Hannah Foldy

Revamping after school choir clubs such as Spectrum and WAC (West A Cappella Choir), choir teacher Brian Parrish formed the Parkway West A Cappella club, a music group that has their sights set on the International Championships of High school A Cappella Competition (ICHSA) in March.

“The group went for an entirely new approach this year. The two groups from last year were a little more casual;  they met for and rehearsed maybe one or two songs in a year and were much smaller groups. With the increase in numbers, this year we wanted to do something different and decided to play it by ear,” Parrish said.

Separated by gender, the girls group includes seniors Brenna Ryan, Sam Massara, sophomores Hope Emerson, Sidney Baker and freshman Hope Emerson, and the boys group includes seniors Eddy O’Neil, Trevor Danegger, junior Ryan McChesney, sophomores Alex Hubbard, Connor Gately, Josh Massara, and Rami Ringling

“Each group have a lot of members and a good core set of leaders. Their defining aspect is they all want to be there, which makes practices more productive,” Parrish said.

Practices take place on Thursdays at 6 pm,where they practice contemporary pop and rock songs, such as “Royals” by Lorde for the girls and “Too Close” by Alex Clare for the boys.

“The way that we set up practices calls for the students to be as creative as possible: a new opportunity for many of the students. I don’t assign them specific music, they listen to the songs and come up with the different parts that they will sing. When they establish a part that they like, we collaborate and tweak it if necessary,” Parrish said.

The groups will compete and perform either in the mornings before school or at venues around the area when they have enough songs ready.

“It’s really exciting to have all of the parts we come up with come together. When we rehearse you just get the feeling that it will sound awesome,” Gately said.

Both groups are anticipating their competitions and performances.

“It’s quite honestly an honor to get to be a part of it. It feels so natural the way that it’s run — there’s practically no pressure.  I look forward to going to practices and eventually competing,” Emerson said.

Parrish’s message to the rest of the school is to take up a class or club in the music program, if they are interested.

“A good illustration of the music that the a cappella group does is like Pitch Perfect. If that’s something that interests you, come join the choir,” Parrish said.