Meghan Zimbler
Staff Writer
A few members of Maroon XIII pose with Santa Clause at midnight breakfast in December. Starting bottom left: Zachary Hartshorn, Erin Womboldt, Chelsea Taylor, Jason Mascoe, Scott Newman, Nick Ambrogio, Kevin Nowak, Keelin O’Connell, Lindsay Hutchinson and Jenn Canniff.
The a cappella scene has moved into Springfield College, making Maroon XIII the group to see.
This group is filled with talented singers that are taking things to the next level by attending the ICCA Northeast Regional competition at the Berklee College of Music this upcoming Saturday night.
If you’ve seen the Universal Picture, Pitch Perfect, you know that the ICCA’s are a big deal. There are five regional competitions, and Maroon XIII is attending this one. Eventually that leads to semi-finals and then the finals, but that is further down the road.
Maroon XIII decided to go to this competition just before the end of the last semester.
“Most a capella groups that are competing in the competition that we are going have been practicing for months, and months, and months. We just made the decision right before the semester ended,” said Eddie Grace, music director of the A Cappella Society at Springfield College.
The singers performed in the Campus Union this past Tuesday night, and anyone that went can tell this is a hardworking group of performers.
There is a lot in store for the Northeast Regionals. There are nine competing teams in this competition, including Springfield’s Maroon XIII. For each set, each team gets 12 minutes to sing their three songs.
Twelve minutes seems like a long time, but with every competition there is a little catch.
“If you go over 12 minutes, you lose a place. Meaning if you were going to be second place, you are now third place,” Grace explained.
Maroon XIII has been practicing this three song set, and decided on a few solid songs to sing. “I Knew You Were Trouble” by Taylor Swift, “Listen” from the movie Dream Girls and “Titanium” by David Guetta are the songs the group has chosen, with solos by Eddie Grace himself, Rob Kearney, Jill Funk and Lindsay Hutchinson, along with vocal percussions from Pat Long.
For Northeast Regionals, the top two teams go on to the next round. The competition is set for this Saturday night, Feb. 16 in Boston at the Berklee Performance Center.
When asked what is next for Maroon XIII, Eddie Grace simply stated, “No idea, we take it as it comes…It depends what happens.”