The annual Minor Adjustments Invitational will be held April 23 from 7:30 to 10 p.m.in Giltz Auditorium at Hawkin’s Hall.
Plattsburgh State a cappella group Minor Adjustment Director and junior communications studies major Taeko Kelly said the group will be performing six songs.
She said they will be singing a mashup of “Lean On” by Major Lazer and “Lean On Me” by Bill Withers, “Hey Ya” by Outcast and “Holding Out for a Hero,” which is on the soundtrack of the ’80s movie Footloose.
“We try to pick songs that really vary with their style and time period and overall appeal,” she said.
Minor Adjustments will be featuring other groups on campus, such as Kickline and JEDI Dance Productions.
They will also feature University of Vermont’s Zest Co-Ed a cappella group, SUNY New Paltz’s all male group and the Cumberland Bay Barber Shoppers, a non-profit organization dedicated to barbershop a cappella singing.
“So aside from all the awesome music and dancing, all of the proceeds from the event go to VH1 Save The Music Foundation, which helps to keep music schools for young students,” Kelly said.
VH1 Save The Music Foundation seeks to develop strategic partnerships with school districts to build instrumental music programs by providing grants of brand-new musical instruments to public elementary and middle schools, according to the foundation’s official website.
Plattsburgh’s Chechako Taco will be raffling off gift cards, as well as a special raffle by owner, Mikey Bruley. Bruley said he’s going to let the winner of the raffle choose a new menu item. Kelly also said there will be basket raffles for the event.
Kelly said she’s grateful for Minor Adjustments because it has been a huge part of her college career.
“We’re really an inclusive group of people, and everyone gets along so well,” Kelly said. “We’re honestly like a family. I’ve met some of my closest friends in the group.”
PSUC freshman TV video production Joe Lewis joined Minor Adjustments when he auditioned last semester. He is currently one of the two beat boxers and a singer.
“I enjoyed singing in high school and in my a cappella group,” Lewis said. “I saw a flier for the a cappella group, and being a freshman, I know the best thing to do is to always get involved.”
He said he’s enjoyed the past events involved with the club. Lewis said he went to the invitational last semester at SUNY New Paltz. He said it was a great experience, and he enjoyed meeting different a cappella groups. He also appreciated everyone’s enthusiasm afterward.
“We performed with about three other groups. Two of them were from New Paltz and the other was from NYU,” he said.
Besides the invitational, Lewis said they most recently performed at the Red Dress Gala and Coffeehouse.
He said he’s excited for their own invitational, and they take their practices very seriously. They’ve been practicing for the event all semester, and they’re focused at every practice because they have so many shows coming up.
“We listen to the song. We all try to do our parts together, and then Taeko, the director, breaks it down into sopranos, altos, tenors and then we usually just work really hard either for one and half to two and a half hours,” Lewis said.
Lewis said a cappella shows are fun to attend and encourages the community to go to the upcoming invitational. He said they’re constantly trying to incorporate throwbacks and new songs to make interesting mashups.
“There’s nothing better than getting to do what you love as a stress reliever at the end of the day with people you feel comfortable around. It’s just a fun environment,” Kelly said.
Email Kavita Singh at kavita.singh@cardinalpointsonline.com
