What’s the fascination with the new Isolation Sensation?
The all-new a capella competition, “Isolation Sensation,” presented by Drew’s three a cappella groups, On A Different Note, MadAve and All Of The Above, brings a sense of the Drew community to home. It has been advertised across the a capella groups’ Instagram pages and is not something to be missed.
The idea for a campus singing competition came from Althessa Jones ‘21 and Jesse Gallager ‘21. Jones said the groups really wanted to do something to keep students interested in a capella and music in general.
Gallager, who is the current music director of the a cappella group On A Different Note, presented the timeline and pitched the structure of the contest virtually to all the a cappella groups before reaching out to Student Activities Director, Megan McHugh, for approval and assistance.
According to the organizers, students— undergrad and graduate—interested in Isolation Sensation did not need to be a music major/minor or have any past musical experience to participate. Anyone interested in singing was welcome to join.
To enter in the competition, students either visited the competition’s Instagram page @isolationsenstionx to access a Google sign-up form or emailed isolationsensationx@gmail.com to get a link.
After completing that process, students sent in a video of their performance of any song of their choice to isolationsensationx@gmail.com before Sept. 25 at 11:59pm.
Submitted videos have been clipped and posted to the competition’s Instagram page for viewers to see. Six judges, made up of the presidents and music directors of each a cappella group, decide who will be moving to the second of three rounds. Videos will be judged based on voice quality, stage presence and preparation.
Selected participants that pass the first round will move onto the second, which asks them to submit another singing video related to a theme. The process will then be the same as the first round, with a second elimination at the end.
The third round will also have a theme, but the top three contestants will be chosen as winners by the viewers instead of the judges.
If students win, they will receive an Amazon gift card of varying amounts determined by place: $75 for first place and $50 for second and third. Winners will also have the opportunity to perform at the Back to Classes Jam, the groups’ first concert, in Spring 2021 with the acapella groups.
