# A Great A Capella Choir Performance **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 19, 2009, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-a-capella-choir-performance/500274 "2009-06-19T05:32:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-a-capella-choir-performance/500274/41 "2009-06-21T22:11:03Z")
[The Cactus Cuties](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKCVS57j284) with their rendition of The Star Spangled Banner. Awesome! ---
**Author:** ![paffinity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@paffinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paffinity)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-a-capella-choir-performance/500274/42 "2009-06-21T22:28:41Z")
> [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > Ben Folds just released an album where he went to different universities and recorded each school’s a capella group singing one of his songs. He also did two songs himself. It took my ear a little time to get used to the sound but it’s pretty great! > > [Ben Folds Presents: University a Cappella!](http://www.amazon.com/Ben-Folds-Presents-University-Cappella/dp/B001Q8FRSK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1245427626&sr=8-1) I had the fortune, during one of my college visits a few months ago, to practice with a group on that record, The University of Rochester’s Midnight Ramblers. They’re all They’ve got a lot of great stuff on youtube, but the sound quality doesn’t do them justice. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-a-capella-choir-performance/500274/43 "2009-06-22T03:50:14Z")
Tonya, Oy!, AHunter3 and Chanteuse: all good stuff! ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-a-capella-choir-performance/500274/44 "2009-06-22T05:43:41Z")
As neat as the performance in the OP is, there’s something that just doesn’t feel right about a choir where every member has a microphone. The balance is determined by the sound mixer, rather than by the singers and the choir director. There seems to be an over-reliance on microphones these days, and singers no longer learn how to project. A couple of years ago, my wife and I were lucky enough to see the Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir, AKA _Le Mystere des voix Bulgares_, at the St. John of Rigla church in Chicago. We got there early and were dead center up front. There was no sound system at all, and it was one of the most astonishing musical experiences of my life. Twenty-four women singing full-throated not twenty feet from us, we could feel our bodies vibrate in sympathy, and some of the songs were so beautiful that we had tears in our eyes. These women can **project**. Back in the 90s, we saw the same group at the Park West in Chicago, and they managed to fill a venue that can hold 900 people. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Dr.Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Love)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-a-capella-choir-performance/500274/45 "2009-06-22T07:24:31Z")
> [@Oy](#): > > Incredible beauty, but incredible sadness in Samuel Barber’s[_Agnus Dei_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkObnNQCMtM). If it sounds familiar, it was first composed as _Adagio for Strings_, and apparently was used in the movie _Platoon_. But I think it works much better as a choral piece. I have to admit something a little sad: I first heard (and loved) this arrangement through the computer game Homeworld. The game came with a soundtrack (who knows where it is now), and I can remember listening to this quite a lot. Thanks for posting it. ---
**Author:** ![Walkabout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walkabout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walkabout)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-a-capella-choir-performance/500274/46 "2009-06-22T12:32:40Z")
How about some more barbershop? You can’t miss the [Westminster Chorus](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rohlIKJHNZk)! ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-a-capella-choir-performance/500274/47 "2009-06-22T13:52:52Z")
> [@Dr.Love](#): > > I have to admit something a little sad: I first heard (and loved) this arrangement through the computer game Homeworld. The game came with a soundtrack (who knows where it is now), and I can remember listening to this quite a lot. Thanks for posting it. Hey, great music is wherever you find it. I was incredibly lucky enough to first encounter this particular _Agnus Dei_ when I was going to sing it, but most of the things in this thread are completely new to me, and _so_ beautiful. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-a-capella-choir-performance/500274.md?page=2)