The sound of 12 singing voices mingling, layering and coalescing into perfect harmony swells and fills the dank, desk-cramped room in the depths of the music building. Voices deep and rich and high and crystalline meld into a solemnly beautiful tone that calls to mind a church hymn. Just as the voices reach a stately crescendo, they stop.
And then the beatboxing begins.
Jon Bailey, a psychology sophomore at ASU, steps out in front of the other singers and starts rapping Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” to the beat of the others’ singing, stomping, hand-clapping and beatboxing. Bailey passes the mic, figuratively, to finance sophomore Michael Perry, who spits some rhymes before the rest of the group raps along to the music they’re creating together.
The group responsible for this genre-bending musical exploration is the TEMPEtations, ASU’s first coed a cappella group. They’re the scrappy young upstarts in the a cappella scene – ASU’s all-female group the Pitchforks and all-male group Priority Male have already made their marks – and are eager to prove themselves. Most are freshmen and sophomores, not one of them is a music major and their levels of formal musical training range from zilch to intimidating. Most are here simply because they love music and wanted a forum to express that love with others.
“I’ve always enjoyed singing,” says Garret Walliman, a computer systems engineering junior. “I’d always dreamed about being able to do this with other people and to make some really cool sounds with our voices."
Curtis Koyama, an anthropology sophomore, is the group’s leader – he’s officially the president now, since the group recently became a recognized campus club – and founding member.
“Kelly (Miles, cofounder) and I began it last semester,” Koyama says. “It wasn’t until this semester that everything got solidified and we had a roster of regular members.” Or, as Bailey puts it, “Last semester was a test-run. This semester’s legit.”
The TEMPEtations’ recent performance at an a cappella festival made them realize how far they’ve come – but also how much work they still have ahead.
“It was a great place to start from and it was a humbling experience,” Bailey says. “It gave us the drive to keep working hard. I feel like we can only go up from here.”
Alisha Meschkow, a sophomore majoring in applied psychology and frequent arranger of the group’s musical numbers, agrees.
“We’re pretty self-aware in that we want to make sure we’re at our very best before we perform in front of people,” Meschkow says. “The convention (festival) was a big wake-up call that we need to be more disciplined. It’s about getting down to business and being more serious about our craft.”
Vocal collaboration is obviously an integral part of the a cappella experience, but the TEMPEtations stress it on every level.
“We all have things we bring to the table,” Bailey says. “We all take turns leading and helping each other try to learn it, from hitting the notes to reading the music. We basically all collaborate on everything and it’s amazing.”
Above all, it’s about the music.
“Music is a very interdisciplinary study because it takes an applied science and a love for art and turns it into a conglomeration of all things,” Meschkow says.
Just as they rapped, the TEMPEtations are losing themselves in the music, the moment, they want it and they’re never going to let it go.
Contact the reporter at llemoine@asu.edu
