By Kevin Jachimowicz

With everyone getting their holiday decorations out for display, there could not have been a better time to hold a concert infused with such festivity. Founders Hall was decorated to match the beautiful voices of the performing a cappella groups.

As I entered the hall I was greeted with a brochure for the show. To my surprise, the University of Hartford’s a cappella group, creatively titled Hawkappella, were the initial performers. Hawkappella consisted solely of male students and boasted an interesting variety of sounds.

The group became very engaged with the crowd throughout their portion of the show. Hawkappella offered a number of different things, including short comedy segments, as well as taking difficult songs and implementing some serious percussion noises as a group. They brought their performance to an end with the final two songs being “The Twelve Days of Christmas” and Matchbox Twenty’s immediately recognizable track “How Far We’ve Come.”

Once Hawkappella’s segment of the show was over, the ladies of Central Connecticut State University’s a cappella group Too Good For Instruments arrived. They not only performed, but provided the audience with a chance to celebrate the season. For those who were interested there was also the option available to pre-order their soon to be released album for the low price of $7

A favorite of mine from Too Good For Instruments would have to be Marvin Gaye’s classic song “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” which was perfectly executed by the group and featured a great solo by Cassandra Montanez. The Foundation’s track “Build Me Up Buttercup” was also a crowd favorite. Their final piece before the intermission was “Lady Marmalade” which featured a number of very impressive solos.

Every single person in Founders Hall instantly jumped up on their feet to give the amazing performance a standing ovation. Recent allocations the group has obtained include acceptance into the International Championships of A Cappella. Although a number of groups are entered into this tournament, the ladies of Too Good For Instruments happen to be the only group in all of Connecticut entered in the competition, which is quite an impressive feat.

For additional information on TGFI, you can visit their website at tgfi.webs.com or their YouTube page at youtube.com/tgficcsu.