Raising their voices

Music offers ways to relax, retreat, energize, rage, console. For Jillian Pollock, music opens a vast realm of creativity.

"Anytime I listen to music-on the radio, iPod, anywhere-I can't stop hearing it as an a cappella tune, hearing the alto, bass, tenor, soprano parts," the president of UAA's Glee Club said. "You start to hear things in that way. I hear opportunities."

Jillian and the glee club's other 28 members explore those musical possibilities, and will be bringing them to vibrant, full-voiced life on stage this weekend, at 7 p.m., April 4-6, in the UAA Fine Arts Building's Recital Hall (ARTS 150). Organizers ask audience members to arrive at least 30 minutes prior to the show due to limited seating.

Molding new tunes

"A cappella" music is singing by a person or a group without the accompaniment of musical instruments. UAA Glee Club performs a variety of large- and small-scale numbers incorporating dance and different genres of music, but primarily performs a cappella versions of popular songs that have been spliced with other songs in eclectic ways. Jillian, a voice major, refers to these spliced-together songs as "mash-ups."

"Last semester we wanted a mash-up of "Carry On Wayward Son," she said. "The song is great, but we needed something fresh to bring it back to the beginning."

Ideal songs to mash up are tunes that have compatible lyrics or compatible key signatures, she said. Jillian found a 1988 Michael Jackson hit single that, at first glance, didn't appear to have anything remotely in common with Kansas' 1977 Top-40 hit single.

"We mashed up 'Carry On Wayward Son' with 'Smooth Criminal,'" she said. "They had the same key signatures and we found a smooth transition. Once you find ways to connect them, the connecting thread, it works its way out."

Members vote on songs they want to present each semester and collaborate on other aspects of the music and how they will present it. Jillian said the club has reached out both at the university and in the greater Anchorage area, performing at a variety of venues: Steller Secondary School, Covenant House open mic night, Burchell High School in Wasilla and for the UAA Alumni Association and recent Alaska Library Association Conference.

Alex Pierce was a UAA voice major when he launched glee club in 2010, not long after the popular Glee television show began airing. In the following years, movies like "Pitch Perfect" and a cappella groups like Pentatonix found enthusiastic followings and likely stirred even more interest in local glee clubs.

"I believe classical training and repertoire are important for a professional singer to have, but I also enjoy contemporary music and love the opportunity to perform it as much as possible," he said. "It's nice to have that outlet. The glee club was a way to provide it. The school already had a traditional a cappella group, but we wanted to do something with a little more variety."

Alex assembled a group of friends-some he had worked with, others he hadn't worked with but whose work he had admired-and enlisted the help of adjunct dance instructor Kristen Vierthaler, to be the group's faculty adviser.

Auditions took place and the UAA Glee Club became a group of 16 people. Now, the club has 29 members: Adi Davis, AJ Colding II, Andrew Christian II, Benjamin Chang, Benjo Holganza, Bijan Welch, Brennen Lamb, Chris Hawk, Edward Washington II, Elise Adams, Hazel De Los Santos, Hunter Woofter, Jacob Mayforth, Jasmine Araki, Jenny Gilhuly, Jillian Pollock, Jonathan Heynen, Joseph Cruz, Kathleen Cuzzocreo, Kimber Gee, Kyle Lindsey, Lailani Cook, Mark Bautista, Mary Rhodes-Rashed, Monica Repuya, Rebecca Gamache, Samantha Alex, Teddie Gauta and Wright Franklin.

"The most rewarding thing about this group has been watching the bonds that form through it," Alex said. "Passion for music is so powerful and finding that connection feels incredible. People meet for the first time at auditions and by the end of the semester they're inseparable. The UAA Glee Club has saved lives. For some of the members, it was a reason to get out of bed in the morning. An award-winning performance is nothing compared to that."

Transforming lives

Mary, a music-therapy major, auditioned and joined the club because she wanted to be able to express herself with people who feel the same way about music as she does.

"I wanted to make a milestone while being in college and this is it," she said. "Glee isn't just a club; they are the family I've been lacking for many years."

Adrian Colding is a 22-year-old marketing major who grew up singing in church, from the time he was able to talk.

"All three years I have been at UAA, I have been what they call an invisible student-someone who goes to class and darts to their car right after, headed off campus," he said. "I never took part in the tutoring, dances or any clubs. I didn't even know UAA had a lunchroom at Cuddy Hall."

He found out about glee club, and it intrigued him. He decided to audition, even though he had never been to a show.

"That is when I discovered my love for performing," he said. "I love to pour into the hearts of others while on stage, sharing the gift that God has blessed me with. The cool thing about glee club is we are a very diverse group of people-different shapes, colors, sizes and styles. No one is the same and we all embrace that."

Brennen Lamb joined glee club this year after his cousin, Benjo Holganza, persuaded him to audition. He is a longtime "beat boxer"-he uses his voice to mimic musical instruments and other sounds-but is striving to better his singing.

"Having to try to translate the foreign language of music and to simultaneously learn how to sing in general is very arduous, but also rewarding," he said. "It has definitely opened my mind and taught me to appreciate the process of it all."

Mark Bautista, a vocal performance major, auditioned for glee club because he wanted another performing opportunity.

"The glee club creates a new show every season, with our own musical arrangements, choreography, lights, staging, everything," said Mark, who is the group's assistant director. "I love this group because we come from such diverse backgrounds, and get to create something of our own. It's all student led, that's why I love glee."

Bijan Welch moved to Anchorage from Philadelphia two years ago.

"I was looking for some kind of home in Alaska, as I didn't have that many friends," she said. "I auditioned Fall 2013 and have been in glee club for two seasons. I express myself best through singing and dancing. Being on stage and being vulnerable to the audience is both scary and rewarding. It gives me such a rush."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ-vJzFQv1M

Written by Tracy Kalytiak, UAA Office of University Advancement.