Origin From: Voco Novo Official Website
Author: Christine
Published on: 2014-06-03
Translated by : Jay Gao
Last spring, I received an email from someone unknown to me. I clicked on it and saw that it was from a Treblemakers member, inviting Treble alumni to go back to campus and celebrate Treblemakers 10th anniversary concert.
Ten years.
Ten years ago I was an average college student. average grades, average popularity, average vocal skill, view of life: average. After singing with an A Cappella group in high school, I always wanted to join one at college as well. But at that time I did not have the confidence to audition (You know, Americans are known for their powerful vocal, when I was young my voice was soft like birds, my gut feeling was: no chance at the audition). Holding it in after two year, one day at an on-campus school event, a Chinese A Cappella group from the University of Michigan was invited to perform, suddenly it hit me, I had an epiphany; I should form a Chinese A Cappella group on campus. (There is no way I won’t get picked that way!) So there it is, Northwestern University’s first Chinese A Cappella group, Treblemakers, was founded. The first song we sang was my first a cappella arrangement, from David Tao/Tension’s “Our Story.”
Before I graduate, I handed Treblemakers over to a younger Treble, Robynn (who is now a famous celebrity in Hong Kong!), and haven’t followed their activities ever since then. So when I received the email, decided right away to go and support them no matter what!
The night of the concert, it was only 6 degrees in Chicago, and yet I saw a lot of people lining up to see Treblemakers’ performance. I thought to myself, has the new Treble become so famous?! Sure enough, Treble has grown a lot in 10 years, that it became one of the best a cappella groups on campus! Their music quality have excelled in the past couple of years, released a CD and also won third place in the ICCA regional competition (the one that Glee always talks about ). There are more people now (there was 10 back then, and now there are 18), more diverse and rich cultural background (previously there was only Chinese, now there are also Korean, Pilipino, even Caucasians who adore Asian culture!), everyone can sing so well (everyone had a solo that night!). The most important thing is that they exude such confidence and happiness, as if singing together allows them to overcome anything! At the end of the concert, they invited all Treble alumni to come onto the stage and sing (I don’t know when it became the) unofficial group song – “Our Story”. So much feelings flowing inside me, I could not help but to reminiscent what I wrote 10 years ago. That night, I did not know a single singer on stage, but that night we laughed and cried together, as if I really sang with them for the past 10 years.
After the concert ended, they were all so excited to come and meet me, saying that I was the legendary Christine, founder of the group, someone kept saying they were grateful that I created this group, so they could have such a wonderful family during college. However, I truly feel from the bottom of my heart that I don’t deserve such complements. I hope I can use this small article as an opportunity to thank the Music Directors of Treble for the past 10 years, Robynn Yip, Jennifer Wang, Michelle Zhang, Felix Tseng, Matthew Lee, and Joanna Wu, they led the Treblemakers to where it is today. If it was not for them, I would not have felt so touched on that night.
(Author has given permission for the use of this article)
