Bryan High School’s a cappella group Vocal Legacy jazzed it up for the International Championship of High School A Cappella quarterfinals and came away with one of the best scores of all the quarterfinals in the country.
Now, they are taking that momentum with them into the semifinals at Flower Mound’s Marcus High School on March 11. The top vocal group at the semifinals will advance to the ICHSA Finals in New York on April 28.
They are also going into the semifinals with two individual awards: Christian Eddington as outstanding soloist for “Fever” and Kylie Mervish for outstanding choreography for the group’s set. Both called it an honor to receive the special recognition.
Vocal Legacy has advanced to the semifinals three other times: 2018, 2019 and 2020. However, they have never earned the top spot at semifinals to advance to the finals.
Senior Ellen Covey said directors Alex Medlock and Brittany Gibson told them they believe the group has a chance to make it to New York, and that has made them believe the same. “But we can’t get complacent, either,” Senior Rebekah Byers said. “… We have to keep going; we have to go, ‘We’re going to go to New York.’”
Covey and fellow senior Kylie Mervish said they felt more confident this year as they walked out on stage, but they did not expect to win the quarterfinal competition.
“I’m really nervous for semifinals, but I’m also not because I feel confident,” Covey said. Looking at it from the judges’ perspective, she said, they have found things to fix and ways to make their performance better, which is exciting as they prepare for semifinals.
The group stood out with their song selections and also as one of the smallest with only eight members, compared to the more traditional size of 14 to 18 people.
Byers said they knew jazz would set them apart, but it was also a gamble of if the judges would like it compared to the pop music a cappella groups typically perform.
Mervish added their 1940s and 1950s style set will be a gamble again at the semifinals when a different group of judges will rate their performance. But Byers said the group trusts their directors and tried jazz when they suggested it. It turned out to fit them better than the pop songs they were exploring.
“The thing about our directors, they try to find music that will connect to people. … Music that will connect to the judges and touch their hearts,” senior Otis Wright said.
Byers said Vocal Legacy is more of a family this year, which affects how they performed their songs, saying the same selection would have been done differently last year because their connection was not as tight.
When it is just right, each of the members described it as a feeling they have.
“My heart just swells,” Byers said. “It is such an overwhelming feeling of just ‘that was it.’ And knowing that I did it with some of my closest friends, my seven best friends. It’s just so cool to know that we can go anywhere and with the eight of us we can make music, and we can communicate with people. It’s just the coolest feeling.”
They did just that when they gave visitors to Natural Bridge Caverns in San Antonio an impromptu performance. Covey said people started videoing them and some even wanted to take pictures with them, thinking they were celebrities.
Wright said he just feels the music, rather than thinking about it.
“You already know what’s going to happen, what’s coming up, what’s next,” he said. “… You just know; you feel it.”
Macie Steer, a junior, said she stops thinking about the notes, and instead thinks about what the song means and what the other members of Vocal Legacy mean to her.
“It feels like home, and performing with y'all, it feels like home. And getting off the stage, I don't have to think around y'all,” she said.
Trenton Seay, also a junior, said it creates a safe space for him to escape other worries in life, saying it feels like a family.
“It just feels home,” he said. “When we were up on that stage singing, I wasn’t hearing individual notes. It’s like all those notes belong together. I wouldn’t want to sing up there with anybody else.”
Director Alex Medlock said they are learning an important lesson that applies to vocal groups and life in general about putting others ahead of themselves for the good of the group.
“What’s happening right now is they are learning to listen at a level and cooperate as a group,” he said. “What y’all are doing is really beautiful.”
