Gina Scott / Winonan
Winona State University serves an ever-growing venue for the arts in the community. Along with the many choirs on campus, there is an a cappella group called Hear and Now. Hear and Now rehearse every Sunday night, working on their songs and learning to sing as a unit.
Hear and Now has been a part of the Winona State arts community since 2004. They are present on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and they have their own YouTube channel.
Rehearsals are from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in Lourdes Hall. As a group, they go over important announcements and vocal warm ups before they go through their list of around 20 different songs.
Hear and Now works with different pop songs to create a new, unique sound. Their range of songs include arrangements by popular a cappella group, Pentatonix, as well as variations of hit songs by Britney Spears, Arianna Grande and other top 40 artists.
Radioactive Strike, a combination of Radioactive by Imagine Dragons and Lucky Strike by Maroon 5, was arranged by one of the group’s co-directors, Vance Dahl.
“Almost all of our music is written by people in the group or by other past members,” Alex Buchanan, another co-director of Hear and Now said.
Hear and Now has opened for Tonic Sol-fa, an a cappella group from the Minneapolis-St. Paul region that has toured around the United States and has sold more than 1 million CD copies.
The group has seen major growth within the past school year as well. Starting out the year with only three returning members from the previous year, they have now added nine new members.
Hear and Now hopes to move forward from their usual atmosphere of performing. While their shows are most often free of charge to students and community members, they hope to one day enter competitions.
They are also looking forward to putting together CDs to sell. Having recently done some recording along with their multiple shows this semester, they hope to solidify their work into a medium that can be kept for years to come.
Along with growing as artists, the group has grown together as friends.
“I’ve loved everyone I’ve gotten to meet,” Janelle Johnson, an alto singer, said. “It’s a great experience to get to know everybody and learn to gel with them.”
Hear and Now finds cohesion in a way other performance groups may not. While working on ensemble together is helpful to some groups, it is crucial for Hear and Now in order for songs to be executed well.
“I really enjoy a cappella because of the way the group bonds together,” Buchanan said. “I’ve always felt very close to this group—where in choir there are 60 people, you know the people but you don’t really feel like a unit, whereas [in Hear and Now] you really get to know each other well.”
To wrap up the semester, Hear and Now will be performing at Saint Mary’s University on April 21 at 5:30 p.m. They will also have another show April 30 in Winona State’s Stark Auditorium at 7:30 p.m.