As a dozen men enter McCain 102, one may feel a vibe that these students are a different type of singing group than others on campus.
None of these men are in a music major program. None of these men look like singers. Their commonality is a deep-rooted passion for singing. These are the men of Cadence.
“Our purpose is to represent K-State and show people what a fun group of guys K-State has,” said Alex Gonzolas, junior in kinesiology. “We are just a group of guys who like to sing.”
Cadence is an all men’s a capella group at K-State. They are not run through the music department and their adviser is not a music teacher. Originally formed in 1988, Cadence was assembled as a side project from the Men’s Glee Club on campus. A couple of years ago, Cadence completely broke off from Men’s Glee Club and became its own entity.
“We are an entertainment group,” said Zach Nelson, president of Cadence and senior in business marketing. “We mold and fit our group and our audience. When we go to shows and gigs, we ask our audience and/or clients what they want of us.”
There are currently 12 members in Cadence, including a soloist and a beat boxer.
“We just think this is really cool,” said Andrew Witter, music manager of Cadence and senior in finance. “We want to shock the audience by performing well and telling them that none of us are planning on doing this professionally.”
The executive branch of Cadence consists of three members. As the music manager, Witter picks music and sets gigs, and makes sure the accompanist knows the songs and speaks with the students who arrange their acapella music.
Ryan Wofford, junior in architectural engineering, is the business manager. He sends out email inquiries about the group and assists with the group’s philanthropic needs.
As president, Nelson oversees both Witter and Wofford to make sure everything runs smoothly and goes as well as it can for the audience they are performing for.
“Most of our gigs, we stand in a ‘U’ formation,” Nelson said. “That is just how we have to stand to be accommodating to the tables and chairs that are at the venue. But when we have a stage, we are able to have choreography and have fun. We are a lot better with entertaining when we have a full stage.”
Witter said Cadence makes enough money from their shows to travel out of state to compete. They are able to pay for all of their traveling expenses as well as sheet music. The group even records its own CDs.
“We don’t make a ton of money,” Witter said. “But we also don’t use a lot of money.”
So far, the only competition the group has competed at has been in Denver. Nelson said that competitions for acapella groups are few and far between. Cadence competed against 11 other acapella groups but did not finish in the top three.
“We were there for the entertainment,” Nelson said. “Many of these other groups are through formal choral departments and they are technically taught. We travel and we have fun.”
The entertainment value is key for Cadence members. They strive to continue improving their shows from the previous performance. Their goal is to make sure the audience is entertained while they are there and speak about them after they leave.
“Our group differs from others because we like to have fun,” Gonzolas said. “Just the aspect of having fun makes us want to work even harder. We want to entertain people and that also makes us want to continue to work harder and continue to be better.”
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