Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor
The West of Us kicked off their year in Smith Hall with their fall term concert Monday, Nov. 12. This performance also marked their first fall performance as a singular, coed group.
Completely student led, Western’s A Cappella club currently has 16 members. Before the 2017-2018 school year, Western had two A Cappella groups, separated by gender. Violet Trammel, President of the group, commented in a previous interview that the integration of the groups has helped fill out the club’s sound and allowed them to achieve more musically.
“It’s awesome when we collaborate on a song we can comfortably have the super high parts and comfortably have the superlow parts,” commented Cole Aldred, Vice President.
Not all of their songs were integrated, however. In their Fall term concert, The West of Us gave the audience variety. The performance was split fairly evenly between whole-group, male-only and female-only numbers. This added to the overall pace of the concert and as a result, there was never a lull in the show.
The club’s performance also displayed a variety of genre. The numbers were fun and included several numbers that really pleased the crowd. Among the numbers were a “The Greatest Showman” medley, an all-male Disney medley, “Toxic” by Britney Spears, “Bet on It” from High School Musical II and “Light in the Hallway” by famous A Cappella group Pentatonix.
The unification of the group did indeed bolster their sound, but there were moments in the performance when The West of Us still sounded fairly thin. In each song, individual members shone, their talent obvious when the sound was just right.
“I think we will work on improving our overall musicality (dynamics, intensity, and accuracy),” commented President Trammel, “as well as maintaining a lively stage presence throughout every song of the show.”
Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu
