Summer Celebration & Acafest offer reunion concert, classes for vocal artists
Janel Shoun |
Summer Celebration at a Glance
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Acafest Schedule of Classes
After eight years, Acappella Ministries is bringing back Acafest, the international a cappella singing festival, and pairing it up with Lipscomb University’s annual lecture series, Summer Celebration, July 4-7.
Acafest will feature the 25th anniversary concert of Acappella, the vocal group that ushered in the modern era of a cappella music in the evangelical music scene, and a three-day track of classes designed for anyone interested in starting or managing their own a cappella vocal group.
The group Acappella has sold over 3 million albums and traveled the globe performing a cappella music with a pop music edge. They were definitely on the leading edge of musical groups taking a cappella music to the next level when they formed 25 years ago, say a cappella music experts. Today they are still performing and have served as the model for many younger vocal groups, says Keith Lancaster, founder of the group and president of Acappella Ministries, based in Goodlettsville, Tenn.
The classes at Acafest will explore composing and arranging, on-line technologies, successful booking, video and lighting technology, group management and more. Lancaster, former worship minister at Madison Church of Christ, will present his Praise & Harmony Seminar: Experiencing Four-Part Harmony, a class he presents nationwide to educate today’s church-goers in the dying art of singing four-part harmony.
Saturday, July 7, will bring the Acappella 25th Anniversary Reunion Concert, featuring popular songs old and new.
Around 25 years ago, there was an evolutionary jump in the performance of a cappella music, says Jonathan Minkoff, president of the Contemporary A Cappella Society of America, “and Acappella was definitely at the forefront of that evolution in that area.”
Having performed in an a cappella quartet at Williamstown Bible College, Lancaster got great experience writing and arranging music. But he wanted to try something new, something with a pop rock edge to it that moved a cappella away from traditional Southern gospel or doo wop sounds.
The idea was a hit, and Acappella has been in high demand for concerts, youth rallies and music festivals for 25 years now. The group was one of the founders of an a cappella movement that gained great steam in the 1980s, when jazz musician Bobby McFerrin fueled the popularity of a cappella music with “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” Minkoff said.
And today, not only can listeners hear a cappella music on commercials, such as Cool Whip or Sony Camcorders, but they can hear its influence in radio-friendly musical groups like Boyz II Men or even the latest contestants on American Idol, Minkoff said.
Not only did Acappella ride the wave of evolving a cappella music, but the group established a management model that has been emulated by many a cappella groups today. Lancaster calls them “weekend warriors” — quartets and ensembles whose members have day jobs but who travel the country and maybe the world singing a cappella on the weekends.
A cappella music is conveniently accessible to many young musicians because all you need is a voice, Lancaster notes, so colleges have become strong breeding grounds for “street-corner” vocal groups.
In fact, National Public Radio reported in 1997 that the number of collegiate a cappella groups had tripled since 1980, and the number of professional groups had quadrupled since 1990.