Excuse me fellas... It’s Ladies First

On a typical weeknight, one could find the members of Ladies First, IU’s women’s a cappella group, crammed into a small room in the basement of IU’s music annex.

The room contains old pianos, chairs, chalkboards and barely enough free space for 12 girls to rehearse. But what the room cannot contain behind that heavy door is the overpowering sound of their voices.

With Friday drawing near, the women of Ladies First are preparing for their first large performance of the year, which will take place at 8 p.m. at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. Tickets can be purchased for $8 before the show and $10 at the door.

Ladies First has been dedicating a majority of its evenings to rehearsing for this Friday’s concert, its first large performance of the school year. This fall’s show is a big accomplishment for the women – it is one of the first times that Ladies First performs completely on its own, without Straight No Chaser or any other group following their act.

“Don’t get me wrong – we really enjoy Straight No Chaser’s music. They’re very talented ... but the fact that we are able to branch out and do this solo concert on our own, it’s such a liberating feeling,” junior Jessica Haney said. “It will be so satisfying to look into the crowd and know our supporters, all those people, they’re here for us.”

Ladies First began in 1999, with its performance debut as the opening act for Straight No Chaser on April 28 of that year. The girls just celebrated their 10-year anniversary this past spring and are ready to keep going strong into their 11th year of a cappella entertainment.

The group has at least two large concerts throughout the school year, typically performed near the end of the semester. Yet the girls began to notice that many people had difficulty attending the later shows, so they decided to look for alternate options.

“We decided to do the concert earlier this year because it’s always so stressful at the end of the semester and not just for us, but for everyone on campus,” senior Christina Vicenzi said. “Usually our concert falls the weekend before finals week, and normally everyone has finals, so we thought it would be more enjoyable if we switched things up.”

Ladies First performs for campus events and charity organizations and even branches out into the local community. The girls are passionate about what they do, and it’s one of their goals to bring the joy of their music to the outside community.

Ladies First has even released a few CDs and is now on iTunes. A highlight of singing in the group is traveling for competitions and outside shows.

“Every time Ladies First goes on a trip, I gain a new favorite memory,” Vicenzi said. “I can’t even point out a specific one because they’re all so hilarious. I mean, we all pile into cars, not to mention we pile all our crap into these same cars, drive to different universities and open for other a cappella groups ... It’s just really fun because we get to travel, do a show, then hang out with different groups and see what they do.”

Ladies First is independently run and has no affiliation with the Jacobs School of Music. The girls handle everything from member recruitment and music selection to where they perform and what they wear.

Being a part of the group is a large commitment for the girls, and it requires a lot of patience and self-discipline.

Haney said the group’s musical director, senior Kerriann Otano, arranges the songs.

“What she does is, she listens to a song and basically breaks it down into the different parts we each will sing,” she said. “Since Kerriann knows all of our voices so well, she usually just picks out a majority of the songs, considering she’s the one putting music to voice.”

The group consists of members ranging across various musical talents and areas of study. Ladies First usually stays pretty consistent with members unless someone is graduating, studying abroad or just wants to leave the group.  They have auditions to find a replacement.

A majority of the girls can sing many different vocal parts. This requires great flexibility – in one song they could be singing soprano, and the next they could be singing bass.
The group isn’t selective about grade level or previous singing experience. When they look for new members, they just need women that are talented, passionate about the art and willing to put in the effort, Vicenzi said.

Vicenzi added that Ladies First strives to make sure all new members feel welcome by concentrating on helping them get to know their parts while meeting the other girls. The group values constructive criticism and finds it helpful for new members to shadow the more experienced singers while learning complex songs.

One of the main goals of Ladies First is to sound like one voice, so they prepare everyone for performing at the same level of intensity.

Freshman and new member Julia Larson said she enjoys hanging out with the girls outside of their demanding rehearsal schedule.

“I have a lot of fun outside of rehearsals or performances when I get to hang out with the girls and just go grab something to eat – it’s just like a fun, small sisterhood,” Larson said. “Well, not like a sorority, you know, but we all get along really well, so it’s fun to hang out outside of practice. We’re not just a singing group. We’ve all become friends.”

Ladies First
When 8 p.m. Friday
Where Buskirk-Chumley Theater
More Info Tickets can be purchased for $8 before the show and $10 at the door.