Deke Sharon, A91 Photo: Steve Snowden/gettyimages

Creative Class

Your Inner Songbird

DEKE SHARON, A91, is known as the godfather of modern a cappella. As the producer behind America’s first a cappella reality TV show, The Sing-Off, director of The Sing Off live tour, and musical director of the Pitch Perfect movies, along with co-vocal producer ED BOYER, A04, his dream is to get America singing again. He talked to us about arranging for the movies and how we can unleash our inner songbird.

“The fact is, people have been singing since the dawn of time. Our ancestors used to gather around the fire to sing after the hunt. They used to sing in choirs, go caroling, and have sing-a-longs around the piano with their families. It’s a basic, communal activity that’s become elitist. We now have the American Idol phenomenon, where people are ridiculed deliberately if they’re not amazing. Recorded music has stripped away the need to sing. What’s happened is that in our culture, it’s only a small percentage of people who consider themselves singers, even though people naturally want to sing. They sing in the car; they sing in the shower. We’re animals; we’re crickets; we’re songbirds. It’s part of who we are as living beings, and I’m trying to bring it back.

When I graduated from Tufts, I wanted everyone around the world to have the kind of amazing experience I had in the Beelzebubs. The new sound of a cappella—the contemporary tunes, the percussion, and all the new techniques—was something I wanted to spread.

For live performances, you have to arrange in a way that’s constantly repeatable, that’s more forgiving for singers who are going to be performing for eighty-nine shows a week. For film, you need to incorporate a level of drama that’s over the top. The first Pitch Perfect film was a challenge because the director kept asking for more—more key changes, more tempo changes, mash-ups of six different songs, more pyrotechnics. With Pitch Perfect 2, I was used to it.

The stuff you hear coming from the top groups is difficult, but that happens at the top of any craft. You don’t have to be Michael Jordan to play basketball with your buddies. Your vocal chords are a muscle, and like any muscle, they need exercise to work at their best. You need experience and repetition. The best way to do that is to join a casual singing group, or just get together with friends and have a sing-a-long—as long as you find an opportunity to sing once or twice a week. Music doesn’t have to be complex to be great. Some of the best music is simple.”