“Shocked,” “scared,” “emotional,” but “so excited!” were just a few things Mia Lastrella and Saloni Shah, the co-presidents of Pace Frequency, felt after winning the ICCA’s Northeastern Quarterfinals. On February 18, 2023, Frequency, a Pace University a cappella group, took home first place in the Northeastern Region competition. They are now preparing for the semi-finals, which will be in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 26. I had the pleasure of talking to Mia and Saloni to learn a little more about the competition and the group itself.
Frequency was created in 2017 and has been very active since then. Fast forwarding to the 2021 school year, an executive board was coming in when the current presidents were secretary and treasurer. At the time, they had no official singing members in the group since they had all left school or graduated. About a month before school started, all the other board members, apart from Mia and Saloni, decided to leave the group. Mia and Saloni were then asked if they wanted to disband Frequency or continue the group with themselves as co-presidents. Although they had no official members yet, many people, the majority of which were incoming freshmen, showed interest during orientation and submitting online auditions.
Regarding this cornerstone decision, Saloni said that “it felt so wrong to get rid of this group when so many people were already interested in it.” She continued, saying, “Frequency, to Mia and me, it’s like our baby.” Mia and Saloni agreed that keeping the group going was the best choice. Even though they felt unprepared for co-presidency as sophomores, they decided that Frequency had a bright future ahead of it, and they were right.
Today, Frequency is thriving and has been a huge creative outlet, especially for people who love performing but aren’t in any arts program. Frequency members are studying majors from Film and Screen Studies to Biology. For those who don’t wish to participate in competitions, Frequency also offers an opportunity to join their general group that does more recreational singing, such as caroling and participating in their cabarets. They offer the best of both worlds for people who want to sing for fun and those who wish to compete.
ICCA stands for the International Collegiate Championship of a cappella. It was established in 1995 and has since given performers an opportunity to compete in venues around the globe. Last month, Frequency competed against ten other a cappella groups in the Northeast region. The groups are scored by three to five judges, each evaluating the groups on three criteria: vocal performance, visual performance, and a subjective rank. Performances typically range from three to five songs and last up to ten minutes. The first and second-place finishers advance to the semi-finals in Boston.
When preparing for the competition, there are many factors to take into consideration, from song choice to solo auditions to choreography. When it comes to song choice, Mia shared with me their process: “we take song suggestions from our members, then compile a list, then listen to them all.” As Mia has learned, “not all songs are suitable for a cappella. So we try to pick songs with a cool background, not just a fun solo line, so that our background voice has fun, interesting things going on.” Another essential element that comes into play is a theme or connection between the songs, so the performance is telling a story.
Once Frequency receives the setlist from its arranger, music rehearsals begin right away, usually in early December. Once the group learns the music, they learn the choreography, which is a collaborative process between members. Early in the year, rehearsals started at four hours a week and then gradually jumped to 15 hours a week during the time leading up to the competition. An extensive cleaning process begins in these long weeks, with repetition and receiving feedback from outside members on what they can improve. Mia and Saloni acknowledge that it is a lot of work, but the Frequency members always deliver, giving each rehearsal their all. Mia said, “it was really awesome to find people interested, passionate, and willing to work with us. Everyone was so excited and so into it, making it much more fun for us as presidents.”
After the announcement of Frequency’s first-place win, the auditorium roared. Frequency members were hugging each other, jumping up and down, crying, screaming, and were elated at their victory. Mia and Saloni talked about the feeling after the big win; Mia said, “everyone had unique reactions, but we were all just so excited, and you can just tell how much it meant to us from our reactions; the crowd was just as hyped as us. It was one of the greatest moments of Frequency.” Saloni added, “it was our first big win, our first feeling of all of our work, [and] the group we all built made it all worth it.” Even in the height of the excitement, Frequency knew that Boston was coming up, and preparations for their semi-final competition were almost immediately underway, from adding new musical elements to changing formations and freshening up choreography. They’re preparing to put on a new set for their Boston competition that will blow the audience away—I wish them all the luck on March 26!
If you enjoy a cappella or are a fan of the movie Pitch Perfect, come see Frequency’s upcoming performances: the Setter Gala on April 5, a Riff-Off event around the end of April, and there are rumors of a collaboration between a cappella groups outside of Pace, so stay tuned! If you are interested in living out your Pitch Perfect dreams or if you love to sing and want to make some cool new friends, Frequency has an open-call audition at the beginning of every fall semester.
As the interview came to a close, Mia and Saloni left me with one final comment on the prosperity of Frequency: “we feel very fortunate and lucky to have what we have now. We’re excited to see how the group progresses as we move into this sort of future. We are excited to see Frequency live on for a long time.
Members of Frequency, left to right: Maddie McCool, Jayden Hudson, Toria Langdon, Maria Nalieth, Dylan Lee, Netza Jimenez, Noa Brenner, Sophie Zhevnerov, Bennett Pancoast, Mia Lastrella, Makayla Bird, Deandra Catterson, Ashlee Reed, Macy Hayes, Lauren Kube, Natalie Cappetta, Ben Zack, Saloni Shah, Kacey Kim, Danny Canales, Christy Do.