A family who sings together, stays together.

Gold Vibrations, Oakland University’s a cappella group, placed second this year in the International Championship for Colligate Acappella (ICCA) and won best arrangement for “Say Something,” arranged by group member Christopher Brody.

The group has been around for five years and is striving to grow and improve with each new year.

“We were really shooting for third place at semi-finals,” Justin Donoghue, president of Gold Vibrations, said. “We were just shooting at doing better than the year before.”

The “Say Something” arrangement also drew interest from three other groups at ICCA who were interested in buying it from Gold Vibrations.

“It’s really nice to get the recognition and know that they thought my arrangement was the best one there,” Brody said. “It’s very humbling and cool.”

A group of the ICCA judges come together to do a ranking of the best a cappella groups. Gold Vibrations is ranked number ten in the Great Lakes Sector.

“My favorite part, aside from the little moments in rehearsal where we all blend as one, would be competing,” Amandalynne Walker said. “We all come together to show everyone how hard we worked.”

Unforgettable Bonds

“Going to Gold Vibration rehearsals is the highlight of my week,” Group member Colleen Bielman said. “It’s really fun and we have a great time making music.”

A Disney medley, “Us” by Regina Spektor, “Counting Stars” by One Republic and “Ordinary People” by John Legend are just some of the songs they’ve been practicing.

Their arrangements will be showcased at their concert coming up on April 11 at Varner Recital Hall.

For each arrangement, Brody has the difficult task of deciding what spin to take on it. The group also must audition members for solo parts. The members auditioning each have an opportunity to perform the song for the members not auditioning. After each person who wants the solo perform the rest of the group takes a vote based on who sounded the best.

“We do a good job taking politics out of it,” Donoghue said. “There are guys I know that will stand up in my wedding from this group.”

“At the end of the day we make sure to leave with a group hug,” Bielman said.

The group holds auditions for new members at the beginning of every semester.

For students interested in learning more check out their Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/ougoldvibrations, YouTube and Twitter.

Watch their performance at the 2014 ICCA Semifinals visit their YouTube page.