Audio Staffer Aditya Sankaramanchi discusses how the student organization Noteworthy A Capella is more than just a club. llustration by Gabrielle Hernandez.

Aditya Sankaramanchi: Balancing priorities at UT is a battle that every student has to fight. There’s classes, organizational commitments, and social events. But for some, it’s more than just a commitment. It’s undying passion that makes the long days feel whole. And for members of Noteworthy A cappella, it’s the soundtrack to their college years.

All right. Thanks so much for taking out the time to interview with me. Can I just start off by asking your name? You’re in major.

Anthony Ye: My name is Anthony Ye. I’m a sophomore currently in music education and choral studies.

Kylie Hernandez: My name is Kylie Hernandez, and my major is in advertising. I’m a junior.

Aditya: How did you all hear about noteworthy and how long have you been associated with them?

Anthony: I heard about noteworthy when I was a high schooler because, like, I committed to UT, and then I was looking for, A cappella groups to join because I did it in high school. And I’m the music director currently of noteworthy, I was a noteworthy all of last year, and this is my second year with them.

Kylie: I read like on Reddit or something that you have to get involved, like literally your first week. To really, like, ground yourself here and find your friends. So I was like, okay, well, I’m going to jump on Horn’s link, look for some like choirs or singing groups or something, cause like, singing is something that I like to do.

And, I found noteworthy and I did some more research on them. I went to one of their information sessions, and I found out that they were one of the only, competitive coed groups on campus. And I was like, well, I like to compete. So I decided to audition for them through that process.

Aditya: How do you all start practice on a usual day?

Anthony: So I lead all the warm ups. We’ll join in and, you know, everybody will be socializing. Then it’s time to work.

Aditya: How do you ensure that you learn your vocal part correctly? And how does that translate into making sure that the entire team is on the same page?

Kylie: It was kind of tough at first because we’re responsible for learning, like all of our music on our own. You don’t have a director to help you. But it’s nothing that I hadn’t done before. It was just, like, kind of a lot to take on at first, but I feel like it’s really helped me hone my music skills even more.

Aditya: What is a day in your life look like when you have practice?

Anthony: We do two rehearsals a week, usually 7 to 9, in the evenings. And, let’s see, a busy day would be, for example, like my Tuesday. I have normal classes just like every other kid. And then, I also have choir because, you know, I’m a music student.

Kylie: I have choir five days a week. So, it’s a lot of singing. With Tuesday, with that rehearsal, that’s over five ish hours of singing on Tuesday.

Well, today I just had class, like, at the beginning of the day, and then I have a little break in between. And sometimes when I’m on my breaks, I will, like, run through the music. If we’re going to run over, like a specific song that it maybe I’m not super familiar with yet.

And then I go back to my other class, which I’m about to go to right now, and I go home because I have another break after that, and then I eventually go to rehearsal at seven. We rehearse for two hours and the day is usually done after that.

Aditya: When you do have a piece that people are just kind of tired of seeing all the time, or that’s just getting repetitive because you’ve been performing and singing it over and over again. How do you all remain enthusiastic about that piece?

Anthony: It is a challenge. It makes you not go on autopilot. Right? Is that’s what we do when we know a piece too well and we just sing it like we just autopilot. But if we if I change it up a lot and they’ll, they’ll listen around. And sometimes our ears are our best tool when it comes to music.

I’ll have them sing like maybe a different type of articulation. So like, maybe this part extremely smooth. And then this part like very detached staccato

Aditya: For this year or this semester? What are you all preparing for?

Kylie: I feel like one thing I’m looking forward to is just performing our new set and really improving because like, we did great last year. But I feel like we could do even better this year. We’ve been working really hard. We’ve been hitting like, all of our deadlines, which is really good. All of our new songs sound great, and I’m excited for people to hear them and for us to finally get to perform them.

Anthony: We do this annual competition called ICA. It’s like, based off of, Pitch perfect. So, once we get to that time, we might have rehearsals that are slightly longer, but it’s like chill, you know, it’s like we try to make it manageable for everyone.

Like, right now we have a freshman that just got into the group, and she has dance practice. That conflicts with one of our rehearsal dates. So she just comes one day a week, but we make it work.

Aditya: When you finish learning a piece? How do you transition from the music to the choreography? Because I know at the end of the day, at comps, you’ll have to put on a show.

Anthony: That’s a good question.

We haven’t started choreography this year yet, but really, last year we did choreography for our competitions, and we partnered with a dance team here called Steel Dance Company, and they came up with all the choreography, and they came in one of our rehearsals, and by this time we already had the pieces, you know, completely down, like, memorized, you know, and,

Sometimes we actually just record ourselves, like, just the singing part, and then we’ll have it play while we work on the choreography.

Aditya: Putting both these aspects at play. Does it ever turn into an obligation, or do you still love doing it?

Kylie: I love doing it. Like I love everybody that’s in there. I don’t want to say it feels like an obligation. It just it makes it kind of hard sometimes. Not going to lie, because I do have a lot going on, but I wouldn’t change it for anything. All of my best friends are in noteworthy.

They’re always there for me through everything. Like they’re supportive with everything that I do like solo musically because I, am an artist outside of noteworthy. And last semester I released, my debut album, and they threw me like an album release party, and it was really fun. Yeah.

Anthony: So. I know that they’re very excited, and that makes us excited. I, we have, like, half of the group graduating this year. So as music director, I really want to try to get them that win at the end of the year. But, you know, it’s also not the end of the world. If we don’t do it. But yeah, I think everyone’s mostly excited for the competition and what we have to offer. You know.

But this set this year is really good too. Like, I love the songs we have this year. They’re fun and I feel like they’re really, like, hard hitting, so I’m excited for people to hear them.

Aditya: On that note. Thanks so much for taking out the time to do this. I wish y’all all the best competitions and hope everything goes well. Thank you.

Kylie: Thank you for having me.

Anthony: Thank you. Thank you so much.

Aditya: Well, there you have it. Noteworthy A cappella isn’t just about being a student organization. It’s about the relationships fostered, shared goals, and an overwhelming love for music that binds one another together. This is how I deal with The Daily Texan signing off.