The Cords

As summer draws to a close, I find myself more and more looking forward to the fall term and all that it entails. My fellow '09's will once again descend on campus from all around the world as a class - this time as seniors - while on the other end of the collegiate spectrum, the Dartmouth campus will welcome more than 1,000 new faces representing the Class of 2012. I'll be taking classes again for the first time in more than 6 months. The Giants will begin their quest to defend their Superbowl Championship. And of course, I will start singing again.

One of my most important extra-curricular activities over the past three years has been my involvement in the Cords, one of Dartmouth's three all-male a cappella ensembles. I auditioned for the Cords at the end of my Freshman Orientation, and it was really the first group or activity that I joined on campus. It was really one of the best things I could have done for myself. Not only did I have a cool group of guys to hang out with, but it was a great opportunity to meet and get to know upperclassmen. Ultimately, the Cords is one of the reasons I didn't feel I needed to join a fraternity: I already had my brotherhood.

The Cords usually consist of about 16 guys. Because of the D-Plan and the fact that our members are always coming and going, our repertoire varies term by term and we'll often have to learn new parts to cover missing ones. We rehearse about 6 hours of week, and do somewhere between 4 and 7 on-campus shows per term, with a few off-campus shows in the mix as well. While traveling during the term can be fun, our favorite shows are the ones we perform here in Hanover for Dartmouth students, usually in a fraternity or sorority living room or a common room in a residence hall. A cappella is (strangely) popular at Dartmouth, and people really turn out for our shows. It's a great feeling to have so much support from our fellow students.

The Cords rehearse on the National Mall in D.C. while on tour in '06

Each winter break, the Cords go on a ~10 day collegiate tour to colleges all along the Eastern Seaboard. While there are usually some other venues mixed in, we try to maximize the number of college shows we do because they are the most fun. A couple of years ago, for instance, we got a gig at a pretty posh resort in Orlando. They hooked us up with 4 suites (for 14 guys; it was amazing), and we did one or two shows a day in the lobby and restaurants for the guests. It was pretty much a paid vacation for us, but the best times we had that tour were still at the colleges we performed at along the way. The routine is usually something like this: leave Dartmouth on the last day of finals, go to a school, do a show with an a cappella group there, party, sleep, wake up, travel to another college, repeat. For 10 days. It's exhausting. By the end of tour there are usually only about 9 or 10 songs we can sing because people's voices are completely shot. But it's probably my favorite week of the year, and I'm really looking forward to this December and my last Cords tour. And maybe some more baseball games: in the past two years, we've sung the National Anthem at Fenway Park in Boston and Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia for the Red Sox and Phillies, respectively.

The Cords prepare to sing the National Anthem at Fenway Park

The Cords has also provided me with some truly unique leadership experience. I managed our tour my sophomore year and was president of the group last year. I'm currently serving as our business manager. Because the Cords are entirely student run, the president of the group is truly the executive of the organization - there is no faculty or Council on Student Organizations (COSO) advisor. Even in the corporate world, CEOs have boards and investors to report to; for most student organizations at Dartmouth, the buck stops at the student leaders. Thus, for a year, I got to play the role of chief executive of an organization that's not only an extra-curricular activity, but a semi-professional performing ensemble and a small business as well. It's hard to get that experience anywhere else, and I'm really appreciative for the opportunity that I had and for the friends I've made along the way.