♪ I go deeper in the ♪
♪ Ohhh ♪
- Gephart: Good, good, good!
One, two, starting at J, two, go.
My name's Dennis Gephart.
I am the high school choral director
at Port Washington High School.
♪ Nod your head ♪
Gephart: I wanted to develop an a cappella program because
as soon as I brought this into the classroom,
there was an excitement.
["Hard to Handle"] ♪ Pretty young thing, let me light your candle cause ♪
♪ Mama, I'm so hard to handle now ♪
Gephart: The kids were coming to me wanting to learn the parts
rather than me asking them to come in,
"Come on, you gotta learn that part."
♪ Yow ♪
♪ I've got some good old loving ♪
♪ And I got some more in store ♪ ♪ Bah, dah, pow ♪
♪ When I get through throwing it on ♪
♪ You gotta come back for more ♪ Gephart: One, two, three!
♪ Boys will come along a dime by the dozen ♪
♪ That ain't nothing but ten-cent loving ♪
♪ Pretty young thing, let me light your candle ♪
♪ 'Cause, honey, I'm so hard to handle now, yes I am ♪
- And we'll take a big bow at the end, literally.
♪ Mama, mama, I'm so hard to handle now ♪
Bow!
- Regan: It's new and it's exciting.
It's definitely something that's experimental,
and it's growing all the time, it's changing all the time.
♪ On and on, that's how we go ♪
♪ On and on, that's all we know ♪
♪ On and on and on and on ♪
Gephart: Contemporary a cappella is using modern music,
and we're transferring that into something
that we can do just with our own voices.
♪ Walk tall like warriors ♪
♪ Head high, head high, head high ♪
- Jane: I guess it's just taking something
that you hear on the radio
and finding different parts to it,
and not only taking what you hear from the original song,
but kind of expanding that.
- Isaac: When someone hears a group making a sound
exclusively with their voices,
I feel like it's another level of surprise.
♪ We are warriors ♪
♪ Just for now ♪
[Mr. Gephart snapping fingers]
♪ Just for now ♪
- Zach: Sometimes, when you get just the right amount of chords,
it creates overtones.
♪ Now ♪
♪ Just for now ♪
- Zach: And when you layer the overtones,
you can actually get really close
to sounding like instruments.
♪ [a cappella vocalization] ♪
♪ Just for now ♪
- Celeste: You have to learn how to sound like an instrument.
♪ Just for now ♪
If you're a brass instrument,
you have to make it sound brassy.
- You're like Tower of Power, Chicago, the big bands,
and all the stuff that you're doing,
♪ Ba da bow ♪
really super articulate.
If you go ♪ Hoh ♪
it sounds very choral.
♪ Oh ♪
♪ Ba da bow ♪
And then you can put the vocal shake.
♪ Ba da bow ♪
- Issac: With Mr. Gephart, our main focus is on dynamics,
so what volume we're singing at,
if we want to make certain sections bigger.
- Gephart: Grab your trumpet, put 'em up.
Two, three, go!
♪ Mama, I'm so hard to handle now ♪
Gephart: BRIGHT! ♪ Ba da ba ♪
- It can be very intense sometimes,
but I think everyone in the group knows that
he is putting so much into it
because he really values all of us,
and he wants us all to be able to succeed.
♪ Mama, I'm so hard to handle now ♪
- Four!
[Mr. Gephart stomps] ♪ Ba da ba ♪
- He knows the potential that we can be,
and he believes that we can achieve it.
- ♪ Ba da ba ♪ Crush that, ready?
♪ Mama ♪
Don't change your vowel.
Right here, in your nose.
Ready, go!
♪ Mama, I'm so hard to handle now ♪
♪ Ba da ba ♪
- I always tell the kids,
you start off with an 'A' for your performance.
You should never give anything less
than your 'A' performance, your absolute best,
and you work up from there.
Just you, Regan.
One, two, three, and go!
- Regan: ♪ Baby, here I am ♪
♪ I'm the girl on the scene ♪ - Good.
- Regan: I think he's very focused, and so,
sometimes he gets in a zone,
and he knows exactly what he wants.
- ♪ Girl on the scene ♪
♪ I can give you what you want ♪
Don't take a breath; you won't need it.
- Okay, sure. [students laugh]
Seeing us enjoy what we're doing
and seeing us succeed and grow and try new things
is really exciting for him.
I think especially because he's grown up with all of us
since we were younger, it's fun to see
where we've come from and where we're going,
and I think that's really exciting for him to watch.
[a cappella vocalization]
- Gephart: I get excited because all these kids work really hard,
and with music, you're working for the common good.
- Issac: It promotes kind of a unity.
Everyone is giving something of themselves
because they're all physically creating
that sound with their voices.
- Regan: That's all a cappella is.
It's supporting each other and building each other up.
♪ Boys will come around a dime by the dozen ♪
- In the end, we're all getting the same grade...
♪ Now ♪
...when we're on-stage together.