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 like in the chapel (music); the term is due to the fact that Christian churches sang without instrumental accompaniment for the first several hundred years of its existence. It is often misspelled as acapella or a capella, which is derived from the Latin spelling (but in Latin capella means small goat). Allegory of Music on the Opéra Garnier Music is an art form that involves organized sounds and silence. ... 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. ... Harry Belafonte singing, photograph by C. van Vechten Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, which is often contrasted 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 Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ...

The polar opposite of a cappella is instrumental. An instrumental is, in contrast to a song, a musical composition or piece without lyrics or any other sort of vocal music; all of the music is produced by musical instruments. ...

Religious traditions

A cappella music originally was, and still often is, 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. Christian music is music created by or adapted for the Christian church. ... Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song of the Roman Catholic Church. ... Renaissance music is European classical music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 to 1600. ... A madrigal is a setting for 3–6 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 and 1750 (see Dates of classical music eras for a discussion of the problems inherent in defining the beginning and end points). ...

Christian

Present-day Christian religious bodies known for conducting their worship services without musical accompaniment include the Amish, Old Regular Baptists, Primitive Baptists, Plymouth Brethren, most congregations among the churches of Christ, the Old German Baptist Brethren, some Presbyterian churches devoted to the regulative principle of worship, and the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church. Many Mennonites also conduct some or all of their services without instruments. Sacred Harp, a type of religious "folk" music, is an a cappella style of religious singing, but is more often sung at singing conventions than at church services. The Amish (IPA: ), are an Anabaptist Christian denomination in the United States and Ontario, Canada that are known for their plain dress and limited use of modern devices such as automobiles and electricity. ... // 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 Plymouth Brethren are a Christian Evangelical religious movement that began in Dublin, Ireland and England in the late 1820s. ... Alternate meanings: see Church of Christ (disambiguation). ... 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. ... The regulative principle of worship is a Christian theological doctrine teaching that the public worship of God should include those and only those elements that are instituted, commanded, or appointed by command or example in the Bible; that God institutes in Scripture everything he requires for worship in the Church... The Eastern Orthodox Church is a Christian body that views itself as the historical continuation of the original Christian community established by Jesus and the Twelve Apostles, preserving the traditions of the early church unchanged, accepting the canonicity of the first seven ecumenical councils held between the 4th and the... The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after and influenced by the teachings and tradition of Menno Simons (1496-1561). ... Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that took root in the Southern region of the United States. ...

Christian a cappella polyphony began to be developed in Europe around the late 1400s; early works are often identified with Josquin des Prez. The early a cappellas seem to have had an accompanying instrument, although this instrument doubled the singers and were not independent. By the 1500s, a cappella polyphony had been fully developed; Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina's works are considered excellent examples. After Palestrina, the cantata began to take the a cappella's place.^[1] Polyphony is a musical texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony). ... Josquin des Prez Josquin Des Prez (French rendering of Dutch Josken, diminutive of Joseph; latinized Josquinus Pratensis, alternatively Jodocus Pratensis) (c. ... Polyphony is a musical texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony). ... Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c 1525–2 February 1594) was an Italian composer of Renaissance music. ... A cantata (Italian, sung) is a vocal composition accompanied by instruments and generally containing more than one movement. ...

Jewish

Traditional Jewish religious services do not include musical instruments. The use of instruments is traditionally forbidden on the Sabbath out of concern that players would be tempted to repair their instruments, which is forbidden on those days. (This prohibition has been relaxed in many Reform and some Conservative congregations.) Similarly, when Jewish families and larger groups sing traditional Sabbath songs known as zemirot outside the context of formal religious services, they usually do so a cappella, and Bar and Bat Mitzvah celebrations on the Sabbath sometimes feature entertainment by a cappella ensembles. Moreover, many Jews consider the 49-day period of the counting of the omer between Passover and Shavuot to be a time of semi-mourning when instrumental music is not allowed. This has led to a tradition of a cappella singing sometimes known as sefirah music.^[2] Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people. ... Negara Israel akan tetap ada, namun bangsa Jahudi harus bertobat dahulu, agar Mesias dapat memerintah di bumi, di Yerusalem. ... Omer is the common infrastructure project manager for a large, distributed application at a leading financial institution Omer is an ancient unit of measure used in the era of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. ...

Muslim

Some Muslims have also adopted the idiom of a cappella music since traditional Islam prohibits the use of instruments except for some basic percussion. Muslim a cappella songs are called anasheed. A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Turkish: Müslüman, Persian and Urdu: مسلمان, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of Islam. ... Anasheed are Islamic songs that usually are sung with no musical instruments in the background. ...

Modern usage

In the modern parlance, the term applies to vocal performers who refrain from performing with any instrumental accompaniment, though some emulate the sonority of instruments with their voices, microphones, and signal processing effects.

The St. Olaf College Choir of Northfield, Minnesota, a 75 voice mixed ensemble, is a pioneer a capella choir in the United States. Officially founded in 1911 by music faculty member F. Melius Christiansen as the St. Olaf Lutheran Choir, it began as an outgrowth of the local St. John's Lutheran Church, where Christiansen was organist and the choir was comprised at least partially of students from the nearby St. Olaf campus. Born out of Christiansen's appreciation of the style he studied while at Thomasschule in Leipzig, Germany, at whose church J. S. Bach had been Kapellmeister more than a century earlier, the St. Olaf Choir today tours throughout the US and the world under the direction of Dr. Anton Armstrong.

The King's Singers are credited with promoting interest in small-group a cappella performance in the 1960s. In 1983 an a Cappella group known as The Flying Pickets had a Christmas number 1 in the UK with a cover of Yazoo's (known in the US as Yaz) Only You. A cappella music attained renewed prominence from the late 1980s onward, spurred by the success of songs by recording artists such as The Manhattan Transfer, Bobby McFerrin, and Boyz II Men. This prominence in turn led to a resurgence in collegiate a cappella—some larger universities now have a dozen groups or more. The oldest collegiate a cappella group is The Whiffenpoofs of Yale University, formed in 1909, whose members have included Cole Porter and relatives of George Bush. Some other noted collegiate a cappella groups include University of California at Berkeley's Men's Octet, Straight No Chaser of Indiana University, Off the Beat of University of Pennsylvania, The Other Guys from University of Illinois, and St. Olaf College's "The Limestones." The Kings Singers is an a cappella group. ... The Flying Pickets are an a cappella vocal group that had a hit with a cover of Yazoos Only You. The group was formed in 1982 by a group of actors, the 7:84 Theatre group, a fringe theatre group who had sung a capella in their production of... The below article is about Yazoo the music band. ... Yaz can refer to either of the following: Carl Yastrzemski, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. ... Only You is the name of several things: Only You, a song by Scatman John Only You (short for Only You (And You Alone)), a song by The Platters Only You, an album by Harry Connick Jr Only You, a 1994 movie starring Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey Jr. ... The 1980s refers to the years of 1980 to 1989. ... The Manhattan Transfer is an American vocal group that was established in New York City in 1972. ... Bobby McFerrin Bobby McFerrin (born New York City, March 11, 1950) is a jazz-influenced a cappella vocal performer and conductor. ... Boyz II Men are an American R&B/soul singing group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ... Collegiate a cappella (or college a cappella) ensembles are formal, student-run and -directed singing groups that perform entirely without instruments. ... Established in 1909, the Whiffenpoofs are an all-male vocal ensemble at Yale University, and the oldest collegiate a cappella group in the nation. ... Yale redirects here. ... Year 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter from Indiana. ... George W. Bush, George Walker Bush, 43rd and current President of the United States. ...

Major movements in modern a cappella include Barbershop and doo wop. Contemporary a cappella includes many vocal bands who add vocal percussion or beatboxing to create a pop/rock sound. There also remains a strong a cappella presence within Christian music. The Dapper Dans, a barbershop quartet at Disneyworld Barbershop harmony, as codified during the barbershop revival era (1940s-present), is a style of a cappella, or unaccompanied vocal music characterized by consonant four-part chords for every melody note in a predominantly homophonic texture. ... For the Lauryn Hill single, see Doo Wop (That Thing). ... 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 typically include one voice singing the lead melody, one singing a rhythmic bass line, and the remaining voices contributing chordal or polyphonic accompaniment. Polyphony is a musical texture consisting of two or more 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, instrumental recording to be remixed or put onto vinyl records for DJs. Artists sometimes release the vocal tracks of their popular songs so that fans can remix them. One such example is the a cappella release of Jay-Z's Black Album, which Danger Mouse mixed with the Beatles' White Album to create The Grey Album. 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 alternative version of a song, different from the original version. ... Jay-Z (aka the Jigga, HOV and Hova, born Shawn Carter on December 4, 1970 in Brooklyn, New York) is an African American rapper/hip hop artist and record label executive; one of the most popular and successful rappers of the late 1990s and early 2000s. ... The Black Album is a 2003 hip hop music album by rapper Jay-Z. It was supposedly his last studio album until Jay-Z announced a return to solo recording in 2006. ... Brian Joseph Burton, better known by his stage name Danger Mouse, is an American artist and producer whose most recent work is with Damon Albarn and his group The Good, the Bad and the Queen. ... The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 as part of their first tour of the United States, promoting their first hit single there, I Want To Hold Your Hand. ... The self-titled double album The Beatles, released by the Beatles in 1968 at the height of their popularity, is often hailed as one of the major accomplishments in popular music. ... The Grey Album was a controversial album by Danger Mouse released in 2004 (see 2004 in music). ...

Increased interest in modern a cappella (particularly collegiate a cappella) can be seen in the growth of competitions such as the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella and the Harmony Sweepstakes. A cappella's growth is not limited to live performance, with hundreds of recorded a cappella albums produced over the past decade. As of December 2006, the Recorded A Cappella Review Board (RARB) had reviewed over 660 a cappella albums since 1994, and its popular discussion forum had over 900 users and 19,000 articles. The International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella, originally the National Championship of Collegiate A Cappella, is an international competition that attracts hundreds of college a cappella groups each year. ...

A cappella in gaining popularity among South Asian youth with the emergence of Penn Masala and similar groups in Stanford and other colleges. These groups have attained significant critical acclaim with their distinct style of mixing songs and applying a cappella to styles of different cultures. Penn Masala has songs in Hindi, English, Punjabi and Gujarati, with lyrics from different languages in the same song. Map of South Asia South Asia is a subregion of Asia comprising the modern states of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, . It covers about 4,480,000 km², or 10 percent of the continent, and is also known as the Indian subcontinent. ... Penn Masala is the worlds first Hindi a cappella group, formed in 1996 by students at the University of Pennsylvania. ... Penn Masala is the worlds first Hindi a cappella group, formed in 1996 by students at the University of Pennsylvania. ... Hindi (Devanagari: हिन्दी or हिंदी; IPA: ), an Indo-European language spoken mainly in northern and central India, is one of the official languages of the Union government of India [1][2]. It is part of a dialect continuum of the Indic family, bounded on the northwest and west by Punjabi, Sindhi, Urdu... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Punjabi (also Panjabi; in GurmukhÄ«, PanjābÄ« in ShāhmukhÄ«) is the language of the Punjab regions of India and Pakistan. ... Gujarati can mean two distinct things: The Gujarati language is a language spoken in India and Pakistan, mostly in and around the Gujarat state. ...

Emulating instruments

People do not just always sing the words when singing a cappella; some also emulate instrumentation by reproducing the melody with their vocal chords. For instance, "Twilight Zone" by 2 Unlimited was sung a cappella to the instrumentation on the comedy television series Thompkins Square. Another famous example of emulating instrumentation instead of singing the words is the theme song for The New Addams Family series on Fox Family Channel (now ABC Family). Groups such as Vocal Sampling and Undivided emulate Latin rhythms a cappella. Vocal artist Bobby McFerrin is famous for his instrumental emulation. The vocal cords, also known as vocal folds, are composed of twin infoldings of mucous membrane stretched horizontally across the human larynx. ... Twilight Zone is a song by 2 Unlimited. ... 2 Unlimited was a Dutch Eurodance group formed in 1991. ... A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... The Addams Family is the creation of American cartoonist Charles Addams. ... Fox Family was a cable channel in the United States in the 1990s that aired shows from Fox Kids programming block such as Storytime with Thomas and The Three Friends and Jerry. ... ABC Family is an American cable television network currently owned by Disney/ABC. // The network was founded by Pat Robertson in April 1977 as CBN Cable, an arm of his Christian Broadcasting Network. ... Vocal Sampling is a musical group from Cuba who are distinctive for using no instruments, instead emulating accompanying instruments and beatboxing for percussion. ... Bobby McFerrin Bobby McFerrin (born New York City, March 11, 1950) is a jazz-influenced a cappella vocal performer and conductor. ...

Beatboxing is a form of a cappella music popular in the hip-hop community, where rap is often informally performed a cappella also. Beatboxing is the vocal percussion of hip hop culture and music. ... For other uses, see Hip hop (disambiguation). ... Popular West Coast rapper Snoop Dogg performing for the US Navy For information on rap music, see hip hop music. ...

References

See also

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

Collegiate a cappella (or college a cappella) ensembles are formal, student-run and -directed singing groups that perform entirely without instruments. ... . ... There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ...

External links

• Contemporary A Cappella Society of America (CASA)
• The Recorded A Cappella Review Board (RARB)
• The College A Cappella Web
• Barbershop Harmony Society
• Vocal Downloads - Download A Cappella vocal samples for use in royalty-free music production
• ccMixter A Cappellas (Creative Commons licensed a cappellas)
• The A Cappella Society (Singapore)
• Mainly A Cappella