Windsor high school students Nate Andrews, Madeline Griffin, Allison Romain, Taylor Steele, Jjenna Romain and Nikki Indelicato teamed up with fellow high school and college acapella singers for the Vocal Connections concert at Vestal Middle School on April 14th. But it was the experience the students had before the performance that was as meaningful as the concert.

Vocal connection is a program in which a college acapella group is paired with a High School acapella group for a year-long mentorship. This year Windsor was paired with Ithacapella, an all-male vocal group from Ithaca College. This group is fairly prestigious, having some of their arrangements featured on the annual BOCA (Best of College Acapella) CD in previous years. The group visited Windsor April 7th and worked with the students on their set.

 

 

“It was fun getting to meet them and relate on a personal level. I arrange music for our group and I talked to them about how they arranged music,” said Indelicato. 

“The students get so much from working with the college groups, it was immediately reflected in the energy of our performance on Saturday. One of the purposes of this program is to educate students on how to run an Acapella group at the collegiate level, giving these students tools to create an acapella group at their college if one doesn't exist yet,” said Morano.

Windsor musicians not only collaborated with the college groups but also with members of the other high school teams.

“We were short some members so we had them fill in as soloists and beat boxers,” said Indelicato. “It was interesting hearing the different high school groups and what they learned from their college group.”

“The students had a great experience and learned a great deal about performing in an acapella group, as well as how Ithacapella is run,” said music teacher Robert Morano.

Dryden, Vestal and Johnson City were the other high schools involved in the event.