User:Jnw39/Nothing But Treble

New article name is Nothing But Treble

Cornell University’s Nothing But Treble is the first all female a cappella group founded at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York in 1976. The a cappella group carries the nickname NBT among its members and other groups on campus and has since its inception. They are the original all female a cappella group at the university which is home to over thirteen a cappella groups and as of December 2009, five of them are all female. Nothing But Treble was originally the subset of the Cornell Women’s Chorus, but split apart from it and is now an independent group on Cornell’s campus.

They currently have fifteen members ranging from freshman to senior status. Nothing But Treble has recorded and released seven albums and is in the process of recording its eighth. The group has one concert per academic year in the spring semester that is entitled ‘Bring Your Own Bass’ or B.Y.O.B., for short. Their music is arranged by the members of the group from a pool of popular songs from twentieth century classics to songs from today.

History
Their first album was released in 1991 entitled, “Here Comes Treble!” and is the name of the a cappella group Andy Bernard from The Office was a member of at his time at Cornell University. This fact is comical because Nothing But Treble is an all-female a cappella group. Nothing But Treble has released numerous albums over the years:

•	Here Comes Treble! (1991)

•	Lights Out (1993)

•	Swank (1997)

•	This Is What It Sounds Like (1999)

•	Breaking the Ice (2001)

•	In the Mix (2003)

•	Mischief (2006)

The all female a cappella group has been a part of Cornell University’s A Cappella Advisory Council since its inception in the spring of 2003. The council now has thirteen members and its aims are: "(1) to establish a more convenient and formalized means by which a cappella groups may communicate in order to eliminate conflicts (e.g. share concert dates, performance spaces, audition times, etc.), share resources, and coordinate events; and (2) to foster a sense of community and amiability among the University’s a cappella organizations without compromising the individual identity of each group [1]." Repertoire Nothing But Treble’s repertoire is of popular songs: from the classics such as “Can’t Hurry Love” by Diana Ross, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” by Simon and Garfunkel, “Natural Woman” (You Make Me Feel) by Aretha Franklin; to eighties and nineties hit songs like “Sweet Child O Mine” by Aerosmith, and “Whatta Man” by Salt-N-Pepa, and “Always Be My Baby” by Mariah Carey; and new songs from today featured in “Pop Medley” such as “Paper Planes” by M.I.A, “Disturbia” sung by Rhianna, and “Circus” sung by Britney Spears and more. The repertoire is arranged by members of the group, then rehearsed and performed for their concerts and recording sessions.

Concerts
The group holds a concert once a year in the spring semester entitled BYOB which stands for Bring Your Own Bass. This is a pun on the group’s name because they are “Nothing But Treble” [clef] so they would not have any bases in their group. It also refers to the acronym, “Bring Your Own Booze” or “Bring Your Own Beer”, “Bring Your Own Beverage” or “Bring Your Own Bottle” which are all popular phrases in college drinking culture.

The concerts are normally held in Cornell’s Statler Auditorium, but it has been held in Kennedy Hall’s Call Auditorium as well. Each year, the concert has its own theme. Recent themes have been “Nu Beta Tau - Animal House”, a play on the group’s acronym NBT in Greek letters, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, “NBT’s VMA’s” which is a play off of MTV’s Video Music Awards. The Alumni of Nothing But Treble attend their concerts each year and come on stage during one of NBT’s classic songs, “Natural Woman”, but also listen for their signature song with a unique arrangement, “Fugitive”, originally sung by the Indigo Girls.

Events
NBT has traveled most recently to Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts to sing as a guest group in the Beelzebubs’ Winter concert in 2008 who were just featured in NBC’s hit show, The Sing-Off, featuring the best a cappella groups from around North America. Nothing But Treble hosted the Hullabahoos, a male a cappella group representing the University of Virginia in the Fall of 2009. The girls have many arch-sings all over campus, but especially on Cornell University’s North Campus in the Balch Arch. Every year they participate in A Cappella United; a benefit concert for United Way put on by two Greek organizations on Campus in Statler Hall.

The girls can be seen throughout Cornell’s Orientation Week singing in arches all over campus, which is why they call them “arch-sings”. These locations generally have wonderful acoustics for singing and many a cappella groups use them as their stage for entertainment. The girls have arch-sings all over campus, but especially on Cornell University’s North Campus in the Balch Arch. Nothing But Treble has also held a Halloween arch-sing with Cornell’s Cayuga’s Waiters, an all male a cappella group, where they dress up in costume and sing. Along with arch-sings, NBT performs in many other places all around campus. They have performed at many charity events and at Sorority Parents Weekends as well as for Alumni dinners such as the one Cornell’s President Skorton threw in fall of 2008 for a Cornell Alum who was named the Entrepreneur of the Year.