This year’s Chinese literature competition at Yu-Tsai was very special. Besides writing composition, calligraphy, literature recitation, there was even ‘Learning Poetry With A Cappella’ competition. Our students got to know about a cappella better after the guided tour; and through in-school music seminar, they got to see first hand how HanGuang Vocal Band fused poetry in a cappella. Every one signed up and couldn’t wait for the competition to start!
With the date coming closer, we saw classes practicing for the competition in every corner of school. How did each class pick its song? How did they decide which poem to go with? How did they select students to join the competition? Any funny or interesting things happened during practices? Follow the Beautiful Voices and let’s find out the answer together!

Event Profile

• Time and Date：8:00 am to 10:00 am on January 16, 2015
• Location：Activity room, Yu-Tsai elementary school
• Judges：Director Chu of HanGuang Vocal Band, Principal Peter Pan, Director Christina Chen, Director Iris Tsai, Director Annie Lai, Ms. Yang, Ms. Lin, Ms. Chen
• Participants： Grades 2~5 students (at least 5 students per class or the entire class)
• Instructors：Homeroom teachers, Music teacher Ms. Yang, Music teacher Ms. Lin, Music teacher, Ms. Chen

Rules for ‘Learning Poetry With A Cappella’ competition

The purpose of this competition is to raise students’ interest and motivation for learning poetry and music. We hope to introduce modern a cappella into classical literatures and use our songs to inject new lives into classic culture!

Competition Detail

Participating teams must choose one or more poems as lyrics (no adaptation allowed), and the music can be an existing song or something original from the team. On the day of competition, judges will follow these criteria:

• 1. Vocal expression：articulation, intonation, voice clarity, singing technique 60%
• 2. Artistic impression and creativity：action and grooving (stage presentation), creativity (song, lyrics arrangement) 30%
• 3. Team spirit：overall performance, team chemistry, time control 10%
• 4. Note：
  ＊All participating teams must wear school uniforms
  ＊Due to time limitation, participating teams do not need to prepare props (not taken into consideration for final score)

Singing methodology and time

• 1. Pure vocal performance：A cappella is a form of music without accompanying instruments, with only human voice to hum the melody and create a rhythm. There can be a lead singer with others in various vocal parts or beatboxing. Each class is welcome to let its creativity run wild.
• 2. Accompaniment：The body can be used for accompaniment. No instruments or sound-making props of any sort are allowed into the competition, including shoes.
• 3. Style of music：Teams are allowed to adapt to classical, jazz, pop, rock and roll, or other styles of music to sing classical poetry in a cappella.
• 4. Time：3~4 minutes per team
• 5. Note：An instrument can be used for tuning before each team starts singing

Registration form

Source: the Beautiful Voices ｜ Photos by the Beautiful Voices