AirCappella whistles their tunes cross-country

Gülfem Demiray Assistant Arts Editor

Most are familiar with the famous Disney tune, “Whistle While You Work.” You may even take its message to heart, whistling in your room, the shower and on the way to the dining hall. For one group of Vassar students, though, whistling has become the work. That group is AirCappella.

AirCappella, Vassar’s whistling-only a cappella group, was certified by the Vassar Student Association in 2005 and currently has nine members.

There are many people on campus who love to whistle, and it is difficult to earn a spot in the group with the tough auditions.

“[AirCappella] got a really big turn-out last semester,” said group member Jessie Kunhardt ’08. The group had 25 applicants for just five available openings.

The high number of applicants is partially due to the campus tours for prospective students, which always mention AirCappella. Most group members admit that they first heard about AirCappella during those tours. Kunhardt said that there are even people who choose Vassar over another college because of the whistling group.

Despite burgeoning interest, the group has maintained a small size. “Too many whistles make it messy,” group member Kristin Van Der Kloot ’11 said. It is generally harder to harmonize with whistles than with voices, she explained.

Consequently, the group spent a lot of time on auditions this year; listening to the whistling pieces the applicants prepared, testing volume ranges and experimenting how well their whistles blend with those of existing group members.

Though it is a small group, AirCappella has begun to garner national attention.

Last spring, AirCappella went to the annual International Whistlers Convention in Louisburg, N.C., to find that they were the only whistling group there.

Last month they were hired by Advil, which needed a whistling group for a sales meeting and found out about AirCappella through the convention. Six AirCappella members—Ben Creed ’09, Carolyn Nims ’10, Andrew Shapransky ’11, Sadie Burzan ’11 and Francis Meyo ’11—flew to Atlanta, Ga. to perform for the Advil meeting. The company paid them $3,000 and covered all of their flight and hotel expenses.

The group may use the money to attend the International Whistlers Conventions in New Delhi and Tokyo.

Alden HD, a production company affiliated with Advil, told AirCappella that they could receive proposals to perform in television commercials. “I don’t know if that will actually happen,” Kunhardt said, “but it would be cool!”

AirCappella, which meets twice a week on Sundays and Wednesdays, splits rehearsal time between practicing their repertoire songs and configuring new songs. Their songs include traditional a cappella songs, Beatles songs, Disney songs and pop songs such as Britney Spears’ “Toxic.”

To configure new songs, the group does a lot of listening. Generally, one member learns the song and then teaches it to the other members. The whistling parts are distributed into at least three or four different voice-leadings: piano, bass, strings and vocal parts.

“None of us are big singers, but a lot of us know music and play different instruments,” said group member Kristen Meade ’10. “I think that’s one of the things that make us function; people pick up their parts very quickly.”

The group has an end-of-year performance and is also known for its Christmas caroling tradition.
So the next time you hear an Advil commercial, think to yourself: Does that whistling sound familiar?