Archives: Courses

Taught by Deke Sharon, in partnership with Acaville

What does it really take to start an a cappella group that lasts?

In this course, legendary arranger, producer, and educator Deke Sharon pulls back the curtain on how great groups are born and how they survive, evolve, and thrive. Drawing on decades of experience as founder of The House Jacks, D Cappella, and many more groups around the world,  Deke walks you through every step of building a group from the ground up.

From shaping a clear vision and assembling the right people, to auditions, arrangements, leadership structure, and landing paid gigs, this course is both philosophical and deeply practical.

Whether you’re starting your very first group or rebooting one with intention, this course gives you the tools, mindset, and community context to do it right.

In this course, the members of Backtrack will lead you through the steps to becoming a full time a cappella musician. BacktrackTrailer

You've got big a cappella colored dreams. He's got advice on making them real.  Deke Sharon discusses Careers in A Cappella!

In this course, Armand Hutton of Naturally 7 and Street Corner Symphony will give you the tips and tricks you need to become a better bass singer and/or better understand the bass singers in your group.

Aaron Jensen has written for some of the most talent artists in the world, including JUNO, GRAMMY, and EMMY winners. In this course, he shares his creative process and gives you step by step advice on writing your own songs. Perfect for anyone getting ready to dive in or those who are practicing songwriters looking for more inspiration and tools.

Take your performance to the next level with all the right moves. Kristin Denehy takes her experience dancing and choreographing for the NY Knicks, international tours with Backstreet Boys, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Lopez, and *NSYNC, TV, movies, and Broadway and gives you the tools to succeed. Just like she did with groups on The Sing-Off.

This class takes you from zero to hero on the art of barbershop singing. Designed for the musician with no experience in barbershop, learn everything from technique to performance to culture and you'll be nailing the lock and ring on those tags in no time.

Drew Wheaton is the tenor of the 2016 International Barbershop Quartet champions, Forefront, and has been the Musical Director of the Thoroughbred Chorus since 2012. He holds music degrees from McGill University and the University of Louisville and a Masters of Music in Choral Conducting at University of Louisville. A co-founder of the competitive a cappella group Cardinal Rule, he is now the director of adjudication for the A Cappella Education Association. Drew teaches private voice lessons, is a sought-after coach and clinician, and is a live sound engineer for contemporary a cappella.

Lessons: 10

 In this course, you’ll learn how to write a cappella arrangements from the father of contemporary a cappella. Deke utilizes methods from his best-selling book A cappella Arranging, his online arranging seminars, and lessons he’s learned from arranging for The Sing-Off and Pitch Perfect. Each lesson comes with three levels of assignments and a wealth of knowledge on how to start and finish a cappella arrangements.

Lessons: 14

In this course, you’ll learn the basics of scat singing through multiple types of exercises including rhythm-only exercises, vocal percussion exercises, singing in different modes, and improvising through basic harmonic progressions. In each lesson, Bob sings through the exercises and then plays along as you sing them back. Each lesson comes with a wealth of excerpts from Bob’s best-selling scat books.