Journey of a Cassie Part 5 – A Capella
Of course, they’re more known for their dance tracks and heavily dramatic compositions; however, if you peel back the orchestration, remove all the dancing and stage setups, the crazy costumes and even crazier hair, all you have is a harmony that’s simply unreal. It occurs to me that many people would be and are quick to dismiss the group as nothing more than another packet of sugary pop fluff. But from a technical standpoint, their ability to synch their vocals is astounding. They’re literally able to create harmonic dissonance. That buzzing sound you hear seething between voices is a construct of tightly packed vocals, usually between two vocalists singing what’s been dubbed the “demonic third”, a sound that resonates when singers or piano strikes a minor third chord. This is most aptly applied in their Japanese ballad Begin.
As the group got their start being known for their vocals, it’s no surprise that one of the first songs that ever made me stand up and take notice was the a capella rendition of Whatever They Say; however, it wasn’t the dramatic music video that alerted me to their harmonizing excellence. It was this chance encounter with the young group of boys — still green and ready to take over the world — that not only gave the world a taste of their talent, but also showed just how randomly ridiculous the group of boys actually were, still too new to be professionally filtered.
From there, I was thrown headlong into the magnificence that was their ability to harmonize – going from jagged tonal pitching (meaning, centering the voices around a central note and each member finding the right note to fit around it) to perfect pitch harmony in mere seconds – something that was common in many of their radio interviews and television appearances. Their sound structure was very elaborate, if one pays enough attention. You notice that each voice is used and needed for the sound to be as round and complete as it was. If one note was off key, the chance of each other peripheral note being off was very high. That’s how precise their harmonization was – so tight that even an eighth step off of the pitch threw everything into tumult until one of the members with perfect pitch (usually Junsu or Yoochun) would steer it back to its center.
As you all very well know, the voices are what captivated me to stay. However, it’s the a capella aspect of their sound that continuously has me next to tears.
