Rochappella

When I moved home from London in 2003, I desperately missed my a cappella singing group, the Treblemakers. We sang a mix of doo-wop, show tunes, and barbershop, with a holiday repertoire for December gigs. I explored two groups in New Jersey, neither of which was satisfactory (one sang to CD accompaniment, and involved choreography; the other was directed by an octogenarian and barely sang 2-part arrangements). When I moved to Rochester, I thought the Sweet Adelines might be the ticket, so I went to one of their rehearsals. For so many reasons (they must stand for their entire 2.5 hour rehearsal, and tape themselves and be judged by other members; they use arrangements that are written in SATB format; and they have very specific instructions for applying eye shadow for performances), they were not. I finally discovered Concentus, which I love being a part of, but it’s not my favorite genre of music, as beautiful as it is.

Some of my London friends urged me to start my own group, and I finally got the nerve, casually mentioning my dream to random women, and asking them if they sing. The usual response was a variation of “only in the shower,” but occasionally someone would say “yes”! We started small, and added friends, and friends of friends, until we reached critical mass, with 10 women. Rochappella was born. My goal for the group was to sing well enough to perform at nursing homes and the like, for free, and to have fun as well as bring some joy to our listeners. Although our target audience might not worry about the quality of our sound, we wanted to be decent, since there might also be staff and caregivers in the audience, who could hear…

Since we always have wine at our rehearsals, Lucy, who serendipitously lives across the street, dubbed us “a drinking group with a singing problem.” Ali, who I picked up at a holiday party last year, liked to say that we were “booking a year out.” And so now we are a year out. We just had our first performance, at the Brightonian nursing home, and we sang a mix of the familiar (including “Angels We Have Heard on High” and “White Christmas”) and the not so familiar (songs like “African Noel” and “S’Vivon”). It was heartwarming to entertain the residents and staff on a cold winter’s night, and to engage them in a sing-along before we departed.

We have one more holiday gig, and then we move on to the fun stuff – songs like “Summertime,” “Royals,” “Mister Sandman,” and a couple of Beatles arrangements (including one from the Treblemakers). Ali's already talking dates with the Brightonian for the Spring, and I suspect we can convince a couple of other nursing homes in Rochester to let us come entertain them next holiday season. In the meanwhile, there are songs to be learned and there's wine to be drunk, and “a girl has to celebrate what passes by.” I celebrate Rochappella, and the women who incredibly came together to create such a fun group, with such potential for the future.