on being sexy on stage to who their biggest influences are, moderator Kari Francis will be asking our esteemed panel all about what it’s like to be a woman in a cappella.
I Make Gold Records (Sperandio, et al.) Sound!
Planning, syllable sexification, sonic goals, distribution, group image, and more: how to make your album go triple platinum! … without breaking the bank.
Live Sound (Longo) Sound!
An introduction to the wide world of live sound. Learn how to amplify your voice to please crowds of people without running into trouble.
The Lowdown on Bass Vocals (Vinson) Perform!
Discussing singing and arranging for bass in an all female group, as well as learning how to use your bass voice, mic technique, and recording techniques for both men and women.
The Rhythm Section (Curless, Smith) Perform!
Vocal percussion is cool, but is it just for show or rather an integral contribution to the music? Discover some key elements in making your bass and percussion work TOGETHER to make better music!
Seeing Music (Eldredge) Master!
Advance registration required.
Event photographer Michael Eldredge presents a collection of images from a cappella performances. Reflects on mechanisms used by performers to excite, entertain, and elicit emotion from their audience. And invites discussion on translating emotion and experience into performance with physical expression, both individually, and as a group.
Serious Business ™ (Hines) Manage!
Advance registration required.
Get serious with industry veteran Mark Hines as you learn how to run your group like a successful business. In this intensive seminar, you’ll learn how to improve your decision-making process, budget your time and money, and place the appropriate value on your talent (yes, it’s a commodity, and it’s got a price!). And you’ll learn how to do it without losing the unique culture that makes your group – and a cappella in general – so special. Intended for business directors and group decision-makers, this limited-enrollment workshop is geared toward the most motivated and serious participants!
Songwriting: Out of your Head and into the World (Willacy) Create!
Learn the basics about writing good lyrics, melodies, and chords, and how to fit them together to write more, and better, songs.
TSO Q&A (G. Hoffman) Master!
Want to find out how the groups on The Sing-Off did that? Here’s your chance to ask! Join this exciting conversation with performers and others from The Sing-Off, moderated by George Hoffman of LAAF 2012 headliners Hookslide.
Whooooo are you? Who-hoo? Who-hoo? Defining your Group’s VISUAL Identity (Daly) Manage!
Your group can’t afford to just sound good, you have to look good too – on stage AND in promotional efforts, in print and online. Kieran Daly, a communication design specialist, will explain what it takes to create a cohesive visual presentation across your entire “product.” Using examples of great and not-so-great presentations and promo materials, he’ll help you zero in on the key elements your group needs to create an identity that helps creat a following, and brings fans back show after show.
Amanda Aldag – @acaldag
Amanda started her a cappella career as musical director of Special K at Hamilton College. After graduation she moved to rural Japan for 4 years where she founded, trained and performed with an international a cappella group called the Amigos. Since moving the the DC area in 2005, Amanda has founded and performs with Euphonism (CAL) and Snowday, a group that primarily provides a cappella educational programs in the Mid-Atlantic. She is currently the Vice President and Director of Programs for CASA, Managing Partner of Clear Harmonies Productions in DC and has served as a CARA Nominator as judge since 2009.
Bud Anderson
Bio coming soon.
Tom Anderson – @randomnotesllc
Tom Anderson’s arrangements can be heard on multiple issues of the BOCA, Sing!, and Voices Only compilations and on the hit NBC a cappella showcase “The Sing-Off”. His arranging clients include 5-time Grammy winners the Swingle Singers, award-winning a cappella solo artist Peter Hollens, ICCA champions Pitch Slapped, and dozens of other vocal groups across the country (and occasionally beyond). A former member of pro a cappella groups Ball in the House and Four Shadow and original music director of UW-Eau Claire Fifth Element, Tom is the founder and owner of Random Notes LLC, an arranging service specializing in vocal music for groups of all styles, makeups, and abilities, and situated cozily online at www.random-notes.com.
Ben Bram – @thebenbram
Ben Bram is an arranger, music director, vocal coach, producer, and keyboardist from Los Angeles. He graduated from the University of Southern California in 2010 with a degree in music industry. At USC, he sang with the SoCal VoCals and helped lead them to two ICCA championships. Since graduation, he has been lucky enough to be arranging, coaching, and producing a cappella for TV and film, working on “The Sing-Off,” “Pitch Perfect,” and “Glee,” in addition to providing non-a cappella musical services to “The Voice,” “Modern Family,” and “Bones.” He also arranged and produced the debut album from The Backbeats! www.benbrammusic.com
Matt Caruso – @ACappellaPsych
Founder and owner of ACappellaPsych. Forming a CAL group in Princeton, NJ. CASA member. CARA nominator and judge. A Cappella Bootcamp graduate ’11. Employed at the American Boychoir School as a music proctor and houseparent. Graduated from Ursinus College ’09 with B.S. Psychology and minors in Music as well as Business and Economics.
Chris Crawford – @crawtunes
Chris Crawford is the founder and president of A Cappella Records (ACR) — a San Francisco based music services company for a cappella groups. ACR currently licenses and distributes over 1800 tracks to 400 digital stores and discovery websites. Crawford has worked in the public relations and iTunes promotions department of Apple and served on the board of directors for CASA producing the monthly newsletter, A Cappella Now.
Kieran Daly
Kieran Daly is a member of the Washington DC-based vocal band Cartoon Johnny, and by day is the principal of Winking Fish, a graphic design firm. While earning his Marketing & Communications degree at Albright College, he founded the all-male a cappella group Seventh Heaven, Since 2003, he has sung high tenor with Cartoon Johnny, winning the DC and New York Harmony Sweepstakes regionals and competing in the National Finals in 2005 and 2008. With Cartoon Johnny, Daly has released 3 albums, including 2008′s “Power Up” which won the Washington Area Music Association’s WAMMY award for best A Cappella Album, 2008. He also produced the group’s latest effort “Cartoon Johnny & Friends: The More The Merrier”, a benefit album for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, which just earned a 2011 CARA Nomination for Best Holiday Album. In his “spare time,” he is currently working on a solo a cappella project (more at www.acasolo.com).
Michael Eldredge
Michael Eldredge began his love affair with music, specifically live music at a very early age in the form of musical theater. Throughout elementary school he was part of a local performing group called “The Singing Connection”. He continued his love of performance in High School where he lettered in Theater, competing in state theater competition and Shakespeare festivals. After high school he became involved with Hale Centre Theatre where he performed the role of “Young Scrooge” in the company’s production of “A Christmas Carol” for three years, during which time he was invited to be a part of “Encore”, a musical theater group at Utah Valley State University. He joined that company for a tour of Romania, returned home, and joined another local community theater group to play Conrad Birdie, in “Bye Bye Birdie”. It wasn’t until meeting Kurt Walker at Southern Virginia University that Michael was finally introduced to Contemporary A Cappella. He joined SVU’s mens a cappella group “Shameless” and took many road trips with Kurt to see performances by “The Ex-Boyfriends”, “Naturally 7″, and the ICCA competitions. All of these trips were amazing, but one would affect his life greatly for years to come. In 2004, he and Kurt drove down to North Carolina to check out a young a cappella festival called “SoJam”. A photographer by trade, Michael had his camera with him on those trips, and, with the encouragement of Dave Sperandio, has applied his talents in support of a cappella music for the last 7 years, covering events for SoJam, and now CASA. Working with a prodigious and eclectic collection of professional performers has given Michael a great appreciation for the power and artistry of well-crafted live a cappella.
Kari Francis – @kuchikuu
A classically trained pianist and percussionist, Kari began her contemporary a cappella journey with directing the UC San Diego Daughters of Triton and later joined the Tritones and Orange County-based CAL septet Frequency before graduating with a B.A. in Music Theory & Composition. She currently performs with the all-female powerhouse ensemble Musae, has performed in concert with Imogen Heap as part of her “Earth” collaboration project and most recently appeared on season 3 of NBC’s The Sing-Off as the vocal percussionist in the Los Angeles-based group Kinfolk 9. Kari also enjoys barbershop a bit too much, so find her and sing a tag with her. She’ll love you forever.
Charlie Friday – @charliefriday
Currently, Charlie is a member and director of the Washington D.C.-based CAL group, Euphonism, He is also a member of the professional educational group, Snowday, who recently performed at the 2010 National Christmas Tree Lighting at the White House. Charlie has three times been a judge at the Annual Wootton High School A Cappella Festival, he has coached many groups and choirs at both the high school and university levels, and is an accomplished arranger, having worked on songs for various ensembles across the country. Charlie is an experienced engineer and producer, and, along with Amanda Aldag, owns and operates Clear Harmonies Productions. He has worked on many full-length a cappella albums and EPs, and received 4 CARA nominations for his work with Euphonism.
Barton Gawboy
Bart played horns in high school band in Minnesota, studied electronic music with John Appleton at Dartmouth, and sang in a song and modern dance troupe that evolved into a 6-voice acappella group in the early 80s. In the latter 80s and 90s, he had a 10-piece R&B band. And then in the 2000′s got back into a cappella first with a 4-voice group, and then started his league group Voxel Rox, whose original vision was to be able to do Tower of Power with voices. The group does a lot of its own creations and is using improvisation to evolve.
Bill Hare
Bill Hare has been a full-time recording engineer/producer for 27 years, and has specialized in contemporary a cappella production since 1989. Over the last two decades, Bill has recorded and/or mixed acclaimed albums for some of the best contemporary a cappella groups around the globe, including England’s Flying Pickets, Swingle Singers and Voces8, Denmark’s Basix, Norway’s Apes & Babes, Italy’s Cluster, The Ghost Files, and Maybe6ix, as well as working with many top American acts including +4dB, Duwende, Hookslide, Moosebutter, and The House Jacks.
Collegiate A Cappella clients include The Beelzebubs, Divisi, and about 80 others. Bill is the world’s most awarded individual contemporary a cappella producer, including over 45 appearances on BOCA, over 100 CARA nominations, over 30 albums in the RARB “Picks of the Year” lists, and 11 “DeeBee” awards since 1987 in the Vocal Jazz category from Downbeat Magazine. In 2010 he added a Grammy Award to this list in the Classical Crossover Album category for Christopher Tin’s “Calling All Dawns”.
For more information, visit Bill’s website – www.dyz.com.
Christopher Harrison – @sonosings
Christopher Given Harrison is a Los Angeles-based composer, arranger, songwriter, record producer, and vocalist. He spends most of his time recording, mixing, and performing with the vocals+electronics group, Sonos. Hit him up at christophonemusic@gmail.com.
Mark Hines – @vocalmark
Mark Hines (SoJam, Executive Producer) caught a chronic dose of a cappella fever in 1998 when he joined the NCSU Grains of Time. During his tenure, Mark toured Europe and North America and led the group to the ICCA finals, where he took Best Arrangement for “Homeward Bound.” Since then, he’s produced award-winning albums, judged ICCA events, and served on the SING series selection board. He’s also founded two a cappella production outfits, including aca-razzi favorite The Vocal Company (give Mark a holler at 919.656.7103 or mark@thevocalcompany.com to learn more)
George Hoffman
George Hoffman has performed as a member of the four-man SF Bay Area vocal band Hookslide for the past ten years, lending his powerful baritone, face-peeling falsetto, and soulful leads to the group as well as serving as the resident sound engineer. Starting his vocal career in musical theater at an early age, he made the jump into a cappella with the Cornell Key Elements and later with the Stanford Harmonics. When not singing, he serves as CTO for a Silicon Valley technology company.
Julia Hoffman – @juliahoffman
Julia Hoffman, Psy.D. is the President of the Board of the Contemporary A cappella Society (CASA). Julia started her a cappella career as a member, and later director, of the Stanford Harmonics. She served as the West Region Producer for the International Championship of Collegiate A cappella (ICCA) for two years and has sat on CASA’s Board of Directors since 2003. For the past eight years, she has also served as the Director of the Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards (CARAs), the most prestigious award program for recorded a cappella music. Under her leadership, the program has expanded to become truly global as it rewards groups from every continent and requires the work of hundreds of volunteers in many countries to continue to meet a standard of excellence.
Julia has coordinated the A Cappella Community Awards (ACAs), executive produced the SING compilation, judged numerous collegiate and professional a cappella shows including the semi-finals and finals of the ICCA, taught classes and workshops to a cappella singers and enthusiasts of all types, and been featured on Best of College A Cappella (BOCA) albums as both a singer and an arranger. Inher spare time, Julia works as a psychologist on a collaboration between the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (VA) and the National Center for Telehealth and Technology (Department of Defense). She lives in Northern California with her husband, George, her dog, Winnie, and her new baby Ozzy.
Tom Keyes
Tom’s Contemporary A cappella journey began in 2005 when he joined a local semi-pro group who had posted an ad on Myspace looking for a bass. After a few non-Aca years, in 2009 he dove in head-first and decided to join the Contemporary A cappella League as a new League Director. His group, Frequency, was formed in August of 2009 and remains an active and proud CAL group. He also recently served as Administrative Director for LA-AF 2011 just two years after attending his first one.
When not geeking out at AcaEvents, Tom is an I.T. manager of 19+ years, a sound engineer, volunteer webmaster and music coordinator for a local church, a husband to his soul-mate Angie for 12+ years, and father to 3 children; Michelle, Autumn, and Gavin.
Alex Koutzoukis
Alexander was a computer science major at Tufts University and spent five years in the Beelzebubs, for two of which he was Music Director. He got his start in a cappella production while working closely with Ed Boyer and Bill Hare to record and produce two award-winning Bubs albums (Pandaemonium and Play The Game). His arrangement of “All The Love In The World” received a 2010 CARA for Best Male Collegiate Arrangement and he was selected as runner up for Favorite Vocal Percussionist in the 2010 ACAs, just like the Bubs were runners up on the first season of The Sing-Off. He now co-owns Plaid Productions with Alex Green.
Kristin LoBiondo and John He
@klobo21 & @ehnhoj
Bringing flavors from the East and West coasts, John He and Kristin LoBiondo have 8 years of a cappella festival experience between them, including production for SoJam, the Los Angeles A Cappella Festival, VoCAL Nation, and many other A Cappella-Fests. John has just finished his Physiological Science degree at UCLA, while serving as Music Director for Bruin Harmony. Kristin, Assistant Director of Events for CASA, currently lives in Washington, D.C., planning events for Strathmore Music Center, and singing with Vox Pop.
Dave Longo – @sleddogstudios
After singing in RIT’s Eight Beat Measure, Dave Longo started Sled Dog Studios, a full service production company based out of Rochester, NY. Dave now runs sound for live a cappella shows throughout the country having worked with Duwende, Nota, Overboard, Sonos, and others.
Nick Lyons – @tvcnick
Nick Lyons, a model citizen, ambassador for a brighter tomorrow, avid supporter of the World Wildlife Foundation, separator of the Oreo Cookie™. A wise woman once said “I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way.” Nick listened to that woman. He is a firm supporter of music, as well as the movement to “bring sexy back”. For a full listing of Nick’s contributions to society: www.thevocalcompany.com, facebook.com, or google.com.
Amy Malkoff
Amy Malkoff is a singer-songwriter (All About Buford, Deadline Poet) whose music has appeared on both the Rounder Records and Hear Music/Starbucks labels. She is the Director of Web Content for CASA, as well as a copywriter/editor, and a designer.www.amymalkoff.com/harmony. She is fond of slashes.
Brendan Milburn
Brendan is still mystified to find that he is making a living as a composer: musical theater (Striking 12, Sleeping Beauty Wakes, Toy Story: The Musical), songs for animated movies (4 films about Tinker Bell for Disney), and odd pop songs for Warner-Chappell and his band GrooveLily. In addition, he’s a record producer (Jenny Giering, Kevin MacCallum, GrooveLily), arranger/orchestrator/musical-helper-outer for other people (The Burglars of Hamm), and a mostly-stay-at-home dad for his 6-year-old son. Brendan is happiest when stretching his brain and learning new things. Lately that’s involved: delving deep into Ableton Live to develop a looping/solo performance system with electric violinist/vocalist Valerie Vigoda for her solo concerts; cooking gluten-free and dairy-free meals for his family; hating hot weather and yet doing Bikram Yoga regularly.
m-pact (Trist Curless and Jeff Smith)
@mpactbassman
Trist Curless and Jeff Smith of m-pact have been working together as the group’s rhythm section for many years and worked with groups around the world, helping them make the rhythm section the most important and musical part of their groups.
Danny Ozment – @dannyozment
Danny Ozment, CASA Director of Education, grew up in Richmond, VA and began his a cappella career at James Madison University where he founded Exit 245 and received a Bachelors degree in Music Education and a Masters degree in Conducting. Along the way he has taught all forms of choral music at the elementary, secondary, collegiate, and professional levels. In 2004 he became the Assistant Conductor of the Master Chorale of Washington and in 2008 joined the staff of the Cathedral Choral Society at the National Cathedral as Director of External Programs. In 2009, Danny started Emerald City Productions, an a cappella production company based in Springfield, VA offering recording, editing, mixing, coaching, and arranging services.
Jon Pilat
Bio coming soon.
Dave Sperandio – @davesperandio
Dave Sperandio, or “Dio” has been working with a cappella music for 18 years as a performer, producer, and engineer, with work appearing on projects for clients from around the globe. After founding the a cappella production company diovoce in 2000, Dave founded the not for profit Alliance for A Cappella Initiatives (AACI) in 2003 and created both the SoJam A Cappella Festival and the Sing! vocal compilation CD as the organization’s first endeavors. He has performed with numerous ensembles, directed the UNC Clef Hangers, and has toured and recorded with Vocal Tonic, Transit, and Almost Recess.
In 2006 Dave partnered with several fellow producers to form VocalSource, which represents the most comprehensive network of vocal music studios in the world.
In 2008 Dave merged the AACI with CASA and joined CASA’s Board as Director of Events as well as Secretary, managing SoJam, LA/AF, VoCALnation, SMACC, and a growing network of CASA festivals and events around the world.
Benjamin Stevens – @beldonstevens
Benjamin Stevens is CASA educational officer for events and festivals. He also coordinates the Recorded A Cappella Review Board and judges international a cappella contests and awards. Since 2004 he has been Assistant Professor of Classical Studies at Bard College, where he contributes to the Cognitive Science program, First-Year Seminar, the Language and Thinking program, and the Bard Prison Initiative. He has published on Latin poetry (including Lucretius and Ovid), sensorial anthropology, linguistics, comics, and philosophy of mind, and maintains additional research and teaching interests in the Classical tradition, science fiction, and the graphic novel.
Johanna Vinson
This is something I know to be true: bios are hard to write. That aside, I am a Texas native who has set up camp in Eugene after studying Religion and Art History at the University of Oregon. While in school, I auditioned on a whim for Divisi, the women’s group there, and on accident found out that not only could I sing low, but that it was a good thing! Since then I have joined the professional groups Musae and Delilah where I have perfected the art of what I lovingly refer to as “dm-face” and made the best friends of all time. When I’m not with my girls I can usually be found near my KitchenAid mixer with gluten-free flour in my hair, furiously baking something. Either that or pouring drinks for the masses in Eugene, because what else does one do with two useless degrees, other than bartend? (If you have a better answer for me, please let me know…). I believe in a lot of things, one of them being people, and another being singing, and I’m humbled and happy to have both of those in my life.
Austin Willacy
Austin Willacy is a member of The House Jacks, a pioneering a cappella rock band whose music is featured in NBC’s “The Sing Off”. You can also see and hear them on ESPN’s Monday Night Football audio and video clips, watched by tens of millions of Americans. The band has been interviewed in top media outlets including ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and Fox; they have performed with the likes of Ray Charles, James Brown, LL Cool J, The Neville Brothers, and Cosby, Stills, and Nash, at venues including Carnegie Hall, The House of Blues, Fenway Stadium, The World Expo, and Candlestick Park; and they have performed and/or recorded commercials for celebrities and corporate clients like President Bill Clinton, Aaron Spelling, AT&T, Coca Cola, and Verizon Wireless.