The Stanford Harmonics are a co-ed
a cappella
''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...
group from
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
. Known for their alternative rock repertoire and award-winning recordings, the Harmonics have garnered international recognition for their performances and have been featured on BOCA, Sing, and Voices Only a cappella compilations. The Harmonics are one of the few
collegiate a cappella
Collegiate a cappella (or college a cappella) ensembles are college-affiliated singing groups, primarily in the United States, and, increasingly, the United Kingdom and Ireland, that perform entirely without musical instruments. The groups are typ ...
groups that own their own wireless microphone equipment and have developed a live performance style that includes the use of electronic distortion and sound effects.
History
The group's third release, ''Insanity Laughs'' (1999), was received as a "breakthrough album" for the unprecedented mixing of its drum-like vocal percussion.
In 2009, their landmark studio album, ''Escape Velocity'', won three
Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards
The Contemporary A Cappella Society (of America), or CASA, is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization dedicated to fostering and promoting a cappella music of all styles around the world. CASA was founded in 1991 by Deke Sharon in San Francisco just ...
, including Best Mixed Collegiate Album,
[ and was selected by the Recorded A Cappella Review Board as one of their Picks of the Decade.][
]
In 2020, the album "Signal Lost" by the Harmonics won Best Rock Album from the Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards
The Contemporary A Cappella Society (of America), or CASA, is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization dedicated to fostering and promoting a cappella music of all styles around the world. CASA was founded in 1991 by Deke Sharon in San Francisco just ...
Recordings
The Stanford Harmonics have released ten full-length albums, one "greatest hits" album, and one extended play, alongside numerous singles.
* ''The Greatest Hits of Pitchpipe'' (1995)
* ''Escalator Music'' (1997)
* ''Insanity Laughs '' (1999)
* ''Phonoshop'' (2001)
* ''evolut10n'' (2002) - 10 Year Anniversary "Greatest Hits" Album
* ''Rock Beats Scissors'' (2003)
* ''Shadowplay'' (2005)
* ''Escape Velocity'' (2008)
* ''Midnight Hour'' (2013)
* ''The Messes of Men'' (2015) - EP
* ''Fault of Imagination'' (2017)
* ''Signal Lost'' (2019)
Awards and nominations
, -
, 1998
, Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards
The Contemporary A Cappella Society (of America), or CASA, is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization dedicated to fostering and promoting a cappella music of all styles around the world. CASA was founded in 1991 by Deke Sharon in San Francisco just ...
, Best Mixed Collegiate Album
, ''Escalator Music''
,
,
ICCA results
The International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella
The International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA), originally the National Championship of Collegiate A Cappella ("NCCA", a play on NCAA), is an international competition that attracts hundreds of college ''a cappella'' groups each ye ...
(ICCA) first judged live a cappella performance competitions in 1996.
Notable members
* Singer/songwriter Vienna Teng
Cynthia Yih Shih (born October 3, 1978, Saratoga, California), better known by her stage name Vienna Teng, is an American pianist and singer-songwriter who was based in Detroit, Michigan and now lives in Washington, DC. Teng has released five s ...
* Contemporary A Cappella Society
The Contemporary A Cappella Society (of America), or CASA, is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization dedicated to fostering and promoting a cappella music of all styles around the world. CASA was founded in 1991 by Deke Sharon in San Francisco just ...
of America (CASA) President Julia Hoffman and Board Member Ariel Glassman
* Hookslide singers Jon Pilat and George Hoffman
* Former Skritch lead Bryan Tan
* Icon Parthiv Krishna
* Gautam Raghavan
Gautam Raghavan is an Indian American political advisor who is the director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office. Raghavan previously served as the associate director of the Office of Public Liaison in the Obama Administration, Obama a ...
, Deputy Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office
See also
*List of Stanford University a cappella groups
Collegiate a cappella arrived at Stanford University in 1963, when the Stanford Mendicants were founded by a transfer student from Yale University, the school where collegiate a cappella began. The Mendicants were the first a cappella group on the ...
References
External links
Official Website
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Collegiate a cappella groups
Harmonics
A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'', the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the ''1st harmonic'', the ...