WAM: Bringing the men’s and women’s a capellas together

A Westminster tradition we have all grown to know and love, MAC and WAC, have

officially come together to form a new group…WAM. The idea for a co-ed group has been

tossed around for a while, but this year, founders Drew Smith and Sophia Rubin took initiative

and have collaborated to organize the group of MAC and WAC members. The co-ed group

facilitates a wider vocal range and more song choices. WAM meets 30 minutes before the

Wednesday WAC and MAC for a light-hearted student lead practice in which the members can

experiment with higher or lower voices. There have only been two WAM practices, but students

are learning quickly and have enjoyed the new environment.

Junior and two year WAC member Kali Holliday explains why WAM is different for her

than WAC. Holliday said, “Adding male voices will increase the range of the group and allow

for more complex parts and new ideas”, which was the intent of the group when it started.

WAM hopes to perform at West Fest. The group is currently preparing arrangements that

have been taken from other sources to better focus on perfecting the harmonies between boys

and girls. Once the group warms up to each other, Rubin and Smith are excited to share and

perform original arrangements with the group.

Despite the new WAM group, the students still cherish their respective single gender

groups, WAC and MAC. Kali Holliday has enjoyed her experience as a WAC member and

argues that WAC has shaped her love of singing.

“My favorite part about being in WAC, besides the time we spend just hanging out, is

definitely the feeling I get when we get a new difficult arrangement, break off into voice parts,

and somehow come back together able to sing it really well,” said Holliday. “I’m continually

impressed with how quickly we learn songs”

Junior Rains Draper has also enjoyed his experience as a MAC member. His favorite part

of MAC is hanging out with the group of guys. Draper has been to a WAM practice and enjoyed

his time and thought it was a great idea to start the group. Another great aspect of MAC in

specific, according to Draper, is the leadership shown in practices by leaders Owen Ladner and

Drew Smith.

MAC and WAC leaders hand out the music, keep practices efficient, sit at the piano to

lead songs, plan the music, and arrange song. Obviously, this is not an easy task but Ladner,

Smith, Alexis Fisher, and Rachel Drury make it seem simple with their great choices of song and

laid back leadership style, which the members respond really well to.

MAC and WAC have created great spaces for students who enjoy singing to have fun and

sing with their other friends. The younger members are able to get to know the older members in

a close way because they are split in groups based off their singing tone rather than age, which a

lot of other clubs or organizations do making it hard for members to get to be friends with people

in other grades.

“The leadership is amazing this year, better than it has ever be,” said junior Jackson

Alexander, “They make it fun and choose awesome songs”.

Because members have had such good experiences in MAC and WAC, they are eager to

have a new opportunity to sing and be with other singers.

“I have only been to one WAM rehearsal, but I think that both boys and girls together is

really cool,” said sophomore Franny Motley. “There are a lot more songs we can do now with a

wider range of voices which is really exciting!”

Motley has had a great experience at Westminster as a chorus student and member of

Women’s a cappella.

“I would say WAC has definitely helped me grow as a singer because I’ve never done

anything like it before and singing without music is pretty hard”, said Motley. She has also been

a member of chorus for many years where she is used to have sheet music to read off of. Motley

is also excited to further expand her singing abilities as a member of WAM.