The Stanford Harmonics are a co-ed a cappella group from Stanford University. Known for their alternative rock repertoire and award-winning recordings, the Harmonics have garnered international recognition for their performances and have been featured on BOCA, Sing, and Voices Only a cappella compilations. The Harmonics are one of the few collegiate a cappella groups that own their own wireless microphone equipment[citation needed] and have developed a live performance style that includes the use of electronic distortion and sound effects.
Stanford Harmonics | |
|---|---|
 Stanford Harmonics, January 2022 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Stanford, California, USA |
| Genres | A cappella |
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Website | www |
History
editThe group's third release, Insanity Laughs (1999), was received as a "breakthrough album" for the unprecedented mixing of its drum-like vocal percussion.[1]
In 2009, their landmark studio album, Escape Velocity, won three Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards, including Best Mixed Collegiate Album,[2] and was selected by the Recorded A Cappella Review Board as one of their Picks of the Decade.[3]
In 2010, the Harmonics won the A Cappella Community Awards for Favorite Mixed Collegiate Group and Favorite Scholastic Album.[4]
In 2020, the album "Signal Lost" by the Harmonics won Best Rock Album from the Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards.
As of 2024, they are recording their newest album, a concept album centered around grief, to be released in 2025.
Recordings
editThe Stanford Harmonics have released ten full-length albums, one "greatest hits" album, and one extended play, alongside numerous singles.
- The Greatest Hits of Pitchpipe (1995)
- Escalator Music (1997)
- Insanity Laughs (1999)
- Phonoshop (2001)
- evolut10n (2002) - 10 Year Anniversary "Greatest Hits" Album
- Rock Beats Scissors (2003)
- Shadowplay (2005)
- Escape Velocity (2008)
- Midnight Hour (2013)
- The Messes of Men (2015) - EP
- Fault of Imagination (2017)
- Signal Lost (2019)
Awards and nominations
edit| Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards | Best Mixed Collegiate Album | Escalator Music | Nominated | [5] |
| 2000 | Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards | Best Mixed Collegiate Album | Insanity Laughs | Nominated | [6] |
| Best Mixed Collegiate Arrangement | Jonathan Pilat | Nominated | |||
| 2002 | Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards | Best Mixed Collegiate Album | Phonoshop | Nominated | [7] |
| Best Mixed Collegiate Arrangement | Jonathan Pilat for "We Are In Love" | Runner-up
|
[8] | ||
| 2004 | Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards | Best Mixed Collegiate Song | "Lady Marmalade" from Rock Beats Scissors | Runner-up
|
[9] |
| 2006 | Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards | Best Mixed Collegiate Album | Shadowplay | Nominated | [10] |
| Best Mixed Collegiate Solo | Bryan Tan for "The Memory Remains" | Nominated | |||
| 2009 | Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards | Best Mixed Collegiate Album | Escape Velocity | Won | [2] |
| Best Mixed Collegiate Song | "The Sound of Silence" | Won | |||
| Best Mixed Collegiate Arrangement[a] | Charlie Forkish for "The Sound of Silence" | Won | |||
| Charlie Forkish for "Imagination" | Runner-up
| ||||
| 2010 | Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards | Best Mixed Collegiate Song | "Spiel Met Mir" from Sing Six: Sunny Side Up | Nominated | [11] |
| 2014 | Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards | Best Mixed Collegiate Album | Midnight Hour | Nominated | [12] |
| Best Mixed Collegiate Song | "Somebody to Love" | Nominated | |||
| Best Mixed Collegiate Arrangement | Evan Smith for "Somebody to Love" | Nominated | |||
| 2018 | Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards | Best Electronic / Experimental Album | Fault of Imagination | Nominated | [13] |
| 2020 | Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards | Best Rock Album | Signal Lost | Won | [14] |
| Best Rock Song | "Zombie" from Signal Lost | Nominated | [15] | ||
| Best Mixed Collegiate Album | Signal Lost | Nominated | |||
| 2022 | Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards | Best Mixed Voices Collegiate Solo | Mitchell Zimmerman for "Ever After" (Single) | Nominated | [16] |
| 2022 | Best of College A Cappella | Featured Single ‘Bad Liar’ | Single | Won | [17] |
- ^ Charlie Forkish was named both the winner and the runner-up (against himself) for these two arrangements on Escape Velocity.
ICCA results
editThe International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) first judged live a cappella performance competitions in 1996.
| Year | Level | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Points | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | West Region Semifinal | Best Solo | Zareen Poonen for "Change in My Life' | Runner-up
|
N/A
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|
| 2000 | West Region Quarterfinal #1 | Best Group | Harmonics | 2nd
|
—
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|
| 2002 | West Region Quarterfinal #2 | Best Soloist | Morgan Reed | Runner-up (tie)
|
N/A
|
|
| Best Arrangement | Jon Pilat for "Lady Marmalade" | Runner-up (tie)
|
N/A
| |||
| 2003 | West Region Quarterfinal #3 | Best Group | Harmonics | 3rd
|
—
|
|
| Best Arrangement | Marcella White Campbell for "Porcelain" | Won
|
N/A
| |||
| 2004 | West Region Quarterfinal #1 | Outstanding Vocal Percussion | Ben D'Angelo and Daniel Hobert | won
|
N/A
|
|
| 2021 | West Region Quarterfinal #3 | Best Group | Harmonics | 3rd
|
312
|
Notable members
editThis section needs additional citations for verification. (November 2019) |
- Singer/songwriter Vienna Teng
- Contemporary A Cappella Society of America (CASA) President Julia Hoffman and Board Member Ariel Glassman
- Hookslide singers Jon Pilat and George Hoffman
- Former Skritch lead Bryan Tan
- Icon Parthiv Krishna
- Gautam Raghavan, Deputy Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office
- Jade Nguyen
See also
edit
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stanford Harmonics.
References
edit- ^ Mickey Rapkin (2012). Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate A Cappella Glory. Penguin. ISBN 9781592408214. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
The breakthrough album, he says, was the 1999 Stanford Harmonics disc, Insanity Laughs. 'That's when vocal percussion really started to sound more like a drum set than vocals,' Bill says.
- ^ a b "2009 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Winners". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Archived from the original on 14 June 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "RARB". RARB Picks of the Decade. Retrieved 2010-05-05.
- ^ "CASA". 2010 A Cappella Community Award Winners. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
- ^ "1998 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Nominees". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Archived from the original on 18 June 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "2000 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Nominees". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Archived from the original on 14 June 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "2002 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Nominees". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Archived from the original on 27 October 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "2002 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Winners". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Archived from the original on 14 June 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "2004 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Winners". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "2006 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Nominees". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Archived from the original on 16 June 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "2010 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Nominees". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Archived from the original on 18 June 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "2014 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Nominees". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Archived from the original on 11 September 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "2018 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Nominees". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Archived from the original on 11 September 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Chen, Jessica (5 April 2020). "2020 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards Results". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
- ^ Chen, Jessica (17 February 2020). "2020 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards Nominees". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
- ^ "2022 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Nominees". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
- ^ "2022 Best of College A Cappella 2022 Collection". Best of College A Cappella. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
- ^ "Results: Official Results for the ICCA, ICHSA, and The Open (1996)". University of California, Berkeley: Varsity Vocals. 1996. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
- ^ "Results: Official Results for the ICCA, ICHSA, and The Open (2000)". University of California, Berkeley: Varsity Vocals. 2000. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
- ^ "Results: Official Results for the ICCA, ICHSA, and The Open (2002)". Brigham Young University: Varsity Vocals. 2002. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
- ^ "Results: Official Results for the ICCA, ICHSA, and The Open (2003)". University of California, Berkeley: Varsity Vocals. 2003. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
- ^ "Results: Official Results for the ICCA, ICHSA, and The Open (2004)". University of California, Berkeley: Varsity Vocals. 2004. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
- ^ "Results: Official Results for the ICCA, ICHSA, and The Open (2021)". Varsity Vocals. 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.