Music is a huge part of almost every person’s life. Music comes in many different shapes and forms: from quiet, peaceful vibe to hard rock and heavy metal. One of the most interesting forms of music, however, is a cappella.
A cappella is a form of music that does not use any kind of instruments. The singers instead use their voices to substitute for the lack of instruments, making for a truly unique listening experience.
VOLT is a co-ed a capella group at UTK that strives to create unique and beautiful a capella music.
“I was in Revolution, the all-female a capella group on campus, for four years, and I decided I wanted to try something different. I had seen a lot of co-ed groups and met a lot of cool people through a capella, so I did my research, and that’s were it all began,” McKinley Merritt, founder of VOLT, current co-music director and senior in theatre, said.
The group is not only a performing group but also a competitive group. VOLT recently placed third in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella and received the award for best choreography.
VOLT not only preforms and competes, but it also allows its members the opportunity to improve. The group regularly attends events such as the SoJam A Cappella Festival, an event where anyone from professionals to high school groups can attend master classes and learn about the art of a Cappella.
While other a capella groups on campus require members to be a part of a choir, VOLT does not — leading to a very diverse group of singers.
“The backgrounds of people in our group is a little more diverse than other a cappella groups,” Merritt said. “We have anywhere from engineers, theatre majors, English majors and everything in between. Trying to get everyone’s brains to diverge on this one thing for six hours a week is the best part. I love it, and it stresses me out in the most wonderful way.”
Merritt described their sound as “pop, but not top-40.” The group tends to sing the songs of popular artists such as Ariana Grande that the general public might not know.
Jared Sanchez, junior in theatre and co-music director of VOLT, has been with the group for four years and is looking forward to the group’s bright future.
“In the coming year, we’re looking to trying new stuff,” Sanchez said. “We’re in the talks of doing a Halloween Bash, some new arrangements, some new songs … The idea of VOLT will stay the same, just with new ideas and new projects.”
VOLT is even branching out from only performing live into recording their own single, scheduled to be recorded in the next few months and be released in April and May.
VOLT will be opening for Disney’s DCappella, a touring a Capella group that sings classic Disney songs, this Thursday at the Tennessee Theatre.
“Not many Knoxville groups get to open up for big groups like DCappella, so it’s really cool that we get to do that,” Sanchez said.
As the group continues to grow and gains new opportunities, VOLT continues to bring new and exciting a capella music to UT.
