Doox of Yale (formerly The Duke's Men of Yale) are an all-gender

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...

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 at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. The group was founded by first-year students in 1952, and was the first

TTBB In musical choral notation, TTBB denotes a four-part lower-voice choir. Its configuration is Tenor 1, Tenor 2, Bass 1 (Baritone), Bass 2. The Tanunda Liedertafel employs this method of notation in their music. Typically (but not always) the 1st ...

a cappella group at Yale to become all-gender in 2017.

History

The Duke's Men formed in 1952 when Basil "Duke" Henning, a former member of the

Whiffenpoofs The Yale Whiffenpoofs is a collegiate a cappella singing group. Established at Yale University in 1909, it is the oldest such group in the United States. The line-up is completely replaced each year: the group is always composed of rising senior ...

and the master of

Saybrook College Saybrook College is one of the 14 residential colleges at Yale University. It was founded in 1933 by partitioning the Memorial Quadrangle into two parts: Saybrook and Branford. Unlike many of Yale's residential colleges that are centered on one ...

, stole an arrangement from the 'Whiffs' and presented it to four of his first-year students. In the fall of 2017, the Duke's Men became Yale's first historically all-male a cappella group to abolish gender restrictions. The group is widely considered to be a feeder to the Whiffenpoofs, and its announcement placed additional pressure on the world's oldest collegiate a cappella group to begin admitting non-male singers; within a year, the Whiffenpoofs followed suit and admitted the group's first female singer in its 109-year history. In 2018, the Duke's Men changed its official name to Doox of Yale, a longtime nickname that better reflected the ensemble's gender inclusivity.

Competition and media

Doox has been successful in a number of competitions, most notably the International Championship of College A Cappella. In 1996 Doox was the best male group and won first runner-up honors at the ICCA Finals at

Avery Fisher Hall David Geffen Hall is a concert hall in New York City's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The 2,200-seat auditorium opened in 1962, and is the home of the New York Philharmonic. The facility, designe ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, along with awards for soloist Michael Sagalowicz and arrangement. The same year, the group performed for President Bill Clinton at the White House Christmas party. In 2005, the group took first place in the New England regional final of the ICCA. Most recently, the group took first place in the 2009 Northeast Quarterfinal, with member Sam Tsui ('11) receiving accolades for Best Solo & Best Choreography. and won again at the Northeast Semi-Final at MIT on March 21, and came in 4th place at the Finals at Alice Tully Hall on April 18, 2009. In January 2004, the group was featured in a

CBS News Sunday Morning ''CBS News Sunday Morning'' (normally shortened to ''Sunday Morning'' on the program itself since 2009) is an American news magazine A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio or television program, usually published ...

segment about collegiate a cappella. In 2006, the Duke's Men recorded a jingle for the CNBC program "Fast Money." In June 2015, three members of the group (Solon Snider, Wade Newville, and Paul Holmes) were featured on Bravo TV's scripted comedy series, "

Odd Mom Out ''Odd Mom Out'' is an American sitcom that was created by and starring Jill Kargman. A 10-episode first season was ordered by the American cable television network Bravo. The series focuses on Jill Kargman playing a fictionalized version of he ...

," where they sang a segment of "Give My Regards to Broadway" (arranged by Solon Snider, Pitchpipe 2014-2015).

Notable alumni

Richard Brookhiser Richard Brookhiser (; born February 23, 1955) is an American journalist, biographer and historian. He is a senior editor at ''National Review''. He is most widely known for a series of biographies of America's founders, including Alexander Hamilt ...

, historian and journalist * Django Haskins, singer-songwriter and frontman of pop-noir musical group

the Old Ceremony The Old Ceremony is a Chapel Hill, North Carolina pop-noir musical group fronted by Django Haskins. Formed in 2004, the group has released five full-length albums, ''Our One Mistake'', on sonaBLAST! Records; ''The Old Ceremony'', ''Walk On Thi ...

. *

Conor Knighton Conor Knighton (born February 1, 1981) is an American actor, host, and television producer. He is currently a correspondent for ''CBS Sunday Morning''. In 2016, Knighton launched "On The Trail," a year-long, cross-country look at America's Nati ...

, correspondent for

CBS Sunday Morning ''CBS News Sunday Morning'' (normally shortened to ''Sunday Morning'' on the program itself since 2009) is an American news magazine television program that has aired on CBS since January 28, 1979. Created by Robert Northshield and original host ...

. *

Holcombe Waller Holcombe Waller is an American composer, singer and performance artist. He lives in Portland, Oregon, and has performed across the United States and Europe, both solo and with his ensemble, The Healers. His father was from France, therefore he ...

, singer-songwriter and visual/performing artist. *

Sam Tsui Samuel Tsui (born May 2, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter and video producer. He rose to fame as an internet celebrity known for doing covers and musical medleys of songs by pop artists. He has since released original songs and expanded t ...

, Musician. * Casey Breves, member of Chanticleer * Jeremy Lloyd, part of the pop duo

Marian Hill Marian Hill is an American electronic duo from Philadelphia consisting of record producer Jeremy Lloyd and singer Samantha Gongol. The duo released their debut EP, ''Play'', in 2014, and released their second EP, ''Sway'', in 2015. The duo relea ...

* Henry Gottfried, actor. * Christian Probst, cast member of Broadway's

The Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude date ...

* Michael Blume, singer-songwriter

Discography

Over the decades the group has recorded over 30 albums.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Doox Yale University musical groups Collegiate a cappella groups Musical groups established in 1952 1952 establishments in Connecticut