Duke’s Men strike a chord in ICCA competition

The Duke’s Men have made it to the semifinal round of the ICCA competition three times: in 1996, 2005, and 2009.

“Afraid of change, afraid of staying the same.” That is not only a lyric from the Barenaked Ladies’ “What a Good Boy,” one of the Duke’s Men’s signature numbers, but also an apt description of a cappella today at Yale, exactly a century after its inception here. Founded in 1952, the Duke’s Men is the youngest of Yale’s five all-male groups (not including the Whiffenpoofs, which is limited to seniors). Its roster currently consists of 17 vocalists, two of whom are inactive  this semester because they are currently studying abroad.

The Duke’s Men may be a relatively recent addition to the Yale scene, but the group just earned a fourth-place finish at the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) on Sat., Apr. 18 this year. Sponsored by the company Varsity Vocals and held in the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the ICCA is an annual showcase of the best groups from each of six regions throughout the world: West, Midwest, South, Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, and Western Europe.
For the Duke’s Men, the competition began on Sat., Feb. 7, with a quarterfinal round at Boston University. (Each group that enters the competition participates in a quarterfinal round, and there are, on average, three such rounds per region.) Next were the semifinals at MIT on Sat., Mar. 21, where they again claimed the top spot. At both levels of the tournament, Sam Tsui, DC ’11, took away prizes for outstanding soloist and outstanding choreography. The ensembles placing above the Duke’s Men in the finals hailed from Mt. San Antonio College, Oxford University, and Missouri State University.

In preparing for the competition, the Duke’s Men had to adapt to the ICCA’s standards, even if that meant straying far from Yale musical traditions. At first glance, those standards do not appear stringent: All musical selections are welcome, as long as there is no instrumental accompaniment or inappropriate content, and a set cannot exceed 12 minutes. In addition to “What a Good Boy,” the Duke’s Men put on their renditions of Rihanna’s “Umbrella” and Ben Folds’ “Gone,” from which they had to excise a profanity.
Yet, according to Micah Hendler, CC ’11, the ICCA’s rubric for judging belied its seeming flexibility, in that performance carried almost as much weight as musicality.
“We’re not a show choir, we’re an a cappella group,” said Hendler, who is the group’s resident “beatboxer,” or vocal percussionist. “I didn’t join the Duke’s Men to dance, but to sing. I think that most people who participate in college a cappella would say that.”
Hendler added that a complete surrender of the Yale tradition, in favor of pop/rock exclusively, would be just as “silly” as refusing to pick any selections from the Top 40 or to incorporate any beatboxing whatsoever. Either of those extremes, Hendler argued, “prevents you from being able to compellingly perform a wide repertoire.”
Prior to the quarterfinals, the group rehearsed five days a week, for an estimated total of 100 hours, in order to fine-tune their intricate routines.
“We spent a month working on choreography before the show. It was a huge time commitment, but that meant we have a great set now,” said David Mogilner, PC ’12.
Ben Wexler, BK ’11, the group’s “pitch” or musical director, agreed with Mogilner that the investment was a worthwhile one. “The ICCA gave a structure to our year and helped us work toward our best potential…It was a case study in performance,” he said.
Another sophomore in the Duke’s Men, Cory Finley, CC ’11, noted that the group was somewhat apprehensive heading into the ICCA, given the dissimilarities between Yale and the mainstream. “We were not sure we were going to enter the competition at all. We thought Yale a cappella was totally incompatible with the kind they do,” he said.  “This ICCA stuff is highly choreographed and modern.”
Timing was another concern, in terms of both practices and the actual performances. In fact, two freshman members of the Duke’s Men—Raphael Shapiro and Jeremy Lloyd, both SM ’12—had to sacrifice roles in Thursday and Summer and Smoke, respectively, in order to make the finals in Lincoln Center.

But this was not the first time the Duke’s Men took part in the ICCA. They have reached the finals twice, in 1996 and in 2005. The group has never participated in the competition without reaching the finals.
David Halpern, BK ’99, was a freshman when the Duke’s Men first forayed into competitive a cappella. Although they finished second to the all-female group from UNC Loreleis, the Duke’s Men—“always the spin-doctors,” joked Halpern in an email—downplayed their loss by “touting [their] success as the ‘best male a cappella group’ in the country.”

The Duke’s Men placed 4th in this year’s ICCA competition.

But Halpern pointed out that despite multiple successes at the ICCA, the competition might never play a strong role in the group’s identity. “Despite all the accolades, most of us found the [ICCA] kind of pretentious and very cheesy,” Halpern said. “We were purists about our music. We performed a lot of songs that had been in the group’s repertoire for decades, and we didn’t really believe in “vocal percussion” or fancy choreography (unless, of course, it was intended to make people laugh). Sounds stodgy, but that was our philosophy.”
Even still, Halpern made sure to emphasize that the Duke’s Men were fond of goofing around on occasion, with such antics as a gameshow skit called “Don’t Shoot Your Mom.” But these stunts never got in the way of the Duke’s Men’s outward gratitude for their forbearers. For example, it may be considered anachronistic that they still wear tuxes and tails, but Halpern “think[s] it’s a nice nod to the past…Without those groups that came before, none of us would have had the opportunities to sing, entertain, and travel that we did.”
Since the Duke’s Men are financially self-sufficient, due in part to their predecessors’ efforts, Yale did not contribute to funding their bids at the ICCA. Nor did Yale (or the Duke’s Men) sponsor any students who traveled to Boston, Cambridge, or New York City in support of the group.

Leah Libresco, JE ’11, happened to be in boston when the Duke’s Men were in the semifinals at MIT.  “I knew the Duke’s Men would win from their first number. Like many of their competitors, they’re incredibly talented musically, but what really made them stand out was their enthusiasm,” said Libresco. “The joy they bring to their performances is electric and comes across in their boisterous choreography and playful remixes.”
In the audience at Lincoln Center were Kevin Adkisson, MC ’12, and Danielle Wiggins, DC ’12, who “wanted to see how other schools’ a cappella is different from ours.”  Whereas Libresco could tell from the first note that the Duke’s Men would come out on top, Adkisson had his doubts upon seeing their competition. “After seeing that there was such a wide spectrum of groups, I realized that it depended on what the judges were looking for,” he said.
If the Duke’s Men’s accomplishment at the ICCA is any indication, the tension between its conservative legacy, and the pressure on it to modernize musically, will continue to be aired out. Or, it might be aired literally…on MTV, if the network picks up a pilot, the demo for which was already filmed at Yale, for a reality show about a cappella as it exists at colleges around the country. But even if the Duke’s Men sing “Umbrella,” don’t expect them to change up their look to appeal to MTV—at least no more than for the ICCAs.

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