The Cords, Dartmouth's newest a cappella group, gave a vibrant performance this weekend in the Hyphen. They also recently sang informally at the Hopkins Center for the Performing Arts to get some exposure on campus.
The Cords are comprised of 12 talented Dartmouth men -- juniors Chris Aslin, Dennis Desormier and Timothy St. Onge, sophomores Colin Bills, Matthew Gordon, Theodore Huang and David Walthall, freshmen Tom Adair, Travis Buono, Lee Ogutha, Dan Sheldon and Eric Spletzer.
At a recent show, they began with a rousing rendition of the Billy Joel song, "For the Longest Time." Their shyness quickly evaporated as they warmed up to the crowd.
The Cords themselves look distinctive, not to mention conservative, wearing corduroy vests or blazers. Their performance, however, was anything but tame.
The group sang a variety of different music, ranging from "Breakfast at Tiffany's" to "Earth Angel." The Cords sound their best when performing barber-shop type songs.
The group makes these arrangements distinctive with the huge energy, enthusiasm and humor they infuse into all of their selections.
From playing air guitar to reading "dramatic haiku poems," the Cords are clearly not afraid of experimenting. As one member extemporized his poem: "The Cords sing good stuff/ And the Cords wear corduroy/ Coincidence? No."
The group seemed enthusiastic about their performance. "I'm definitely psyched. I don't know if words can describe it," Adair said.
The Cords are a very new addition to Dartmouth's a cappella circuit. Bills said, "The group as it is now has only been together since the beginning of this Winter term."
The idea for the Cords, however, has been around for much longer. As Walthall explained, "It all started at Winter Whingding last year. A couple of people I knew are casual singers, and we decided that this stuff is so much fun, we had to do it."
Members of the group pulled in acquaintances from other campus musical groups, such as the Glee Club, the cast of last Fall term's production of "Pippin" and the Chamber Singers.
Walthall said, "There are more singers on campus than are represented in the existing groups."
The Cords began rehearsing last Spring term with five or six people.
They did not hold auditions. Bills said, "Most people joined because they thought it would be a fun thing to do or because they had tried out for other stuff and had been denied."
Walthall said, "Chris [Aslin] had music from a high school group. We decided to make a go of it over the summer. We came back to campus with a couple of songs under our belts."
Fall term, with some members either busy or having second thoughts about joining the Cords, the group publicized tryouts to attract additional members. Their membership grew to nine men, which Walthall said, "... is the bare minimum needed to fill out all of the parts in the songs."
Desormier worked out several more arrangements for the group to rehearse, and over winter break they consolidated their repertoire.
The Cords held another round of auditions at the beginning of this term. Walthall said, "We wanted a cushion, since we were losing a couple of people to the D-Plan. We wanted two to three people to a part."
About the group's name, Aslin said, "A friend's old corduroy sports coat inspired me. It's a good play on words."
About the Cords, Walthall said, "There were a lot of times when I thought it wouldn't happen. We've come very far from a random conversation last winter."
