Posted by Kat Kullman On Tuesday, Dec. 7, The Treblemakers, an all-inclusive a cappella group, were granted a charter by the SGA senate.
The group appeared before Senate last year in an attempt to gain club status, but was denied. This year, the group applied to be an unbudgeted club, meaning it will not ask for money from SGA.
All 34 members came to Senate to show support and to perform a rendition of the song "Kiss the Girl" for the Senators. Club President Sara Hickey ‘12, Musical Director Alissa Belcastro ‘12 and Tucker Costello ‘12 answered Senate's questions.
"Our group is meant to be an outlet for singing, just to have fun. We're much more like the Skidmore Chorus than one of the a cappella groups on campus," Costello said.
The club accepts anyone, regardless of musical experience, and does not use sheet music. The club relies instead on auditory learning. The members are welcome to attend as frequently, or infrequently, as they wish.
In order to make rehearsals more efficient, the group created a subset of ‘teachers' who are more musically inclined and whose job it is to help the other members learn the music. This avoids creating a hierarchical structure within the group. Every member of the group votes on who will become a ‘teacher'.
"If the Treblemakers ever get invited to perform, it's always everyone. The teachers never perform on their own. It's always all-inclusive. That's what we're always about," Belcastro said.
The Treblemakers are not as focused on performing as the other singing groups on campus. With the limited amount of performance space on campus, and five a cappella groups already in existence, the Senate was concerned that another a cappella group would cause strain when planning events.
"We're pretty relaxed. We want to go to the dining hall, Case, even all-halls, and just sing. We're not being competitive about space because we're not a classic a cappella group," Costello said.
"We're going for the people singing in their showers or cars, the people who may not even want to sing in front of other people," Belcastro said.
The resolution to charter the Treblemakers a cappella group was passed almost unanimously.
In other news:
Senate unanimously passed a supplemental of $820 for the Environmental Action Club's composting project. The club plans to order 40 bins to start for each Scribner or Northwoods house that wants to try composting. The group also plans to order large garbage bins to be placed around the student housing that can then be relocated to a compost pile.