Aggiepella: Building a group to last

from February 13, 2023- The Utah Statesman- Utah State University

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By Harrison Larson

Aggiepella, a Utah State University a cappella group, began as a senior capstone project three semesters ago. Since then, the group has offcially become a USU club, taking on a more formal structure. The group’s goal is to last and grow for years to come.

Lauren Knowles started Aggiepella with several friends she invited from USU chamber singers. When the group began meeting, it had an informal structure, which changed when Knowles graduated from USU.

Aggiepella is now is led by club president Michael Ellefson, who is one of the only remaining members of the original group and a student at USU. In a virtual interview, Ellefson said he was asked by Knowles to run the group after she graduated.

“Lauren was also in that choir, she had been there for quite a while. So when she decided that she wanted to start an a cappella group for her capstone project, she just kind of grabbed all the emails from that semester that we were in there, of people in the choir, and sent out a big mass email and said, ‘Hey, if anybody is interested in doing this with me, this is kind of what I’m planning on doing,’” Ellefson said. “And I just thought it sounded like a blast, so I just responded and said, ‘Yeah, that would be great,’ and so, jumped on that very frst semester, and then after she was graduating and moving on, she asked if I would kind of take over leading the group for her.”

Ellefson said that Aggiepella is a campus a cappella club run by students.

“If people don’t know or aren’t familiar with a cappella, it’s like a choir, but it’s a small group, and we don’t use any instruments or backtracks or anything,” Ellefson said. “We make all the music with just our voices or our bodies, so it kind of makes it fun that way.”

Ellefson said the current goal of Aggiepella is moving forward to create a better system to manage the group.

“Last semester we kind of worked on becoming an offcial club at USU, which was a big step,” Ellefson said. “Prior to that, it was kind of a group of us getting together, so that was a really big step for us, and so now we are working on creating a better management system. People can have some different roles, leadership roles when it comes to utilizing the campus’ advertising resources or things like that, and so far it worked great. We did some new things for our auditions, and we had a pretty decent group of auditions come in this semester, which was really amazing. So that, I think, is going to be my big push this semester. Make sure we get a good strong core group and get some leadership experience for people, and I think that will really help the longevity of the club.”

Ellefson said he wants to see the club continue in the future.

“I hear that there have been some clubs that have cropped up in the past that have just kind of died away with time, and I would like for this to be able to just continue on, and I think just creating a good foundation will help make that happen,” Ellefson said. “So that is kind of my vision for now, and we can travel to competitions and do stuff like that later on, but for me, I just want to make sure the club is strong and can continue on.”

While Ellefson’s focus is on the longevity of Aggiepella, other members expressed a desire to make the group more well-known.

Jonah Giesler, the head of media for the group, said during a virtual interview his interest is in growing the scope of Aggiepella.

“I would say defnitely right now the push is to get word out more, because it is a fairly new group and so as time goes, we’ve been kind of under the radar,” Giesler said. “So now we’re trying to be like, ‘Hey, we go sing at gigs, we can go and do all that stuff.’ I don’t think that a lot of people know that we have an a cappella group here on campus.”

Giesler said he has a passion for the atmosphere of Aggiepella and is appreciative of the ability to create music through the group.

“It has just been really fun. It feels so much more like a fun get-together of a group of friends that have these talents of singing and creating music, and getting together and making that into a product,” Giesler said. “We all have these creative juices fowing through us, that we were like, ‘OK, where can I put this,’ so I feel like, especially for me, this group has really helped us to guide that energy into it.”

Giesler said the group holds auditions once a semester, most recently being Jan. 24.

“We do auditions once every semester — we try and get through the semester, then we try and work on those pieces and keep the group fairly stable during that time,” Giesler said. “Every semester we’re trying to look for new talent, for people who want to help out, to raise the group to new heights.”

Giesler said Aggiepella is looking for people that will add something new to the group.

“Of course, it’s great to have experience, it’s great to know music, and especially, you know, experience with arranging, even if that’s not necessarily with a cappella music,” Giesler said. “But just arranging in general, knowing some theory, but also, I feel like right now, we have a very open mind. We are just looking for whatever people can add to it. We’re open-minded to what can be new.”

Ellefson said anyone interested must have musical independence because the group is a cappella.

“Really, there’s not much required when it comes to joining the club, but there does need to be a sense of some musical independence,” Ellefson said. “That you need to be able to learn, to sing your part. You need to be able to own it, because there aren’t very many people and there are many times in a cappella where you are singing your own part, on your own, and you have to be able to hold it well, so there does need to be a certain level of musical independence and comfortable with performing and singing — other than that, there’s not much required.”

Ellefson said that Aggiepella has yet to fnalize where their performance will take place this semester.

“I really don’t know where it will be this semester, but I’m open to wherever,” Ellefson said. “There are quite a few spaces that could work well because it is such a small group, but we’ll make sure to be really transparent and try to get the word out as best we can on social media and posters and things on campus.”

For those interested in Aggiepella, the club’s YouTube channel is called Aggiepella and they are on sInstagram @aggie.pella.

Harrison Larson is a freshman pursuing his English degree in creative writing. When he has spare time, he loves to explore and fnd new things to do with friends and is always looking for a good documentary.