Collegiate a cappella Collegiate a cappella (or college a cappella) ensembles are college-affiliated singing groups, primarily in the United States, and, increasingly, the United Kingdom and Ireland, that perform entirely without musical instruments. The groups are typ ...

arrived at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 1963, when the

Stanford Mendicants The Stanford Mendicants are an all-male a cappella group at Stanford University. The group is Stanford University's first a cappella group. Since its founding in 1963, the group's size has varied from 6 to 19 members. Although they are strictly a ...

were founded by a transfer student from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, the school where collegiate a cappella began. The Mendicants were the first a cappella group on the West Coast of the United States. The all-male Mendicants were followed by Stanford's second a cappella group,

Counterpoint In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. The term originates from the Latin ...

, the first all-female a cappella group on the West Coast. By the 1980s, as collegiate a cappella hit an inflection point and the number of groups doubled around the United States, Stanford saw the founding of four more a cappella groups, each with its own initial differentiating focus:

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...

(founded 1981, focused on

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

Mixed Company ''Mixed Company'' is a 1974 American comedy-drama film directed by Melville Shavelson and written by Shavelson and Mort Lachman. It stars Barbara Harris, Joseph Bologna, Tom Bosley, Lisa Gerritsen, Dorothy Shay, Ruth McDevitt and Haywood Nel ...

(founded 1985, Stanford's first co-ed a cappella group), and

Everyday People "Everyday People" is a 1968 song composed by Sly Stone and first recorded by his band, Sly and the Family Stone. It was the first single by the band to go to number one on the Soul singles chart and the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. It hel ...

(founded 1987, focused on

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

, R&B, and the burgeoning genre of

hip hop music Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music Music genre, genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African Americans, African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide r ...

), and

Stanford Talisman Stanford Talisman is a student a cappella group at Stanford University, dedicated to sharing stories through music. Started in 1990 by Stanford student Joseph Pigato, their roots are in music from South Africa and the African diaspora, but they ...

(founded in 1989, focused on music from the

African diaspora The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from List of ethnic groups of Africa, people from Africa. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the native West Africa, West and Central Africans who were ...

). By the 1990s, Stanford a cappella groups began receiving national recognition for their recorded music, created with audio engineer Bill Hare. In 1995, Fleet Street won the 1995 national

Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards The Contemporary A Cappella Society (of America), or CASA, is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that fosters and promotes a cappella music of all styles around the world. CASA was founded in October of 1990 by Deke Sharon while attending Tufts ...

for best album, best song, and best soloist. President of the Society,

Deke Sharon Deke Sharon (born December 12, 1967) is an American singer, arranger, composer, director, producer, author, coach, pioneer, and teacher of a cappella music, and is one of the leaders and promoters of the contemporary a cappella community. He h ...

, praised the group's work, saying, "The quality f their musicis fantastic. They're very good performers and their recordings are remarkably professional for a student-run group." In 1999, Stanford groups received a record 14 nominations at the Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards. Sharon, said, "it's rare for so many excellent groups to come out of one school."

List of a cappella groups

As of 2025, there are ten a cappella groups at Stanford. Here, in order of founding date: *

Mendicants A mendicant (from , "begging") is one who practices mendicancy, relying chiefly or exclusively on alms to survive. In principle, mendicant religious orders own little property, either individually or collectively, and in many instances members ...

(f. 1963): Stanford's oldest a cappella group. *

(f. 1979): first all-female collegiate a cappella group on the West Coast. *

(f. 1981): co-ed comedy group known for original songs. *Mixed Company ("Mixed Co"; f. 1985): pop focus, Stanford's first co-ed a cappella group. *

("EP"; f. 1987):

Hip Hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

, R&B,

and

Soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

focus. *

Talisman A talisman is any object ascribed with religious or magical powers intended to protect, heal, or harm individuals for whom they are made. Talismans are often portable objects carried on someone in a variety of ways, but can also be installed perm ...

(f. 1989):

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and the

focus, now broadly international. *

Harmonics In physics, acoustics, and telecommunications, a harmonic is a sinusoidal wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'' of a periodic signal. The fundamental frequency is also called the ''1st harm ...

(f. 1991):

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

focus. *

Testimony Testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. Etymology The words "testimony" and "testify" both derive from the Latin word ''testis'', referring to the notion of a disinterested third-party witness. Law In the law, testimon ...

(f. 1991):

Christian music Christian music is a genre of music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christianity, Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence and lament, and its f ...

focus. * Raagapella (f. 2002):

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

n focus. * O-Tone (f. 2016):

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

n focus.

Bibliography

* Brockenbrough, Andy (26 September 1991). "A time to sing and sing and..." published in ''

The Stanford Daily ''The Stanford Daily'' is the student-run, independent daily newspaper serving Stanford University. ''The Daily'' is distributed throughout campus and the surrounding community of Palo Alto, California, United States. It has published since the ...

'', p. 8. Print. * Chopra, Nitin (24 September 1998). "A cappella nation: A Stanford tradition," published in ''

: Intermission'', pp. 5–7. Print. * Omer, Issra (11 August 2011). "Beyond the barbershop: Stanford’s diverse a capella scene
published online
by ''

''. Online.

References

{{Stanford University Collegiate a cappella groups Stanford University vocal groups