"After a week of dangerous spring break behavior all the way up the east coast of Florida [as part of the Zumbye alumni tour], we flew into Boston only to have to drive immediately to the ICCA semifinal at M.I.T.," said Business Manager Brian Clowdus '03. "To say the least, we were not too happy about the timing of the event and several members in the group-myself included-were rooting for us to forget about it and go home to sleep."
Todd McDonald '04 saw his group as an underdog coming into the event. "[The other groups] were all well-known groups, most out of the Boston area," he said. "That made it difficult, not being known much at all, and not being the home crowd."
Their victory in this competition recognizes the Zumbyes as the top college a cappella group in the ICCA's Northeast region. They will compete against teams from five other regions at the national finals, one day before the group's annual spring concert in Buckley Recital Hall.
Soloist T. Patterson '05 took home individual honors as the competition's best soloist. The award took Patterson by surprise. "After the performance, I was actually unhappy about my performance," he said. "I thought I could have done better. When the announcer said that he was having trouble pronouncing the name for the best soloist [award winner], I had figured the kid from the group [Brandies University] Voicemale had a tough name to pronounce."
Many members of the group attribute the group's success to their high-energy performances.
"I think the reason for our success is the vibe we display at every show," said Zumbye Russell Lee '05. "Every group can sing a cappella, but we make it look fun. Our energy affects the crowd to the point they want to get up and dance with us."
Clowdus pointed to a "surprisingly high-energy performance in our bathing suits" as one reason for the first-place finish.
"We're all musicians, we enjoy singing, but we don't take a capella so seriously that it keeps us from having fun and just making it an enjoyable experience for the crowd," said McDonald. "We went out there, danced our hearts out, and the crowd loved it. Apparently so did the judges."
McDonald also pointed to the Zumbyes' distinctive repertoire as a possible reason for their success. "We sing a lot of music unlike other groups including jazz and older Stevie Wonder-type stuff, rather than pop. They appreciate that."
"What has made the difference for the Zumbyes this year is the fact that we have so much fun on stage," said Zumbyes Director Pete Harper '05. "The positive, lighthearted nature of the group is something that the audience can have fun with. This attitude mainly comes from the fact that we do not take ourselves too seriously," he said.
"A cappella is simply for fun and to entertain both ourselves and our audience, so winning this competition is definitely a great feeling, but by no means do we approach these competitions with any objective but to be the Zumbyes and have a good time," said Harper.