New a cappella group expands opportunities for student singers

Kent State is now home to a new, second a cappella group, Flash Harmony.

The group, started by members of the Kent Chorus, is hoping to bring a pop/rock sound to campus. While the group became an official Kent State club Fall 2013, they are using spring as a trial semester, sophomore mathematics major Matthew Croyle said.

“It’s mainly just a testing semester right now. We’re going to see what we can get accomplished, see what the group can do and then we’ll go from there,” Croyle said.

The group hopes to expand opportunities for Kent State students who want to sing. The Kent Clarks is campus’s leading a cappella group, but, as junior Kayla Ivey explained, they can only take so many people during each year.

“What we wanted to do was just start almost an overflow group, so if you couldn’t get into [Kent Clarks] but can still sing. A lot of people on this campus have talent and there’s a lot of people on this campus who really want to sing,” Ivey said.

No formal voice training is required and singers can either schedule auditions or audition as a walk-in.

Auditions will be held Friday, Feb. 7 through Sunday Feb. 9 from 7 to 9 p.m. in rooms 303 and 309 of the Student Center.

While the focus of the group will be pop/rock, singers can audition with songs from a genre of their choice. Callback auditions will require more skills to be performed, such as pitch matching. Flash Harmony is also encouraging beat boxers to audition to add variety to the group.

You can find out more about the new group on their Facebook page.

Contact Erin Zaranec at [email protected]