by Kenton Chen

It's Halloween night. You are inside a darkened house strung up with cobwebs and severed limbs, surrounded by a suffocating crowd of costumes and spectacles galore. To say that it’s stuffy is an understatement. In the living room, college students are supposedly dancing, but between the drunkenness and claustrophobia, there really isn’t much space for anything but a rhythmic grind.

Where are you? You’re at the SoCal VoCal house, for their annual VoCalloween party. The SoCal VoCals, USC’s oldest cappella group, are known for hosting large-scale parties at their house throughout the year, bringing together a mix of theatre, Greek, music, and other students.

The term a cappella means "without instruments," so as an a cappella group, the VoCals perform with just their voices.

“I perceive them as this big family,” said sophomore Juliana Daniil of the VoCals. “All these great people in one tight-knit group, singing and dancing…I’m kinda jealous.”

The VoCals are only one of hundreds of collegiate a cappella groups in the United States, each with its own tight-knit communities and fan bases. Right now at USC, there are six a cappella groups on campus: The VoCals, Reverse Osmosis, Trojan Men, Sirens, Troy Tones, and Kosher Pig.

Six groups, all with very different sounds, looks, and personalities. What binds them together (aside from the partying) is their love of music, and that by itself is enough to create a community.

But with that community, there lies the ever-present threat of Gossip Girl-esque drama.

“The inter-group relationships are fine 99 percent of the time," said Joe Sofranko, a senior in the VoCals. "The only time that rivalry rears its ugly head is during fall auditions."

He’s right. Each fall, the USC groups join together for a concert in Bovard, the primary purpose being to recruit new singers. After the concert, groups hold a weeklong series of auditions, and by the end of that week, each group must choose their potential newcomers. The scramble for singers brings out the worst in every group since each one is searching for a specific voice, and oftentimes, two or more groups want the same person.

I experienced this tension last spring, when, as music director for the VoCals, I went over to the RO (Reverse Osmosis) house after auditions. In order to foster better relations with the other groups, each group had to notify their crossover picks through a third-party and wait together for the coveted singer's final decision. We were all very nervous because no one wanted to lose their pick, but the fortunate part was that we were not merely cordial — we were all legitimately enjoying each other’s company.

Sofranko, who was president of the VoCals, recalls a time when this amiability did not exist.

“We were all very competitive,” Sofranko admitted. “There was always talk about being better than and feeling threatened by RO. But now, it’s funny, because [the fact that they are so good and work so hard] was the very reason why we hated them and is the same reason why we love them now.” Sofranko experienced this shift in mentality when the competition faded into mutual support, he said.

This shift began when VoCals and RO worked together in theater productions and musicals. Friends and siblings joined separate groups, and “rival” members even began dating each other.

Then, in the spring of last year, the VoCals competed in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella. Michael Alfera, now the music director for RO, along with other RO members, sat in on VoCal rehearsals and gave notes. RO and VoCals worked together because they realized something that changed the playing field: If the VoCals won the ICCAs, they would bring a level of prestige that would only boost recognition for all USC a cappella.

“Once people in our groups began to realize that we were friends and not enemies, we found that we had a lot to share with each other,” Alfera recalled.

And we do. Will Harris, who has been a VoCal for three years, regularly hangs out at the RO House and invites RO members to spend time with the VoCals. It’s not that there is no drama, but at parties like VoCalloween you can spot an RO, a Troy Tone, a Siren, and others supporting and enjoying each other.

“We’re all such good musicians," said Natalie Storrs of Reverse Osmosis. "Why don’t we unite over our love of music?”