The Coda Conduct received much support from its new fans in 111 Forum Friday night for its debut winter concert.
As the newest co-ed a cappella group on campus, The Coda Conduct explored many different genres in its set list and showcased its unique sound in its choice of contemporary songs.
The concert began with a homemade video of The Coda Conduct’s founders Ricky Jabarin and Trevor Johnson joking and introducing themselves to the audience.
“We formed in July and that’s about it,” Jabarin (senior-supply chain management) said.
With only the fall semester to rehearse, the group was brave in exploring very popular contemporary songs, like Frank Ocean’s “Thinkin Bout You,” which Jabarin performed.
As a soloist, Jabarin avoided sounding too pitchy when hitting the high notes but the group backing him up still has room to grow in its performance in terms of harmonizing and tempo.
A standout performance of the night was the group’s rendition of “Skyfall” by Adele. Soloist, Esther Parks , had a very unique and ethereal, yet bold voice. Another interesting voice in the group was Hayley Blazer who performed a jazzy rendition of Corrine Bailey Rae’s “Closer.”
A member to watch out for in The Coda Conduct is vocal percussionist Ray Wen who had his own Beatbox solo section of the concert where he blew the audience away with his beatboxing skills, sampling hip-hop songs like Snoop Dogg’s “Drop it Like It’s Hot” and The Black Eyed Peas’ “My Humps.”
Audience members, most of them who came to support students they knew in the group, said they liked hearing contemporary songs in comparison to older tracks.
“It’s definitely more fun to listen to well-known and recent songs,” Kelsey Thomasson (freshman-division of undergraduate studies) said.
Thomasson’s friend Amelia Pietraccini who also came to support Esther Parks said The Coda Conduct looked good for forming only months ago.
“They really performed well for a new group,” Pietraccini (freshman-undecided) said. “This doesn’t seem like it is their first official concert.”
Monique Valerio[KG13] , who knows Jabarin from Penn State Fillipino Association on campus, said she was very excited to support the new group on its endeavors and said she remembered when Jabarin was first in the works of forming the group.
“I’m just really proud of Ricky and Trevor for starting this group,” Valerio (sophomore-history)said.
With 16 diverse singers making up the group and the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella coming up in February, The Coda Conduct has time to grow closer and mesh its vocals together even more as an a cappella group.
