Current Events

Fontana organizes vocal men into acapella group

Elise Brown
October 1, 2012

A small group of men meets in the choir room each Tuesday and Friday during lunch to sing contemporary songs in instrument-free harmony. Led by Barb Fontana, choir director, they hope to perform at assemblies and music department concerts in the future — once they’ve hit all the right notes.

“The format right now is fairly loose,” Fontana said. “We’re going to swim through and see where it goes.”

Fontana was inspired to begin this project by a professor of music at the University of Northern Texas. He organized his friends, many of them music majors, into a non-audition a capella group who performed contemporary music. The group now has 80 members and continues to grow. Fontana hopes that this model can be replicated at WLHS, especially for male students who love to sing but cannot fit music into their schedules.

“Right now I’ve got a handful of guys in symphonic and jazz choir, and a few who do choir at churches,” Fontana said.

The group currently consists of students such as Eric Dale, sophomore, who sings bass in the St. Ignatius parish choir. He was told about the group by his friends who are in Symphonic Choir; he has been enjoying rehearsals so far.

“The group is a joy to be with,” Dale said. “They’re super fun, super energetic. Rehearsals have been really great, too. Ms. Fontana knows how to balance each student’s singing well.”

Some men, such as Jacob Arrigotti, junior, will be joining the group once the fall musical, “Kiss Me Kate,” ends. Five men attended the group’s meeting on Sept. 21, but according to Fontana, “we’re really about three times this size.”

Currently, Fontana is training the men to sing Billy Joel’s “For The Longest Time,” and they will be learning more contemporary songs in the future. Until then, Fontana is extending an invitation to any students who want to join the men’s acapella group.

“There is gender discrimination, though,” Fontana said. “The only woman allowed to join is me.”

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About the Contributor

Elise Brown, Co Editor-in-Chief

Elise Brown, senior, has always felt comfortable standing up and giving her opinion in front of everyone and for the most part, she enjoys it very much. That is one of the many reasons why she heads the debate team, and also why in June she earned a place in the National Speech and Debate Competition in Indianapolis.

Out of the 250 people entered in the competition, she finished 151st in the country. Before she earned her rightful place in Nationals, however, she needed to prove herself in Districts and State.

Her 10 minute long speech about socialism and its benefits took first and second in Districts and State, respectively.

“In the National competition the judges didn’t appreciate politics or controversy as much as they did in Districts and State,” Brown said. This was confirmed from one of the judges she conversed with in order to find out what she could do better.

Brown’s interest in current events started in the eighth grade. She then did the Amplifier, the high school newspaper to help communicate her ideas about the world with her fellow peers, she also did the debate team to better understand the problems throughout the world and learn how to solve them somewhat.

“Debate involves knowing what is going on in the world,” Brown said.

This year for upcoming competitions, she has a speech in the works that she feels will top her last one. This year’s speech is about interdependence inspired by the “you didn’t build that debate,” caused when President Barack Obama told business people that they did not create their businesses on their own.

Brown’s passion for debate has influenced what college she will go to, what she will study in college, and what she wants to do in her life. Brown’s goal is to graduate high school and then travel to Massachusetts and attend Wellesley College, a very well known and prestigious college, where Brown hopes to study political science.

To achieve this goal she has taken part in a number of rigorous courses and activities such as Speech and Debate, AP Government, AP Economics, Honors Law, AP English and journalism. Once Brown achieves her education goals, her next goal is to become a political commentator.

“I want to change people’s minds,” Brown said. Brown has chosen the path to become a political commentator because she believes political power lies with the media.

Brown has worked very hard throughout high school and continues to work hard through her senior year. She has taken many challenging courses to achieve her goal of going to Wellesley, and will need to continue down the very rigorous path to success to accomplish her goals.