Most are under the assumption that in order to play crowd-pleasing music one needs the basics: drums, guitar, piano, tambourine (for a little flair), and a singer. Well subtract the drums. Nix the guitar. And who really needs the piano or the tambourine? Pitch Perfect displays that all you really need is a few voices.
The box office success Pitch Perfect is about the ever-so-popular college acappella scene. On the fictional Barden University campus, the competition between the singing groups is just as intense as that between the theater and sports departments. Factors like remixes, genres, and sound effects further fuel these rivalries in the world of a cappella singing. Actresses such as Brittany Snow and Anna Kendrick not only played college students who devote their lives to their singing groups, but also worked alongside actual college a capella singers.
According to Tulane University’s campus newspaper, The Tulane Hullabaloo, two students played, well, themselves- regular college kids who express their love for music through the power of their voices. Director Jason Moore sought out Tulane students because he wanted “some authentic groups to be in the movie.” “Tulane’s premier a capella group,” Green Envy, was eventually cast to appear in the movie.
This clip illustrates the definition of an amazing “riff-off.”
Now, do not think college a cappella groups are by any means a new fad or that they exist only in New Orleans, Louisiana. Collegiate a cappella can be dated back to as early as 1873 on campuses such as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Yale University. On some campuses, Division I sports fall to the wayside when a capella concerts take place in campus auditoriums, under school bridges, and even in dorm rooms. From ‘Top 100’ songs to ’80’s classics, a cappella groups seem to cover it all.
The movie’s plot is generic: girl feels lost, girl finds friends, girl loses friends, girl gets friends back (with a disapproved love interest somewhere in between), but that’s okay! What the movie lacks in originality, it makes up for in riff-off’s, show cases, and shower singing, all of which uplift the audience and provide a sense of community and belonging. The comedy and mind-blowing talent that these “college kids” fuse together have raised the bar for all romantic comedies to come.