Before the Trentones came back from winter break, they spent three full days singing, dancing and rehearsing their song set for the quarterfinals of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella. Over the past two weeks, they practiced three times a week. They usually have more time to prepare, said Danielle Bellomo, senior accounting major and Trentones president. Apparently this year, however, the limited amount oftimewasenough.
“The closest we’ve ever come in the five years we have been competing in the ICCAs was my freshman year we got third place,” Bellomo said.
The Trentones were founded in 2002, and up until the Quarterfinals on Saturday, Feb. 2, they had never made it to the Semifinals. The competition was at Rutgers University and consisted of 10 a cappella groups, including the Trentones.
The Trentones showcased a dramatic set, consisting of clapping, falling to the stage and stomping, which created an intense plot along with the music, according to The A Cappella Blog.
The Trentones began with a mashup of “Some Nights” by fun. and “Cecilia” by Simon and Garfunkel, continued with “Slow Me Down” by Emmy Rossum and finished the set with “Bottom of the River” by Delta Rae.
Dylan Lloyd, senior music education major and music director for the Trentones, arranged the pieces and is looking into changing up the set for the semifinals. Lloyd said he intends to keep the first and last songs in the set, but will replace “Slow Me Down.”
“I don’t think that song is going to cut it for the semifinals,” Lloyd said. “I’m going to make an arrangement of Skyfall from the soundtrack of the newest James Bond movie, which Adele sings.”
Demetrios Frangos, sophomore nursing major and Trentones a cappella singer, thought that they would impress the judges, but did not want to get their hopes up.
“We put together a pretty cool set and I guess they liked it,” Frangos said.
Although they were intimidated listening to the other groups during the performance, they pulled through, never scoring less than an eight out of 10 or a four out of five.
“We lost it!” Frangos said, describing how they felt when they found out they were moving on to the next round.
“I can say there was overwhelming jumping and screaming on the stage,” Bellomo said. “We didn’t even know who won first because we were so distracted by the fact they said our names.”
