A Cappella at UWL: Vocal Ties
Image retrieved from @vocaltiesuwl on Instagram.
February 6, 2023
Vocal Ties is the only a cappella group at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Vocal Ties was created in 2021 by UWL student Josh Piechowski and is still developing into the group that Piechowski envisioned. Piechowski said that while he was originally putting the group together he faced a lot of doubt. He said, “One of my friends who was invited to join the group told me that it wasn’t going to take off. But it happened! It’s a thing!”
Piechowski is a K-12 choral and general music education major at UWL and the former president of Vocal Ties. He also participates in the UWL concert choir. When asked if he feels like the group has been successful so far, he said, “It definitely could grow more. It has been somewhat successful, but it’s been tough to get the word out.”
Piechowski said that the early days of Vocal Ties were “disorganized” and that it was tough to learn music because he was new at leading. He found it hard to spread the word about Vocal Ties around UWL because of the technicalities of forming a group on campus. “It was tough to just get everything together and figure out places we can perform. There were a lot of hoops to jump through just to get to places where students can actually hear us, in addition to not having funds to print posters to advertise our group and our events,” he said.
Despite all of the red tape that he had to work through, Piechowski said that the positive environment of the group is a sign of success. “It’s just really cool to see what people are willing to commit to even with all of the schoolwork and other commitments they have,” said Piechowski. “It’s cool that they were willing to set this time aside to sing together. We want to show people that this is what we enjoy doing.”
The current Vocal Ties president, Brady Kraus agreed with Piechowski; that the people in Vocal Ties make the group what it is. He said, “I just want people to have a fun time. I think that’s something about being involved in music. It’s the camaraderie and the enjoyment of being together with a group and forming bonds in order to create something that’s larger than ourselves.”
Kraus is a sophomore at UWL majoring in elementary education and became involved in Vocal Ties during the second semester of his freshman year. “I got recruited by a mutual friend to audition. That’s where it all started! I did a cappella in high school so once I heard that there was an opportunity to continue it I figured it would be a good place to spend my time,” said Kraus.
During his time in his high school’s student-led a cappella group, Kraus took on a leadership role during his senior year. He said that he used that past experience and encouragement from friends in his decision to lead Vocal Ties. He said, “When someone suggested to me that I should put myself in that position, I figured that if someone else saw it in me again that I should be doing this it’s probably some sort of call to do it.”
Kraus said that he has two major goals for Vocal Ties. First, he wants to continue to foster positive relationships among the group. He said that the group spends time bonding both in and out of rehearsal. This allows them to enjoy themselves and do more than only stress about putting music together. Second, Kraus wants the group to expand. He said, “We lack guys which is pretty typical for musical groups. Hopefully, we can round out and do more and more as we are capable.”
When asked what he feels is the selling point of Vocal Ties, Kraus said, “It’s cool to see people coming together to create something meaningful. Not only for themselves, but putting on something for the community, your friends, and your family. We are doing something larger than ourselves, not only for our own personal gain but for others.”
Vocal Ties meets twice a week and the group is working on producing a performance schedule. Kraus said that there will be an on-campus performance towards the end of the semester and that the group hopes to perform in Madison with other a cappella groups. Future information about these performances will be shared on the official Vocal Ties Instagram page @vocaltiesuwl.
Kraus said that Vocal Ties holds auditions at the beginning of each semester, but because there is a lack of lower-range voices, Kraus said they will be holding auditions again later in the month of February. For information about joining Vocal Ties, email Brady Kraus @[email protected]
