A cappella music is vocal music or singing without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. A cappella is Italian for from the chapel (music); the term is due to restrictions on the use of instruments in medieval churches. It is often misspelled as a capella, which is derived from the Latin spelling, or even acappella. Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School of Music Look up Music in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Wikisource, as part of the 1911 Encyclopedia Wikiproject, has original text related to this article: Music Meta has a page about this at: Music markup MusicNovatory: the science of music encyclopedia The... Vocal music is music performed by one or more singers, with or without instrumental accompaniment, in which singing provides the main focus of the piece. ... Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, often constrasted with speech. ... A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. ... In music accompaniment is the art of playing along with a soloist or ensemble, often known as the lead, in a supporting manner as well as the music thus played. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ...

The roots of a cappella music

A cappella music was and is often used in church music. Gregorian chant is an example of a cappella singing, as is the majority of sacred vocal music from the Renaissance. The Madrigal, up until its development in the early Baroque into an instrumentally-accompanied form, is also usually an a cappella form. The Amish, Old Regular Baptists, Primitive Baptists, most congregations of the Church of Christ, and the Old German Baptist Brethren, as well as some Presbyterian churches devoted to exclusive Psalmody, are religious bodies known for conducting their worship services without musical accompaniment. Eastern Orthodox Christians (especially Russian and other Slavic groups) insist on singing unaccompanied by instruments. Similarly, many Muslims have adopted the idiom of a cappella music since mainstream traditional Islam prohibits the use of instruments except for some basic percussion. Muslim a cappella songs are known as nasheeds. Sacred Harp, a type of religious "folk" music, is an a cappella style of religious singing. It is more often sung at singing conventions than at church services. Christian music is music created by or adapted for the Christian church. ... Gregorian chant is also known as plainchant or plainsong, and is a form of monophonic, unaccompanied singing, which was developed in the Catholic church, mainly during the period 800-1000. ... Renaissance music is classical music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 to 1600. ... A madrigal is a setting for 4–6 voices of a secular text, often in Italian. ... Baroque music describes an era and a set of styles of European classical music which were in widespread use between approximately 1600 to 1750 (see Dates of classical music eras for a discussion of the problems inherent in defining the beginning and end points). ... Amish couple in a horse-drawn buggy in rural Holmes County, Ohio, the site of one of the largest concentrations of Amish in the United States The Amish are a denomination of Anabaptists noted for their restrictions on the use of modern devices such as automobiles and electricity. ... // History Most Regular Baptists merged with the Separate Baptists near the beginning of 19th century. ... Primitive Baptists are a group of Baptists that have an historical connection to the missionary / anti-missionary controversy that divided Baptists of America in the early part of the 19th century. ... The Churches of Christ are autonomous Christian congregations. ... Old German Baptist Brethren (OGBB) descend from a pietist movement in Schwarzenau, Germany in 1708, when Alexander Mack founded a community with 8 believers. ... Presbyterianism is part of the Reformed churches family of denominations of Christian Protestantism based on the teachings of John Calvin which traces its institutional roots to the Scottish Reformation, especially as led by John Knox. ... Psalms (Tehilim תהילים, in Hebrew) is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, and of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. ... Eastern Orthodoxy (also called Greek Orthodoxy and Russian Orthodoxy) is a Christian tradition which represents the majority of Eastern Christianity. ... A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم) (sometimes also spelled Moslem) is an adherent of Islam. ... Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that took root in the Southern region of the United States. ...

Modern a cappella

Many standard choral works are a cappella in that no accompaniment is written in except perhaps for rehearsal purposes. But in the modern parlance, it applies to vocal performers who disdain instrumental accompaniment in all cases.

A cappella music attained renewed prominence in the 1980s and 1990s, spurred by the success of songs by popular recording artists such as Bobby McFerrin, The Nylons, Flying Pickets, Die Prinzen, Rockapella and Boyz II Men. This prominence in turn led to a boom in collegiate a cappella -- some larger universities now have a dozen groups or more. The 1980s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1980 and 1989. ... The 1990s refers to the years 1990 to 1999; the last decade of the 20th Century, but in an economical sense The Nineties is often considered to span from the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 to the September 11 attacks in 2001. ... Bobby McFerrin (born New York City, March 11, 1950) is a jazz-influenced a cappella vocal performer and conductor. ... The Nylons are an a cappella group founded in 1979 in Canada, best known for their covers of The Turtles Happy Together, Steams Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye, and The Tokens version of the traditional The Lion Sleeps Tonight. These songs appeared on the bands most... The Flying Pickets are an a cappella vocal group that had a hit with a cover of Yazoos Only You. ... Die Prinzen (The Princes, in English) are a German music group specialising in a cappella music. ... Rockapella performs as part of the L. L. Bean Summer Concert Series in 2003 Rockapella is a five-man a cappella musical group, known best for their Folgers Coffee commercials and the Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? theme song. ... For the Hong Kong Cantopop duo, see Boyz; for the magazine aimed at gay men, see Boyz. ... Collegiate a cappella (or college a cappella) ensembles are formal, student-run and -directed singing groups that perform entirely without instruments. ...

Some of the major movements within modern a cappella are Barbershop, doo wop, and contemporary a cappella. Contemporary a cappella includes many vocal bands who add vocal percussion or beatboxing to create a pop/rock sound. Barbershop harmony is a style of unaccompanied vocal music characterized by consonant four-part chords for every melody note in a predominantly homophonic texture. ... Doo-wop is a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music popular in the mid-1950s to the early 1960s in America. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with a cappella. ... Vocal percussion is the art of creating sounds with ones mouth that approximate, imitate, or otherwise serve the same purpose as a percussion instrument, whether in a group of singers, an instrumental ensemble, or solo. ... Beatboxing is the vocal percussion of hip hop culture and music. ...

Arrangements of popular music for small a cappella ensembles usually include one voice singing the lead melody, one singing a rhythmic bass line, and the remaining voices contributing chordal or polyphonic accompaniment . (In Japan, these parts are known as vocal, bass, and chorus, respectively.) Polyphony is a musical texture consisting of several independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony). ...

A cappella can also describe the practice of using just the vocal track(s) from a multitrack recording to either remix or put onto vinyl records for DJ's. Multitrack recording is a method of sound recording that allows for the recording and re-recording of multiple sound sources, independent of time. ... A remix is an alternate mix of a song different from the original version, made using the techniques of audio editing. ...

See also

• Contemporary a cappella
• Collegiate a cappella
• List of professional a cappella groups
• List of collegiate a cappella groups

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with a cappella. ... Collegiate a cappella (or college a cappella) ensembles are formal, student-run and -directed singing groups that perform entirely without instruments. ... A Acappella a-live (Swiss A Cappella Group) [1] A Cappella Harmony Quartet (AHQ) Ac Rock [2] The Anita Kerr Singers Anonymous 4 AVB B Bella Voce The Bobs Boyz Nite Out [3] C Cosmos D Da Vincis Notebook Downtown Crossing [4] E The EDLOS F Four Shadow Five... Contents: Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 0-9 13 of Colgate University 36 Madison Avenue of Drew University website A Absolute Harmony of Royal Holloway, University...

External links

• Contemporary A Cappella Society of America (CASA)
• The Recorded A Cappella Review Board (RARB)
• Barbershop Harmony Society
• Alliance for A Cappella Initiatives (AACI)