Four singers of local “a cappella” group Double Sharp told The Macau Post Daily in an exclusive interview last week about their takes and experiences on being an “a cappella” group, i.e., a performance by singers without instrumental accompaniment. The interview was conducted in one of the members’ home in Taipa.
The performing group comprises nine musicians and four of them – Leong Hio Lam, Si Ka Hei, Tse Ian Hei and Wan Io Seng – were interviewed to share the essence of what “a cappella” is all about and their music-making process.
Formation of Double Sharp
“All four of us were University of Macau Choir members and became close friends. Back in 2017 some former members [of Double Sharp] and I made an attempt to team up and participate in the Asia A Cappella Festival. Since then, we witnessed some changes in our “a cappella” name and team members, but we finally settled on ‘Double Sharp’ because during a performance one of our members sang ‘double sharped’,” Wan, the founder of the “a cappella” group, said.
“Double sharp” is sign placed before a musical note to indicate that it is to be raised two semitones.
“We also have a good knowledge of each member’s ability due to knowing each other for quite a long time. We are confident that we can make it happen, but there are still many challenges ahead,” Wan added.
“Nonetheless, we still very much appreciate the process we have been making: from having small performances at the university, to getting exposure in local communities, joining this year’s Hush! 300 and uploading our video performance on its official YouTube channel,” Tse said.
‘A cappella’ vs. choir
“Usually, when people talk about a singing group they will think about a choir. Both ‘a cappella’ and choir groups use their singers’ vocals as their primary instruments. Nonetheless, we think that ‘a cappella’ and choir are significantly different from each other in terms of the skills required, as well as the musical tones and the production processing,” Leong said.
According to Leong, while a choir put more emphasis on the harmony of the singers, “a cappella” musicians must stand out more frequently since an “a cappella” group usually comprises fewer singers than a choir. Wan and Si agreed and added that even though Double Sharp currently has nine members, usually only four or five members are available for a performance, and each of them needs tenacity and skills for the songs.
“In a choir, everyone has to follow the conductor and the interpretation of the song is controlled by him/her. In an ‘a cappella’, however, it is more ‘democratic’ as we can express our parts more freely. Of course, we discuss how the songs should be performed when we compose them, but we have more freedom on how to convey our musical expression to the audience,” Si added.
“‘A cappella’ musicians need solid foundations in singing because we cannot rely on other members to sing our parts for us. Each of us has responsibility in our own parts”, Tse said.
‘A cappella’ techniques
The Double Sharp members said that their repertoire usually comprises pop songs, which have components including rhythmic instruments, basses and melodies. As such, “a cappella” members have to fill up the components with their vocals. “Mimicking instruments is one of the most interesting things in ‘a cappella’. It requires creativity and experiments to work it out, and sometimes we rely on our body parts and the microphone to make various sound effects,” Wan said.
Leong noted that choosing suitable songs, sound production and video editing are some of the necessary skills to have besides singing techniques. “For example, when we were preparing the video to submit for Hush! 300, all of us recorded ourselves independently and passed the recordings to me for post-production: adjusting the dynamics, tuning and effects of the sound and combining the videos together,” Leong said.
Leong recalled an instance where they were hired by a Christmas party to perform. “At the end of the performance, the audience suddenly requested another song which we did not prepare for at all, but we still managed to pull it off with our previous training and habit of listening to pop songs. I guess flexibility is a necessary skill to have as well,” Leong said.
According to Wikipedia, “a cappella”, Italian for ‘’in the style of the chapel’’, music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way.
Double Sharp performs in “Best of the Best” at the Macau Cultural Centre last year. – Photos provided by Double Sharp.
Double Sharp sings at Largo do Lilau in São Lourenço district in December last year during the “Journey in Musical Corners” event organised by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC).
Wan Io Seng (left), Tse Ian Hei (centre-left), Si Ka Hei and Leong Hio Lam (right) pose during last week’s interview with The Macau Post Daily in Taipa. – Photo: William Chan
Double Sharp members in performance
