A somber note came from this year’s regional International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella when Oakland University’s original A Cappella team, Gold Vibrations, failed to place.

“But it only stands as something to drive us to get better,” said group tenner Conner Matteson. “It forced us to come to together, think together. Now we don’t just memorize the lyrics but know what the song is about.”

This was the first year the group entered the ICCA competition, going up against nine other groups from neighboring universities.

“We were going up against groups that have been around for thirty, forty years,” Matteson said. “We worked on it for months, trying to get better. But we had a lot of fun, and that’s why we joined things like this in the first place.”

The group was founded four years ago and is currently one of two A Cappella groups on campus.

“I think what sets us apart from the other group is the personal element,” Matteson said. “I’m always going to meetings and having people say just how amazing this is and how lucky we are to have this bond with each other.”

Matteson said the group uses tradition to bring everyone together, such as the golden-yellow shoe strings each of them wears.

“Any time we don’t think we’re going to make it, any time we think it’s getting too rough, we just look down and see this bond: it represents the sixteen people we know will be there to help break our fall,” Matteson said.

The group continues to work diligently, creating a new repertoire of songs for their upcoming concert at Rochester Adams High School.

The concert is April 5, and admission is free.