By Angel Greer, Contributing Writer
The 2017 UMF Clefnotes. (Photo Courtesy of Zack Lavoie)
UMF a capella group Clefnotes is growing and obtaining new opportunities and will soon perform in their 3rd Annual Celebration of Music and final concert, both to be held in Nordica Auditorium later this semester.
Clefnotes recently held auditions this semester, with hopes of finding people to potentially add to their club. They added four new members this semester, which is said to be a pretty large number for a spring semester. “Usually not a lot of people audition during the spring semester, since a lot of people audition during the fall semester,” said Vanessa Brown, member of Clefnotes. “But in past years they’ve had 85 people audition during one semester and then have like 25 people for callbacks.”
“Being a new member of Clefnotes is awesome. It’s awesome just because of the people in the group,” said Brown. “They’re all just so funny and everyone’s different in their own ways.”
Auditions consist of singing a 30 second snippet of a song that shows off a singer’s range to the rest of the club, so that that they can earn a callback. “A lot of people before they do anything that’s arts related, like music, theater, etc.,” said Brown, “have that kind of awkwardness and that insecurity about themselves so they go into something like music to help with their confidence.”
The group has had a strong year according to Clefnotes leader Zack Lavoie. “Our group is really cohesive this year. We have a lot of really talented people who have the drive to take the group to the next level,” said the senior. “Everyone has great attitudes and really wants to push each other to be the best we can,” said Lavoie.
The singers have also been presented with new opportunities this year. “It’s really exciting to see how far the group has come. We were considered to sing with a band opening for Panic! At the Disco,” said Lavoie. Although this gig didn’t pull through due to staging issues, they have also been asked to perform by groups from schools like Bowdoin, Colby, and UMO.
Students interested in hearing Clefnotes perform can find them at the a cappella showcase Celebration of Music on April 15 in Nordica Auditorium. In the same venue, they will round out the year and say goodbye to their seniors with their final concert on May 6.