A cappella

Roskilde Cathedrals Boys Choir

A capella (from Italian: a cappella 'like in the chapel') < span title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA or IPA)" class="IPA">[a kːaˈpːɛlːa] is the way of creating music solely through the human voice, generating sounds, rhythm, the necessary melody and harmony, without the need for any musical instrument.

Origin

a cappella music is vocal music without instrumental accompaniment. The term a cappella comes from the Italian as in the chapel or in the style of the chapel. The term originally referred to written music, within the Catholic liturgical sphere, in the old Renaissance style, intended for musical chapels, in contrast to the new repertoire of concerted music that was gaining importance in the Baroque. >, that is, with a specific instrumental part written independently of the voices (which will lead to the concept of orchestra). The musicology of the 19th century, in the absence of explicit mention of the use of instruments in Renaissance polyphony, will erroneously establish that this era was interpreted exclusively by voices, an idea that was maintained until well into the 20th century. Hence the derivation of the term a cappella in the current meaning of voices only, without instruments, although in Renaissance chapels (and earlier already in medieval polyphony) the use of instruments doubling and/or replacing the voices, both for occasional needs and for pleasure in the color obtained.

In Spanish, and according to the latest RAE orthographic norms of 2010, it should be written either in Italian, with doubled consonants, and in italics or in quotation marks, or preferably Spanishized as a cappella, although it is frequently found incorrectly written with the double l only.

A cappella music is often used in sacred music. Gregorian chant is the clearest example of a cappella music. The singing of Renaissance polyphony without the use of instruments was not uncommon, in the same way as in the case of the madrigal in the profane sphere, although in neither of the two examples is this a norm, and the use of instruments was equally common, that will be generalized over time. The Amish, Churches of Christ, 'Primitive' Baptist congregations, most Catholic Church congregations, and Eastern Orthodox Christians (especially Russian and other Slavic groups) are religious bodies known to perform the services without musical accompaniment. The sacred harp, a type of "popular" religious, it is also a style of a cappella singing. During the 1980s, the use of vocal groups as entertainment has had a greater boom among religious groups. Among restorationist groups in the US, Keith Lancaster formed a quintessential group.

History

Since the discovery of the first sound recording devices, a cappella music recordings have been numerous. The invention of the tape recorder in the 1940s was accompanied by the golden age of American vocal groups with a large number of styles developing from the cotton fields of the slaves with their gospel. Blues, scat, jazz, bebop, rock and roll, doo wop, surf and a long etcetera are styles of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Since the 1980s, prompted by the success of songs by artists such as Bobby McFerrin, Boyz II Men, Flying Pickets, Take Six Neri Per Caso, Vocal Siete, Rockapella, etc., this form of music is booming.^{[citation required]}

Popular music arrangements for small a cappella ensembles generally include a voice singing the main melody, called a vocal or lead, one singing over a bass line, and marking the rhythm, called bass, and the remaining voices that contribute to the accompaniment in the form of chordal harmony, called chorus. However, many contemporary a cappella groups have adopted other methods, including polyphony and the beatbox, which is a mouth-produced drum machine or drum imitation., minor percussion, cymbals, etc.

A cappella bands have also sprung up in more popular genres of music, such as Van Canto, who mixes his own tracks with a cappella versions of heavy metal classics.

In 2009, the group The Voca People originated from Israel, which combines a cappella singing with beatboxing.

In 2015, the American a cappella group Pentatonix won a Grammy for Best Instrumental or A Cappella Arrangement for their song "Daft Punk". This was a great advance in the recognition of a cappella music. in the contemporary field.