At 9:30 p.m. on a Thursday, the windows of room 228 in the Light Fine Arts Building (FAB) are wide open, allowing a cascade of harmonies and laughter to spill out into the night. Inside the frigid room stands 18 members of the Limelights. Chalkboards adorned with chalk dust cover all four walls. At the front of the room stands a wooden baby grand piano surrounded by the members.
The Limelights, also known as the Limes, are one of four a cappella groups at Kalamazoo College, alongside Premium Orange, ACAPOC, and Kalamadudes. The Limes feature soprano and alto voices: the highest of the six basic voice types, which include soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto/contralto, tenor, baritone, and bass.
A cappella is singing without instrumental accompaniment, requiring members to rely on each other to harmonize effectively. To build this trust, the Limes have quarterly bonding activities, like singing karaoke at a member’s house or watching a movie together. Along with the four hours of weekly practice, these activities help form strong friendships, making the group very close-knit.
The Limelights consists of 18 students. A few members assume leadership positions such as directors, arrangers, business directors, and choreographers. The group holds two weekly two-hour practice sessions, fostering community and making music.
A cappella, meaning “in chapel style,” was developed in the mid-16th century in churches because chapel music that was done with chanting and instruments was thought to be inappropriate. While the exact year a cappella was established on campus is uncertain, it is believed to have begun around 2009.
At 7:50 p.m., a Lime asks, “Does anyone know the campus safety number?” The members look at the locked door. They comment about how common of an occurrence this is as they dial up the phone, other members sitting down in the hall. They know that campus safety will take at least 10 minutes. As members wait for campus safety to unlock the door to the classroom, idle chatter fills the second floor of the FAB. Members catch up about their days, weekend plans, and personal updates. After ten minutes, a pair of campus safety officers arrive and unlock the door, wishing the students a good night before departing.
Walking into the warm room, someone immediately opens the window to let some cold night air in. As members trickle in, they continue their conversations, seating themselves in a semicircle. Finally settling down, music director Molly Stevison ‘26 starts the practice off with a familiar icebreaker: “rose, bud, and thorn.” During this activity, members take turns sharing a recap of their day as they pass around the semicircle. The “rose” signifies the highlight of their day, the “thorn” represents a challenge or setback, and the “bud” symbolizes something they are anticipating. This exercise fosters a deeper understanding of each other’s lives.
Once the icebreaker concludes, the group rises from their seats and gathers around the piano to do their vocal warmups. Led by the group’s music directors – Sofia Rowland ‘24 and Molly Stevison ‘26 this trimester – these exercises, known as “rounds,” not only set the tone for practices but are also passed down throughout the years, with members teaching the next generation.
“All of the a cappella groups know mostly the same set of rounds; there are probably five or six of them that everybody kind of knows,” said Stevison. In addition to guiding the vocal warmups, Rowland and Stevison oversee practices, craft schedules, and coordinate with the other a cappella groups to organize concerts.
For today’s practice, the directors decided to have the members rehearse their senior song, which has solos performed by each graduating senior during the spring trimester. Congregated around the piano, the group starts by singing the entire song while Stevison listens for specific measures that need focused attention. Sometimes the directors have the whole group work together, while other times they break off into vocal groups to work on their individual parts.
Before they can start singing, the group must decide what music they want to sing for the term. For this to happen, the Limes host a “pitch party” where each member suggests one to two songs to include in a collaborative playlist. At the end of the trimester, the group reconvenes to finalize the musical selection for the upcoming term. The Limes typically adhere to four distinct genres: a technical piece, a throwback, a “sugar pop,” and a slow song. This diverse selection allows them to showcase their versatility and musical talents.
After the four songs are chosen, the music must be arranged in an a cappella style; this is when the music arrangers work. This trimester, Elena Pulliam ‘25 and Posey Bischoff ‘27 arranged the four songs. Before joining the Limelights, neither had experience arranging music in a cappella style, despite previous musical backgrounds.
This trimester, Pulliam and Bischoff arranged two songs each. By knowing the basic theory and chord structures and having a song or music to reference, the song can be arranged together. The process for arranging music can take up to a month for a single song.
Both arrangers use the online music notation software “Noteflight,” but have different approaches to arranging. Pulliam looks at every version of the song, then finds the chord sheets and works with them. After adding the notes into Noteflight, Pulliam will “see what sounds good, change things, kind of adjust the original song to a kind of new version of it, to make it a little original.” They added, “Then I take inspiration from each of the different versions, see what chords, and harmonies I prefer and then I usually end up with an amalgamation of all of them.”
As for Bischoff, they “listen to the song a million times.” They said, “I start with copying the melody into the application I use and trying to film the chords and try to make a little more interesting.”
Once the arrangers are happy with their work, they get the approval of the directors, then the group begins to practice singing.
Every trimester, all four a cappella groups hold concerts on Friday and Saturday nights of tenth week. In preparation, they have “tech week,” where they hold practices in the theater, work on choreography, sing, and provide feedback to each other to ensure everyone is ready for the weekend’s performances. Despite the long hours from Monday to Thursday – 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. – members look forward to it.
“It is a drag and it’s long hours and it’s hard on body and mind.” said Rowland “But I have some great memories of messing around or spending all that time together. That’s honestly when I think the group gets the closest, at the end of the term.”
After tech week ends, the Limes prepare for their concert. Before their last show on Saturday night, they have a tradition of “shout outs,” which take place in the dressing room when everyone is getting ready. As Megan Walczak ‘24, who serves as business director describes, “One person has to start and they, without saying who it is, will start talking about somebody and be complimenting them. They will say a beautiful and nice message and at the very end they will announce which Lime it is.” She explained, “It’s such a great way to end the quarter and go into our final show. You can just feel the love radiating in the room and everyone is just so excited for the show and so happy to spend that time with other people.”
But the end of the trimester is not the only time that the members express their gratitude for one another. One of the main reasons students love singing in the Limelights is the strong sense of community and friendships they form. Stevison described being in the Limelights as “it’s not really just an extracurricular. Like, yes, we have an agenda that we want to get through, and we have songs we want to learn, but we all have such a nice friendship and love for each other.”
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