Singing their way up and down the Northeast coast, Bowdoin's oldest female a capella group, Miscellania, rang in the New Year with its first musical tour since 2007.
This past winter break, the 10 members of Miscellania embarked on a nine-day tour, beginning in Washington, D.C., stopping in New Jersey, New York, Boston, and ending in Brunswick. Overall, the repertoire consisted of songs the group had prepared from last semester. Set lists varied depending on the venues, which included schools, private parties, nursing homes and coffee houses.
Kicking off in the nation's capital, the group made its 2010 touring debut at Georgetown University with the all-male a capella group, The Georgetown Chimes. While in D.C., Miscellania also performed at junior member Eileen Palmer's middle school.
In addition to Palmer's middle school, Miscellania performed at several other schools, including group member Katie Kinkle's '13 alma mater, Wellesley High School in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
At both Palmer's middle school and Wellesley, the group held performance workshops, in which they led voice warm-ups, taught voice parts, and gave students the opportunity to perform one of Missy's signature pieces, Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" with soloist Coretta King '12.
In addition to teaching its younger audiences about music and a capella, the group's ambition and talent helped demonstrate how they were succeeding as a female group within the historically male-dominated tradition of a capella and barbershop.
"As one of the nation's older female a cappella groups, Miscellania was proud to tour and perform for younger audiences. It's great to introduce grade schoolers to student-run music groups at the collegiate level," said Miscellania Business Manager Kate Emerson '10.
"The fact that we can share our passion and commitment to music and each other, as well as our pursuit of higher education at a great school, is a valuable message to young girls whose options for performance and music may be limited or structured as they get older," Emerson said.
Making its way north from D.C., Miscellania did not skip a beat and even seized the valuable performance opportunities available at public transportation stations.
"We sang on the T in Boston, [the] subway in New York, and the Metro in Washington, D.C. The best was when we spontaneously started singing at Penn Station while waiting for a train. A guy even recorded us," Emerson said.
During moments like this, Miscellania members felt like they not only grew and strengthened as a musical group, but also as a group of women.
"I love that we're an all-girls group because we have such a well-meshed group [of girls]," said music director Lydia Deutsch '10.
"It was a really stellar time not only musically, but becoming closer across classes [and] becoming closer as a group. We work well not just with our voices, but as friends," Deutsch said.
Relentless in their goal to entertain audiences with their elaborate musical arrangements, Miscellania is not taking a break. Miscellania is pairing up with the Bowdoin College Longfellows for a joint concert, which will include new pieces from each group and a group duet in time for Valentine's Day. The collaboration, Val Jam, will take place Thursday, February 11, at 8 p.m. in the Chapel.