Marquette’s only co-ed a cappella group, the Gold ‘n Blues, is getting ready for the biggest competition in collegiate a cappella— the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA). The tournament, known by some from the “Pitch Perfect” movie franchise, will be held this year on Valentine’s Day, and the Gold ‘n Blues are deep in their preparations.
A cappella groups interested in competing at ICCA apply to compete in quarterfinals through a video audition, where six to ten groups are selected in their respective region. Then the top two groups advance to their region’s semifinal. The semifinal winners then advance to the finals in New York City. The Gold ‘n Blues, along with the Marquette Naturals, are headed to the quarterfinal competition in Madison on Feb. 14 and will be competing in the Great Lakes Division alongside the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Eau Claire and Stevens Point.
The group will be performing a selection of three songs— “Training Season” by Dua Lipa, “Biting My Tongue” by Duncan Laurence and “Holding out for a Hero” by Bonnie Tyler. Gold ‘n Blues Creative Director Bennett Chapman — a sophomore in the College of Communication — spoke of the song selection process
“When [picking the song] we approached it as a full set [and focused] on how each song flows into the next,” Chapman said. “Being really intentional with how we went about [the setlist] this time around was a big focus.”
The songs are selected from group submissions; members submitted a recording of themselves singing and the e-board decided on the final setlist. The students whose samples were selected were also assigned a solo. Chapman has a solo in this year’s competition as will Moira Sagon, a sophomore in the College of Nursing, and McKinnley Marks, a senior in the College of Health Sciences.
“I’m really excited to turn over that new leaf for this group and expose everyone to the competitive environment,” Chapman said. “So far it’s been really good, we’ve had a really great dynamic in our rehearsals, and I think [it] will be really fun to put our work on blast and show off what we’ve been working super hard for.”
This is the first time the Gold ‘n Blues have competed at ICCA since 2023. Last year, the Gold ‘n Blues planned to compete after a year off in 2024 but opted out due to the competition’s conflict with National Marquette Day.
Jonah Zhungu, a senior in the College of Business Administration, is ready to get back into the competitive atmosphere.
“We haven’t competed since my freshman year. We had a great time, it was a great experience,” Zhungu said. “[I’m excited] to reap the benefits of a lot of the work that we have put in the past few years and approach [ICCA] with a new mindset and be a lot more intentional with our performance.”
For more information on the Marquette Gold ‘n Blues and ICCA, click here or visit the Gold ‘n Blues Instagram account.
This article was written by Allison Scherquist. She can be contacted at [email protected]
