By Megan Bowers, Staff Writer
Jackie Schutjer is a bundle of nerves as she sits in her dorm room staring at her phone and willing it to ring.
She had her callback for Just Duet hours before and is still waiting to find out if she made the cut.
Just Duet is the only co-ed a cappella group on campus and they perform in concerts and gigs for the full academic year. The group keeps their membership at around 16 people every year, which means they run auditions once almost every semester.
This year the group welcomed six new members after an intense audition process.
Due to the rescheduling of Mega Fair, their 85 auditions took place over the course of one long day instead of being separated into two days per tradition. The first round is fairly basic, allowing the auditioning student to sing the chorus from a song of their choosing, sing scales to test their range and then attempt to match pitch on three notes.
"I honestly had so much fun during auditions," said Schutjer. "The group was so welcoming and made me feel at home right off the bat."
Callbacks are more in depth, looking at how well the prospective members' voices and personalities blend with the group.
"We have to consider how well they will vibe with the group," said Kaylee Via, a soprano. "We don't want anyone to come in who is going to feel uncomfortable or unwelcomed."
The auditioning students also had to prepare two more songs, only one of their choosing. Then the students had to sight-read a song alone and with part of the group. The main goal is to see how well they can read music and how their voices sound when singing with the group.
All the students who auditioned then had to wait the rest of the night to hear if they got in or not.
"I was really nervous and anxious waiting to hear back," said Schutjer. "I literally couldn't think of anything else for the hour before my phone finally rang."
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The phone ringing signaled what she had been waiting for all night, relief from the nerves and the realization that she was now a member of one of the top a cappella groups at Miami.
The group had their first rehearsal together just two days after the callbacks. Since the new members will be starting fresh, there will be a lot more focus on learning the parts in the month leading up to their first concert.
They put in six hours of rehearsal each week. This hard work has led them to many successes including recording an album last winter and performing in Carnegie Hall last spring.
"Being able to perform on the same stage as the Beatles, John Legend, Elton John and so many other great talents was fantastic," said Jack Garvey, marketing director of Just Duet.
The group is very close both inside and outside of rehearsals. They hang out almost every day and some of them even live together. This leads to some spur of the moment harmonizing that seems right out of "Pitch Perfect."
"As of the very beginning I felt super welcomed into the group." said Via. "This group has been the most constant source of fun and friendship for me throughout the three years I have been in it."
Just Duet members all come from different majors and different walks of life. The one thing that unites them is singing.
"I know its cliche when you say you get a diverse group of people but we get a lot of different perspectives even in a group this small," said Garvey.
Their first performance of this school year will be at 7 p.m. on Saturday, October 29 in Hall Auditorium.
"I'm so excited to be singing again with people who love making music as much as I do," said Schutjer.
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