In most musical pieces, vocals are accompanied by instrumentals. However, the human voice shows its true potential as a powerful instrument when it stands alone. This is a cappella.
The Naturals, Marquette’s all-male a cappella group, originated in 2003 when a group of friends wanted to sing together on a casual basis. Now, the Naturals hold three concerts a year and have performed in residence halls and at Marquette athletic games, among other gigs.
The Naturals’ songs have a sense of barber shop-style. While the group will not be donning red pinstripe suits, straw hats and canes any time soon, the ensemble adds a fun and modern spin to an old musical styling. From Disney songs to Bruno Mars, the group finds a way to harmonize a baritone into any song.
Andrew Mountin, a fifth-year senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, has been part of the Naturals since his freshman year.
“Our goal is to make (the sound) as close to what you would hear from many years ago, but with a modern feel,” Mountin said. “College students can relate to it, but it’s still what you’d hear from earlier times.”
The compilation of new and older pieces adds diversity to the concerts. Richard Schwarz, a senior in the College of Business and president of the Naturals, said the Naturals’ sound comes from the variety of songs coming together.
“We really focus on our harmonies and being uniform together,” Schwarz said. “We tend to mix up different styles so our sound can really vary from which songs we do. We do barber shop to pop music.”
At the group’s most recent concert in October, the Naturals experimented with dubstep. They also recreated their own variation of “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper,” a Blue Öyster Cult song popularized by the “More Cowbell” sketch on “Saturday Night Live.”
Schwarz said since his freshman year, the Naturals performed many of the same songs at the group’s Christmas concert. This year, there will be new versions of songs to look forward to at the group’s upcoming show on Saturday, Dec. 10. Most of the songs are new arrangements on classic Christmas songs. Schwarz particularly likes the group’s version of “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch.”
Mountin arranges most of the Naturals’ songs and has been busy preparing for the upcoming show.
“If you have never been to an a cappella concert before, this will give a different take on Christmas pieces. You’re going to hear the songs in a different way,” Mountin said. “We usually knock people’s socks off.”
To arrange a song, Mountin will first listen to a recording of the original piece. He then writes a basic rough draft of a melody based off of the song’s sheet music, and the group plays around with the piece together. The ensemble improvises by trying out different songs or variations on top of the base song.
“I try to put a spin on things. We don’t want to make the same sounds with our voices as the instruments make,” Mountin said.
Mountin said there is a big project in the works for next semester, but he did not want to spoil the surprise. He did say he anticipates the next show to be even better than previous performances.
“Every concert we’ve had has been an improvement over the last one. We have a lot of talents and fantastic voices,” Mountin said. “The last performance was our best one, but next will be better.”
A Cappella Christmas with The Naturals is Saturday, Dec. 10 at 5 p.m. in the Weasler Auditorium.